Spier

             There is a quaint little town, a little ways away from Cape Town, named Spier. It is absolutely gorgeous and completely awesome!! So today I went with a family (a teacher, wife and his two sons), a brother and sister, and a feisty, but very nice old lady to go see Spier. We had a bit of money trouble at the beginning because several people’s cards weren’t working at the atms, but we eventually got it sorted out. Once we arrived at Sprier, the first thing we did was go to the cheetah reserve. They rescue cheetahs from farmers who try to kill them out of the belief that the cheetahs are killing their livestock. Although it’s true that the cheetahs kill some of the livestock, the majority are killed by jackals. They also save other wildlife, like servals (that are often mistaken for cheetahs), caracals and bat-eared foxes that are killed by the non-discriminate poison set out for the cheetahs. They were very cute animals and I’d never seen a caracal before. They also had wild sheep just grazing and some meerkats that they saved as well. After we saw the different animals, we paid to pet a cheetah. It was lying down with one of the trainers near its head, comforting it while strangers stroked its back. We had to approach it slowly from the back, could only stroke the side of its stomach with a closed palm going the direction of the fur, and had to be on one knee so as to jump back quickly if the cheetah became upset. It was very soft and very muscular. It was a very cool experience and I’m glad I got to do it.

            After the cheetah reserve, we went to get lunch. The original plan was to find somewhere cheap to eat for lunch, but there wasn’t anywhere nearby on the cheap side. So we went to this restaurant called “8” and it was the most delicious food I’ve had thus far on the trip. They have a buffet because the menu changes daily as it is only what was fresh that morning. They had honey-roasted sweet potato slices, some pesto on pasta that was scrumptious (maybe it had really fresh oregano – we couldn’t identify what was so tasty) and just so many other things I can’t really remember. It was really an excellent restaurant. Once we’d eaten, we went to the falconry area. We arrived just as they were about to start a demo, so we went to go see that. They brought out several birds, showed some of their special characteristics, and provided hand gloves so that they could land on our hands for a time. It was really awesome. There was a falcon, then a barn owl, then a snowy owl, then a vulture, and finally some large white vultures. The last ones were almost as large as I am! After this demo, they had one to show the unique secretary bird. This bird is quite large, with long thin legs and what looks like a headdress of feathers on its head. It eats snakes by delivering powerful kick to the face with its talons. The demo man used a rubber snake with meat attached to its head to show its attack style. It was quite impressive. It even does this to cobras – the man used his hand to imitate the swaying motion and he got bruises from the kicks. It is such a cool bird. There were also many other birds sitting around for you to see and some owls to pet. They are actually very soft, which helps muffle the sound of their wings so you can’t hear them when they fly. I really enjoyed this entire area.

            After this, we decided to go to the wine tasting area. I don’t drink and have never had wine, but as the teacher and his wife are very knowledgeable about wine, I decided it would be worth it to learn from their experience. One of the boys (not the sons of the parents, the other one) had the same thought process, so we decided to do the tasting together. So, Mr. B told us what kind of wine to get (i.e pale white first) and to bring it back and he would tell us how to drink it. So we did this for the wines, trying two white, two red and a dessert wine. The only one we liked was the dessert wine. This meant that we were making ridiculous faces and wrenching from the alcohol kicks. It was quite hilarious, but I’m glad he did it with me as it was much more fun than if I’d done it alone (the sons also tried the wines, but they didn’t have any reactions so they just laughed at us). I’m glad I tried it in a controlled setting and at least have some know-how about wine now – I certainly had no idea going in. After we all finished, we went to the little park right nearby to enjoy the scenery and then dinner. We went to Moyo, the restaurant native Cape Townians recommended for authentic South African food. It was also very delicious (I liked 8 better) and a buffet. They had kalamari, and some other exotic meats that I didn’t try – I did try a bit of the kalamari and didn’t like it. Either way, it was also a very good meal and I definitely ate too much food that day. I really enjoyed Spier and it was one of the best days I’ve had in a port so far.