50 Plus Travel
sponsored by
Jennie Bond visits South Africa with African Sky Former BBC Royal Correspondent, Jennie Bond visits South Africa with African Sky. Standing on Olifants Bay, a remote beach on the south west tip of the African continent, we were thrilled to see two ostriches strut by, just a few yards away. I’d spent most of the day telling my husband, Jim, how these huge birds run wild on the Cape, but was beginning to doubt my own word. And it was one of so many fabulous sights during our stay on the Cape. The first was actually our hotel. It’s called The Last Word -- there are three of them in the Western Cape-- and they really are the definition of a luxury boutique hotel.
6
| WWW.50PLUSMAGAZINE.CO.UK
We started on Long Beach (the name says it all) and our suite was magnificent. There was a real wow factor as we walked in and saw the huge glass doors folded back so that you look straight out onto the blue ocean and feel you are practically on the sandy beach. On the other side of the bay, the dramatic Chapman’s Peak and its surrounding mountains look soft in the sea haze created from the cold Atlantic waters meeting the hot African sun. Every evening, as we watched the sun go down, glass in hand, we were treated to a royal fly-past by parades of squawking Sacred Ibis. Jim had never been to this part of the world before, and the last time I was here was with the Queen in 1995 when I was reporting for the BBC. But the years had blurred my memory of the sheer beauty and vastness of