#Africa

A few days ago, I received a hot tip from my friend Debjeet about a Korean corn dog place in Boksburg called Mustardbox 713.

Thursday afternoon, we learned a group of South African scientists had sequenced a new variant of the coronavirus. It didn’t have a Greek alphabet name yet – just B.1.5-something-something – but we knew the covid case numbers (although still a small fraction of what Europe and America were experiencing) were starting to tick up in South Africa.

To finish off my Western Cape road trip (read about the earlier parts of the trip here, here, and here), Thorsten and I spent two days at the De Hoop Collection in a remote part of South Africa’s Overberg region. The De Hoop Collection is a privately owned lodge inside the De Hoop Nature Reserve, which is run by the provincial government entity CapeNature.

I’ve been wanting to visit Cape Agulhas since my first visit to Cape Town in 2011, when I took a day trip around the Cape Peninsula and learned that the Cape of Good Hope is not, in fact, the southernmost point in Africa. It took another decade but I finally made it to Cape Agulhas, Africa’s real southern tip, a couple of weeks ago.

I’m taking a quick break from my Western Cape road trip series to tell you about Syrian Rose, my new favorite restaurant in Fordsburg. Syrian Rose is unquestionably the best place in the entire city to chow down on spicy grilled chicken, shawarmas, and fresh fruit juice.

Thorsten and I spent two days in Arniston, a tiny seaside town about three hours southeast of Cape Town, as part of a mini Western Cape road trip to celebrate our anniversary. Our stay in Arniston was courtesy of the Arniston Spa Hotel and Cape Country Routes.