Dennis and Tina Fine

Atlanta, Georgia - USA

12 September 2008

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I met Dennis and Tina at Cape Codogan and after sitting down and working out what we intended doing during their Cape Town stay we set off on an ascent of Table Mountain.

Doing the Table Mountain shuffle JJ

In Bo-Kaap with Table Mountain in the background

After a short city tour we travelled to the winelands and Kayamandi.

With Lily in her home in Kayamandi

With Lily and her famous stove

Enjoying the township kids dancing at the Ikamva Lethu Centre

Dennis joins in with the dancers

Tina having fun with the kids in Zone J

Dennis joins the "township gents" for some time in a township shebeen (tavern)

We travelled back to Cape Town where Dennis and Tina went for dinner to "Jimmy's killer prawns"

Day 2

Winelands with a difference

On this day we travelled to Peregrine farm stall atop of Sir Lowrys pass. After visiting the farmstall we travelled via the very scenic Franschhoek mountains to Franschhoek

Sampling wine at Haute Chabriere in Franschhoek

Having fun with the Rhodesian Ridgebacks at Glen Carlou

Tasting port at Muratie winefarm

Dennis making decisions as to what wines to buy for home at the Vintage Connection

In Ernie Els's trophy room on the Ernie Els farm

A panoramic picture of Tina and Dennis at the Ernie Els winefarm.
Please use your browser arrow keys to se this panoramic image.

We returned to Cape Town and went to Saigon where Yoshi prepared a superb sashimi meal for us all.

This was an absolutely fabulous tour. At all times Tina and Dennis were an absolute delight to travel with. We had so much fun together and our tour was a non stop fun event. We experienced much together and we shared much of what South Africa is about today. One area we truly covered was wine in the Western Cape. Overall this was a fun a minute tour which I enjoyed very much and can but only hope that Dennis and Tina has as much fun as much as I did.

THANKS FOR ALL
DENNIS AND TINA.

Received 6 October 2008

Selwyn, 

Sorry for the delayed response. It has taken us a week or so to recover
physically. I actually developed some short term vertigo from all of the
small puddle jumpers and lack of sleep. I am now back to normal.

Your photos are great and we will be incorporating some into our final
album. We will send you a link once we are done.

Thank you for taking us to Kayamandi and the winelands. It was educational,
relaxing, and very enjoyable. I wish we had more time both days. I have
told everyone we had such a unique experience between the drive, township,
food market, chocolate store, and various winelands. We both share a
passion for food. 

Our wine was delivered today but we first have to go to the GA department of
revenue to pay taxes on it and then down to the airport to pick it up.
Although this is a bit of a hassle I am looking forward to drinking some.

The rest of our trip was equally as enjoyable. We had some unique game
viewing experiences in Botswana and Zambia (stay tuned for the photo album)
but we did not see (only heard) wild dogs. I survived our white water
rafting trip despite our raft flipping over twice and was able to procure
several 100 billion dollar Zimbabwean bills at the craft market. Zimbabwe
was interested and although I am glad we visited, I would never recommend
anyone to visit in the immediate future. It is similar to Haiti - a former
lush land that is extremely corrupt, third world, and the locals have
destroyed most resources available to them. It does not look too good for
them in both the short and long term. 

We are already discussing our next trip to Capetown and future SA game
drives. We will see when this actually occurs. 

Lastly, I have one funny story upon our return to the US. Tina forgot that
she had an apple in her bag from the market and the custom's animal patrol
pulled our bags aside for further review and inspection. Everything was
fine but we were delayed a bit. 

Take care and we hope to see you soon.

Dennis
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