Ok I’m a bit slow posting this one, but I did write it on Monday… just somehow got sidetracked before sharing🤷‍♀️.

Anyway, Sunday I had the opportunity to visit Khayelitsha, one of the largest townships in SA, apparently home to more than a million people. Unlike Saturday, where we saw the struggle of township life, this time we got to witness the success of a local business, and then the awesome energy of a Sunday Funday!

We started by visiting a local winery called Khayelitsha’s Finest Wines. The tasting took place in a rustic patio attached to the home of the owner, Lindile ‘Lindi’ Ndzaba. He is a quietly impressive man, who has built his dream from nothing. He tells us he developed an interest in wine while working at a restaurant in Cape Town, and dreamed of getting into the industry some day. At some point he thought “Why can’t there be a winery in Khayelitsha?”, and together with a partner, he began sourcing grapes from local vintners. The rest, as they say, is history. There’s a great article about him if you’re interested.

There are currently two wines on offer: a red blend and a white blend. They are both decent wines, the red being my favourite of the two. Interestingly, they offered a dill pickle to pair with the white, and some spicy biltong with the red. Lindi’s passion and determination convinced me he will do great things, and I would love to help him build his business beyond the local area. If you have any wine distributor connections, I think there’s great potential here!

From the wine tasting we walked thru the township to a place calked Rands, where all kinds of people come together for good drinks, braii, and music. There is a saying in Cape Town that I love: Don’t let your Monday ruin your Sunday! Well let me tell you the Sunday Party is an epic tradition, and nobody seemed the least bit concerned about tomorrow. Rands is basically a huge open air patio. Think music festival vibes – live DJs playing all the right songs; tables, umbrellas, and couches for lounging in the sun; buckets of beers, wine, cider, tequila, Moet… pick your poison. Hookah if you feel like it. Everyone swaying to the beats and singing along when the song demands it (Noooooooo Scruuuubs!).

Our amazing hosts made sure the ice buckets were always full of beverages (apparently bottle service is becoming my norm🤣). They also brought us heaping platters of braii, which is South African bbq. Delicious grilled meats of all kinds, along with a bunch of sides. I must confess I only tasted the chicken wings and a bite of some kind of skinny sausage thing – I’m not very proactive in a mass food-sharing environment. But I did enjoy what I tasted, and it all looked and smelled delicious. As the afternoon wore on, the place filled up and the vibe got better and better. We all had such a great time dancing and singing together.

As I have been known to do, I engaged with many of the locals. They were all so incredibly nice and friendly. One lovely gentleman even asked if he could be my man😳. I also met some friends who were visiting from Zimbabwe, so now I have a place to stay if I end up traveling there lol.

Shout out to our hosts for this party! They were all so much fun, and had interesting stories to tell. Have I mentioned how much I like South African people?

The best part is that we were all home before 9pm and I was able to go to bed at a reasonable hour. This made for a nice change after a very busy first week. Think I am done trying to keep up with the young folks…

So that wraps up week one with my RY family. I know I haven’t talked about my Stellenbosch wine day yet, but I think I’ll put that together with my Franschhoek and Constantia wine days. And I’ll throw in some tidbits about my favorite local wine bar. Plus, who knows what other wine things will happen? Basically, you can count on some wine talk.

Stay tuned for week two adventures…

TL