Day 10- Stellenbosch and more

The last few days have been great and we (Allison, Joel, Tiffany and Marissa) really had an amazing experience working with the Heal the Hood Project. Today was a rather easy day after our long week and our pending trip to Durban. Since we have a really early start tomorrow, we headed out to Stellenbosch to see what wine making was all about in South Africa. We spent the first part of our morning in the town which resembled something close to what one would see in New England. The town was quaint with little shops and people sitting outside having their coffee and late breakfast. The town is one of the oldest in South Africa and many of its buildings hinted of eras long past.

We then headed to the campus of the University of Stellenbosch. The campus was quite beautiful and rich flora native to the country. Two of the most interesting features of the campus were the underground library and the Student Union Building that resembled a mall. One of the things we noticed as we have traveled through various South African campuses has been the style of the school in regard to where it is. The University of the Western Cape was filled with security measures including iron bars over the windows to prevent would be vandals from entering. Stellenbosch appeared to have no such measures and was dominated by a majority Caucasian population who were extremely affluent. The social differences continue to be evident.

We then spent some time at the Neethlingshof Estate where we walked through the wine cellar and our guide explained the wine making process. The country side was full of grape vines with rose bushes found intermittently. These rose bushes, we were told served two purposes. They were to gauge the health of the grape vines as they are sensitive to disease and second, to draw beetles from the grapes. We then moved to Spera Estate, where some of our group had the chance to pet a cheetah and wonder around another beautiful winery. Over-all, it was an easy day and a good break before our early departure tomorrow.

Stellenbosch, South Africa

University of Stellenbosch's Garden


Neethlingshof Estate







Spera Estate---Cheetah visit