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Jan
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Best Hotel
We stayed in a lot of hotels along the way but the winner in terms of hospitality, quality of service and atmosphere has to be The Wayside Inn (Knysna). The two features which put it instantly ahead of others are the ability to have your breakfast delivered via a hatch in the door and the honesty bar. The best breakfast however came from the Diamond Protea Lodge in Kimberley, a buffet breakfast with a great selection.
Best Restaurant
This is a tough one, I love food and I love eating out so I thoroughly enjoyed most of the places we went to however there is one clear winner which stands out for quality, service and atmosphere. The winner has to be Strega, just off Loop Street in Cape Town – the food was superb and probably the best of any Italian restaurant I have been to (odd being so far from Italy). Other close runners up are Cool Runnings and Mama Africa (both Cape Town) and One Baker Street (Swellendam).
Best Bar
We also went in a lot of bars and did a lot of drinking, the best is a clear winner for both drinks and atmosphere and has to be Cool Runnings (Melville, JHB). The very close second has to be Kennedy’s Cigar Bar which had great service and a nice laid-back atmosphere with live jazz evey night.
Best National Park / Reserve
This has to be Addo National Park, we saw so much in an hour that the prospect of being there for a whole day would be amazing, they also offer on-site accommodation with night-drives with experienced wardens. Both the Karoo Nature Reserve and the Rhino & Lion Reserve were also great but didn’t quite capture the magic of Addo.
Most Welcoming Town
Knysna – pure and simple – the people were friendly and I felt safer here than any other town in South Africa. Most other towns had a darker unsettling feeling in the background but Knysna was easy-going from the start. The only major challenger is Cape Town which was immensely welcoming and the people there are so laid-back and friendly, the only downside is that there are far too many people on the streets to feel entirely safe.
Most Scenic Area
Despite it’s absolute barren emptiness the Karoo wins the most scenic area, the view from the Valley of Desolation is spectacular and the bleak desert landscape really drives home the fact that South Africa is actually Africa (the Western Cape and the Garden Route have an almost European feel to them). The second place must go to the Cape National Park, both the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point are sights not to be missed.
Best Beer
A controversial choice here as I would personally go for Windhoek – not South African but actually Namibia’s national beer; it has a clean crisp taste – not unlike German beers such as Becks. Castle is the only possible challenger here as it beats the other South African beers single-handedly but it has a very light taste to it.