Cape Town is a very beautiful city, and has stunning landscapes surrounding it - I had realized as much when the Ethiopian Airlines flight starting descending below the clouds. Since the logistics would be handled by PR, I did zero research and watched no vlogs before landing up! Needless to say - Cape Town was nothing like my expectations and far exceeded it. That said, the drive experience was going to change my perceptions even more...
After a quick breakfast and drive briefing, we had a small photo session before heading out to the parking lot
Full credit to Mahindra where due - they had a very large fleet of cars present for the drive, parked in the basement of a nearby convention center. My initial allotment was going to be the XUV 7OO AX7L in Red Rage colour. We quickly made our way to the cars and proceeded for flag off!
Flag off was held in batches and thankfully we were in Batch 1. However, the timelines were slowly delayed by an hour and we were out on the roads only by 9AM
Heading out of the city was a slow affair, but not chaotic as our Indian cities could be! Traffic was manageable and flowing most of the time and above all - people followed road rules. We were soon out on the beautiful M6 coastal highway, heading towards Chapman's Peak
Presenting our morning drive companion, the Red Rage Mahindra XUV 7OO AX7L
This coastal drive towards Chapman's Peak has incredible scenery on offer and multiple view points where you would want to stop, every other minute! Clean blue skies, deep blue waters and beautiful green scape - a beautiful day to be out on a drive. Moreover - the temperatures remained very pleasant through the day - slightly hovering around 20 degrees.
With the XUV 5OO, Mahindra had claimed that the colours were chosen to feel good in natural environs. Not sure if any such claims were made for the 7OO, but this Red Rage colour did stand out in this South African landscape
In South Africa, the car comes featured with the 2.0 Turbo petrol that produces 149KW (199hp) and 380Nm, only mated to an automatic transmission. This combination proved potent to keep up with the traffic at all times and also derive some excitement out on the open roads.
We stopped at a viewpoint a couple of minutes ahead of Chapman's peak without realizing the same. The views all around are just stunning!
The view from Chapman's peak:
South Africa seemed to have a very large divide between the rich and the poor - with the middle class not as prominent as we see in India. It is common to find people requesting alms and also street vendors for multiple items. This one guy had beautifully arranged his collectibles for tourists on the side walls of Chapman's peak, one of the only moments were I wished I was carrying some local currency on the drive!
This road features on many lists as one of the most beautiful coastal road experiences in the world. The road, locally known as “Chappies”, is also claimed to be a popular destination for international car ad campaigns, from the likes of Mercedes and BMW.
The scenic drive "Hewn out of the face of sheer mountains" seems true here:
Back in the 7OO to the next destination:
The cars slowly headed down the winding roads into Kommetjie.
One corner suddenly opens up this landscape view and my jaw drops! The pictures don't do justice, but this was one of the most surreal landscapes I have ever seen and it just suddenly appears into view, post a corner. To top it all - there were horses running on the beach then, gone by the time we found parking and doubled back. If you zoom in, you can see the ranch nearby! Even the house looked right out of a smurfs movie!
The blue of the trapped water body contrasted well with the blue in the sky and of the ocean. The sands were clean and white! Man, what a landscape - and what a shame the photographs can't capture the beauty of what I felt in person!
The last of the mountain sections awaited as we rolled into the plains of Kommetjie:
Guess this was the last time we were part of the convoy, for soon we would be betting on a hunch and diverting on to a beautiful secluded beach.
Clear water and sand, sunny but the temperatures still hovering around the pleasant 20s - this was a good place to relax for few minutes
Not to mention - secluded and without any disturbance:
After a few minutes of silence and soaking in the views, we hit the roads again - onwards to Cape Point.
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