This has been such a great day with fun educations. We are talking about the combination of wines, food and big cats.

For some reason, my group gets really excited when wine is mentioned. Of course, there are good reasons for it. Maybe it is because South Africa has a long history of wine making, maybe it is because we get to drink lots of wine. The two wineries we visited were very different, both very nice.

Nelson Wine Estate is a family owned winery. It is sitting on a beautiful piece of land with lake and mountain around it. Jack Kukard, General Manager of the winery was such a gracious host. We walked through the whole wine growing and production process from beginning to end. Jack gave great descriptions of each step and answered all of our questions. I could feel his passion for the business. The tasting was the highlight of the tour. I am not an experienced drinker, and certainly know nothing about wine tasting. I have learned the swirls, the smell, the imagination, the color, the legs, etc. I felt that I have instantly become a wine lover, and bought two bottles of the estate wine without evening thinking about it. I think everyone is as enthusiastic as I am after the wine tasting; some bought a whole case to drink for the reminder of the trip.

 After the wine, we had a great African Buffet meal. This is the best meal so far, and of course the restaurant is on another winery, Spir, so we had more wine with our meal. And guess what, after the food and wine, we went straight to taste more wine.

The two wineries are very different. Nelson is a family owned business, and they are focused on just making wine, Spir has diverse sectors of business such as restaurant, face painting, and animal preserve park. Spir is very much touristy. There are rabbits and cheetahs on the property, and most us were courageous enough to touch the cheetahs. I am so proud that I touched the cheetah, that I sent my picture all over the world that night. Regardless of how slow the internet was, my picture with the cheetah still traveled the world.

All I could say is what a day!!! Wine, food and big cat, life is good.

I have been so excited about my South Africa trip, that I couldn’t stop telling people about it, and now I feel that the whole world knows about me going to SA, and everyone I see would start asking me when are you leaving for SA? Since I decided to go to on the trip, I have ran into a lot of people that are either from SA or have been to SA. They have all given me great advices and tips. I learn a lot already not only from the classroom lecture, but also from those tips. A couple of things I thought I’d mention here is:

1. Only the female masquitos carry the malaria virus, but our risk is really very low of getting it. First, it is winter; second, the female masquitos can not fly more than 2 feet high. So make sure you get your feet and legs covered up, and you will totally save.

2. A friend who when to SA told me that after taking Lariam pills, you will have some great dreams. Those dreams will be so vivid and colorful and three dementional. I got my Lariam pills just to have those great dreams.

Well, I hope everyone will have great dreams. This is going to be a trip of a life time, and I hope we will all be thinking and dreaming about it for many many year afterwards.