Happy #MondayMotivation everyone! What’s motivating me? Summer and the fact that it’s a new year! New year = new adventures. We’ve got to get out there and use every free second to live a beautiful life! And what’s more beautiful than magical animals? While I didn’t visit this past weekend, I have to share the great day out I had at Villiera, sparkling wine and ‘safari’ farm, during December holidays.
I LOVE seeing animals in their natural environment. LOVE! I think animals are the most magical and most sincere creatures on the earth. Do I want to be a vet? Hell no. I don’t have the guts to deal with injured animals. All throughout my years living in Namibia we were so blessed to have animals wandering our streets, including gembok, jackals, ostriches, etc. They’re very special. So I thought to start celebrating my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary by taking them on a game drive at Villiera, followed by some sparkling wine tasting.
Villiera Estate
Why Villiera? Well, that’s where I got my wedding “champagne” from, yet I’d never been to the farm! So off we went. It’s not far out of Cape Town, just before you get into Stellenbosch.
Villiera is a simple, yet modern venue on the outskirts of Stellenbosch (N1 side). They have a modern and comfortable tasting room, as well as more rustic outdoors area (I thought it was a braai venue), where visitors can sit under the ‘afdak’ and enjoy their sparkling wine. On this day, it was 30 outside so we opted to sit indoors and enjoy the aircon.
Sparkling Wine of Villiera
We started the day with a glass of sparkling wine before heading off for a 2 hour game drive. I heard some tourists ask if they would see ‘a kill’. Bless them! They thought predictors lived on the farm, shem. You have to have a huge amount of land to ‘house’ predictors so Villiera only had herbivores – but they’re just as awesome! Once we’d finished our sparkling wine, we headed out on a bakkie for the morning.
Animals of Villiera
We first came across some springboks; white, brown and normal coloured ones, as well as kudus and eiland. There were also some gembok but they were hiding so we only spotted them in the distance! Next we saw some wildebees resting in the heat.
The farm is having some MAJOR water problems 🙁 Some damns were TOTALLY empty! The Western Cape water shortage is real people! You can see in the picture below there the water used to be, on the hill. Now it’s totally dry. There was only 1 water hole and that was also half empty (I think they pumped water into it for the animals).
It was a STINKING hot day and I didn’t have a hat! Luckily the driver had sun block that we could all use. It literally saved me 🙂 It was SO lovely to see giraffes! I’m sure these are the giraffes that I saw at the Wild Clover Farm a few years back because it’s right next door. So great to see them thriving!
My Dad and I were squashed at the back of the bakkie, but at least we had a great view 🙂 Our guide was really lovely, full of jokes, very friendly and answered any questions. He grew up in the Stellenbosch area, so actually I learnt a few things about the land and the animals from my Dad because he grew up in Zimbabwe, so that we fun for me.
Nougat & Villiera Sparkling Wine Pairing
We had a lovely time seeing the animals and I’d highly, highly recommend visiting with friends. It only costs R200 for a game drive, per person. Which, considering an Imax movie is like R150 (and can be done anywhere in the world), seeing animals for R200 is a bargain! If you do decide to book, please let them know that Boring Cape Town Chick sent you 🙂
Once we’d finished the drive, we returned to the tasting room for a nougat and sparkling wine tasting session. The Sally Williams nougat was SO GOOD with the sparkling wine, YOH! So simple, so tasty! Very soft on the teeth and delicious on the palette, really.
We had a wonderful time at Villiera. The staff were also super friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and I’d definitely recommend a visit for anyone who doesn’t have a lot of time in SA, but would like to see some animals. Also a really fun date activity – but don’t forget to bring a hat or sunblock!
PS They also sell their own farmed honey. You drive past the hives on the way into the ‘velt’.
This sounds SO cool. I’ve been living in Cape Town for close to 25 years and I never knew something like this was so close to home! And at a very reasonable price as well. Thanks for recommending. I will definitely go check it out… and mention that you sent me! 🙂
Brilliant Robyn! I believe that they only recently brought the animals in so don’t feel TOO bad about yourself 😉
The giraffes at Wild Clover area have been there for about 2 – 3 years. But yes, please do go along, it’s such a fantastic day out!
Thanks for visiting and for your comment x