Charley Boorman has been on his fair share of adventures. The television presenter has, along with his friend Ewan McGregor, made a habit of riding his motorbike through some of the most remote places in the entire world – as well as some of the most beautiful.
That includes Cape Town. Nestled at the bottom of South Africa, the city boasts gorgeous scenery, a buzzing foodie scene and sunsets over the ocean.
Where is your favourite destination and why?
Cape Town. I like the culture, and I think as a destination for people to go and visit, it’s a really nice place. It has that security of being slightly Europeanish, and it has the most incredible food. The Garden Route stretch of coastline is just extraordinary and people are so friendly. And it’s a very good-value place to visit. It’s also a great stepping stone to go to the wineries, and places such as French Hook, which are a little bit inland — or up to Namibia if you want a bit more adventure. Plus, it’s in the same time zone, so very easy, and a great place to escape to in the winter.
When was the last time you were there, and who were you with?
Not that long ago actually. I did a talk on a cruise ship and I met the ship in South Africa with my wife and then we went on to Dakar in Senegal. We spent four or five days in Cape Town before we jumped on the boat.
I hadn’t been down for a while. I fell in love with the continent of Africa when Ewan McGregor and I did Long Way Down, our second big TV journey together, back in 2007. We drove all the way through Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi, and then ended up in Cape Town. My wife and two children came down and we spent a bit of time there and fell in love with it. But I hadn’t been back since 2018, because I had a huge motorcycle crash in the Drakensberg Mountains and really messed myself up. I ended up in Bloemfontein for quite a number of weeks in the hospital. But I’ve always loved Cape Town and the Garden Route.
Where do you like to stay there?
There’s a few different places. I love to stay in Camps Bay, and there’s a lovely hotel there called the Camps Bay Retreat. It’s kind of old school. It has a beautiful big garden and then you cross over the road and you’re right on the beach. It’s a beautiful place to stay, but it’s quite colonial. It’s a little tired, but I prefer it to the glitz and glamour of modern hotels. I quite like the old-school look.
What has been your favourite meal there?
There are so many good restaurants nearby, and that’s partly why I really like it here. When I’ve visited before there was a place called the Test Kitchen, which was really good. It was one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, and really quite delicious. These days, they have a spin-off called The Test Kitchen Fledgelings, which operates in the same space. You can go there and have a six-course tasting menu with tasting wines and they have two sister restaurants as well, Salon and The Pot Luck Club. As a European, I also remember it being really affordable. I think the same kind of meal in the UK and London would cost a huge amount.
What would you do if you only had 24 hours there?
I would stay in Camps Bay. Then it’s straight up to Table Mountain, and if you had a little bit of time in the afternoon before jumping on the plane again, I would go to one of the vineyards in Stellenbosch. There’s a plethora of vineyards you can go and visit, where all the Huguenots, who left France with their grapevines, came to South Africa. There’s one in particular — if you like a red — called Meerlust Winery. It does a Meerlust Merlot which is really famous. The vineyard has been there since 1756. The owner has one of the biggest collections of art deco furniture and art in South Africa. It’s beautiful.
What is the one unmissable thing you recommend doing?
Go and see the penguins in the summer in Boulders Beach. You can go there and lie on the beach and these little penguins just come up out of the water and wobble past you. You always expect penguins to be in the snow, whereas these ones live among the boulders on this beautiful paradise beach. I’m also a big fan of paragliding, so you can go up on to Table Mountain, which is one of a handful of places in the world that has its own unique vegetation. And if you’re brave enough you can jump off in a paraglider. I think the important thing if you are going to go to Cape Town is, even if you’ve just come in from the airport and you see that there’s no clouds on Table Mountain, go straight there, and go up as quickly as you can. More often than not, there’s a cloud on Table Mountain, or a tablecloth, as they call it.
Where do you like to let your hair down?
There’s a really fun place near Camps Bay. It’s called The Bungalow, and it’s the greatest sundowner place because it overlooks the sea and you can see the sun just drop into the ocean. There’s also a whole bunch of restaurants along there, and you can just choose one of them and maybe go up onto the first floor overlooking the beach and have that well deserved cocktail while the sun goes down. It captures everything that you want from Cape Town: the beautiful sandy beach with the sea and the sun dropping down behind the ocean. It’s quite spectacular. I mean, the only negative about Cape Town is that the water is freezing cold. It comes straight off the South Pole, so you have to head up towards Durban to get to the warmer Indian ocean.
The one thing you would bring home as a souvenir?
It’s a difficult one, isn’t it? I’d bring a six pack of the Meerlust Merlots back with you. You can drink it on the plane on the way home.
Long Way Home is streaming now on Apple TV+
