Your Tourguides enjoying the bright Cosmos flowers "en route".

The Fairest Cape

During this time of the year, throughout Southern Africa, we encounter the ubiquitous Cosmos flowers, brightening our roadways in all their colourful splendour. This invader plant has adapted well to our climate and is a very popular subject for artists of all types.

Our trip will take us now down to the Western and Southern Cape Province areas – highly popular tourist destinations. The famed wine-routes, that which is termed the fairest city – Cape Town – on the Cape Peninsula, as well as up along the Garden Route are all part of the tour. We will be doing this area in two parts. There are a number of chow chows and their humans living in this area and we hope to make a short stop at some of them along the way.

Southern Africa’s most popular tourist destination

Chow Chow cousins & their human enjoying the Cape's natural beauty.

Affixed to the tip of Africa as it is, the Western Cape lies bordered by two oceans - the Indian Ocean to the south and the Atlantic to the west - which goes a long way to clarify its allure. The wild Cape Agulhas coast, the extraordinary magnificence of the Garden Route, the sparse, sweeping stretches of sand, punctuated only by rocky outcrops and fishing villages, of the West Coast notwithstanding, it is not the coastline alone that draws the crowds. The constant reassuring presence of immense peaks form the backdrop to a land so lovely in parts that the emerald lakes and indigenous forests of the Wilderness, the sun-drenched vineyards of the Cape Winelands, the magnificent passes to reach the interior and the wide, windswept arid spaces of the Klein Karoo seem part of a fantasy landscape that often defies description.
Most of the province is considered to have a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. The interior Karoo has a semi-arid climate with cold, frosty winters and hot summers with occasional thunderstorms. The Garden Route and the Overberg on the south coast have a maritime climate with cool, moist winters and mild, moist summers. Mossel Bay in the Garden Route is considered to have the second mildest climate worldwide after Hawaii.

The Western Cape is a province of diversities. It offers the visitor a unique cultural and natural heritage and a rural easy-going atmosphere - which is coupled with a first world infrastructure. It is the most highly educated province with a very skilled workforce in comparison to any other African region. The high school graduation rate is consistently around 80%, higher than any other province. The province also boasts three internationally acclaimed universities, namely the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and the University of the Western Cape.

The Breede River Valley is the largest fruit and wine producing valley in the Western Cape and is South Africa's leading racehorse breeding area. This semiarid area, part of the Little Karoo, offers magnificent scenery and is known for its indigenous fynbos and proteas. The clear mountain streams are in stark contrast with their rugged surrounds and the wildlife in the reserves offer visitors a chance to get a taste of Africa. With its magnificent natural beauty, its rich cultural heritage and its world-renowned wines - the Winelands Region is synonymous with all the best that the Cape has to offer.

The Cape Whale Coast

The Cape Whale Coast in particular creates quite a stir and draws to our shores not only those two-legged humans whom we chow chows own, but also that uniquely intelligent and remarkable creature that never fails to ignite in those who come to see them a sense of well-being and incredible pleasure at having viewed them from so close. Whales, including the Southern Right Whale and less commonly the Bryde’s (pronounced ‘broodess’) and the Humpback Whale, are frequently sited along the Cape Overberg Coast from Stony Point near Betty’s Bay, along the cliff paths of Hermanus, Kleinmond, Onrus, Walker Bay, the De Hoop Nature Reserve and Witsand. These gentle giants spend summer feeding around Antarctica and then migrate thousands of miles to our waters where the sheltered bays of the South African coast provide perfect refuge to mate and calve.

The famous naval Great Dane - Just Nuisance - being visited by a young chow chow cousin.

Of course, also here in the Western Cape, is the home-town of our famous dog-cousin – the Great Dane named “Just Nuisance”.

The Western Cape Mountains

One of Southern Africa's richest and most beautiful natural kingdoms is that of the Westem Cape mountains, a majestic and irregular sweep of peak and precipice stretching northwards from the Cedarberg, then south to the Cape Peninsula and up to Port Elizabeth and the Eastem Cape.

The mountains are supreme recreational areas, and most are accessible by extensive but discreet footpaths. They are a paradise for rock-climbers and backpackers - the astounding combination of magnificent peaks, cool sparkling streams in well-wooded valleys and the floristic wealth is unsurpassed on earth. This is the home of the 'Cape Floral Kingdom' or Fynbos Biome.
More than 8 500 plant species are found in the fynbos, of which 6 000 are endemic to specific areas. In a relatively small area of 10 000 ha in the Hottentots-Holland Mountains you may find as many as 121 different species.

Part of the unique Cape Fynbos (Fine - as in texture - bush) are the famed Proteas.

Many of our familiar garden plants, such as Sparaxis, Ixia, Agapantus, Watsonia, blushing bride, heather, red-hot poker and others, grow naturally in the Western Cape mountains. Outcrops of fynbos species are found as far north as Nieuwoudtville and become more common as you move south. The most famous of all South African mountains is Table Mountain, with its attendants, Lion's Head, Devil's Peak, Twelve Apostles and Constantiaberg. This area offers a host of rewarding walks and climbs that vary in gradient and challenge to suit hikers of all fitness levels.

Situated at the southwestern tip of Africa, the Table Mountain National Park, part of the Cape Floristic Region World Heritage Site, encompasses the incredibly scenic Peninsula mountain chain stretching from Signal Hill in the north to Cape Point in the south - a distance of approximately 60 km. The narrow finger of land with its many beautiful valleys, bays and beaches is bound by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the warmer waters of False Bay in the east. It has within its boundaries two world-renowned landmarks - majestic Table Mountain and the legendary Cape of Good Hope.

Robben Island

For nearly 400 years, Robben Island (seal island), about 12 kilometres from Cape Town, was a place of exile and imprisonment where rulers sent those they regarded as outcasts and troublemakers.

Since 1997 Robben Island has been a museum acting as a focal point of South African heritage. Daily tours of about 4 hours long, including the two half-hour ferry rides are offered (weather permitting) from the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. In 1999 the island was declared a World Heritage Site. During the apartheid years Robben Island was used to isolate opponents of apartheid and to crush their morale. Freedom fighters, like Nelson Mandela, spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for their beliefs.

Chow Chows in Cape Town

Aunty Vanessa and the humans sit around the fireplace with all of us chow chows together.  The humans are enjoying some exceptional South Africa wine (and say to us ‘dogs aren’t allowed any… imagine that!).

Chow Chows were first imported to the country in Cape Town, by UK citizens choosing to live in this beautiful city. Some of the earliest photos and recorded history comes from the Grant family. Aunty Vanessa’s grandmother immigrated to Cape Town from the UK in the early 1920’s and brought Chow Chows with her. She registered the kennel name Grant’s and made history after that. Lots of old torn & yellow photos, handwritten pedigrees with detailed commentary and other bits of very old information come out of a box. We are allowed to sniff all these as we can still sniff the scent of our ancestors on the documents. These rare old photographs are fortunately available for all to see – here you can enjoy the albums as well!

Aunty Carol & a chow cousin enjoying the view & the Fynbos.

The number of early chow chow lovers grew from there. We chow chows owned many humans throughout our history in Southern Africa, making sure that we as a breed would never ‘disappear’ from Africa, as we too very much like the wildness of this continent – it suits our natures down to the "T"!

We greet you with some photos of our Cape cousins enjoying life around the Western Cape area. Next time we will tell you more about Cape Town itself & go on one of those acclaimed wine routes!

Joel & Nurya