This movement was founded by a longstanding group of artists that were painting in Woodtsock but who wanted to take their art from the studios into the streets. We wanted to inspire, we wanted to educate, and we wanted to tell stories that hadn’t been told. Today, we have more than 100 pieces here by local and international artists. In 2012, there was a demand from people to go and see the artwork and to know the stories behind them, and so I started doing the walking tours.

How did the local community respond to the street art?

We had to go to house owners to get permission to paint on their property, and at the start only half said yes. But as we started to paint, more people started to allow the art. It wasn’t easy for people to understand what we were doing. They thought art could only be found in the galleries; that it was only for the rich to own. We explained that this would be art and it would belong to the people. We wanted it to inspire them everyday. Now, the local people love it.

Can you tell us a bit about the neighbourhood?

Woodstock was historically an English neighbourhood of textile factories, but was hit hard when the Chinese market boomed and overtook local business. Artists moved into the empty buildings and it started becoming trendy. More recently, the area has become gentrified. Woodstock now has one of the finest restaurants in the world, The Test Kitchen. Places like Rosetta Roastery and Honest Chocolate are popular, plus the food and fashion at Saturday’s Neighbourgoods Market in The Old Biscuit Mill. It’s very vibrant, very happening. And after a day checking out the street art, you can have a drink at the arty Casa Woodstock Bar. If you come for the tour, you want to end up somewhere with a similiar artistic vibe.

townshiparttours.co.za.co.za

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South Africa is famous for its safaris, but its ocean life is just as rich, just as fascinating. On a cruise around the Dyer Island system in Gansbaai, you have the chance to see our Marine Big Five: the great white shark, African penguin, southern right whale, cape fur seal, and dolphin. I challenge anyone to find another place on Earth that can offer such diversity so close to shore.

Is shark cage diving terrifying?

With Marine Dynamics, we’ve had everyone from a three-year-old to a 100-year-old go in. When you see a great white swim past, you have such a change in perception. It’s a chance to appreciate just how magnificent and elegant they are, to understand they’re not man-eating monsters.

It never gets old to see people leave the cage with that transformation. Experiencing shark cage diving is powerful. The sharks are here year-round, but there’s a higher density from May to September when the cape fur seal pups make their way into the ocean from the Geyser rock colony into the stretch we call Shark Alley.

When is the best time to go whale-watching?

Peak season for southern right whales is October and November. But they start arriving from the Antarctic in May and June and leave again in December. This year, we had a bumper season; more calves were born in these waters than in any of the previous 39 years. Even out of southern right whale season, we still have Bryde’s whales and humpbacks.

Are visitors helping conservation?

When you go out in Gansbaai with Marine Dynamics for shark cage diving, or go whale-watching with Dyer Island Cruises, you’re really making a difference by contributing to the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. The non-profit organisation is involved in vital research and conservation, and it runs the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary, which rehabilitates injured and sick birds.

sharkwatchsa.com

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I’ve been working in the wine industry for nearly 30 years and in my opinion this is the best wine destination in the world. The proximity of the Winelands to Cape Town is unique: people can enjoy iconic city sights and then, in under an hour’s drive, be sampling local wines among the vines in Stellenbosch or Franschhoek. Within a three-hour radius you can visit 10 wine regions easily. And for UK travellers, it’s a simple flight to Cape Town in a straight line north to south, so there’s no jet lag.

What’s the local food like?

You’re really spoilt for choice with restaurants in the Winelands. And it’s very affordable, along with our wines. There’s a move away from the theatre of molecular gastronomy made popular by Ferran Adrià and Heston Blumenthal. Food here is becoming more real — more authentic.

In one of the oldest buildings in Stellenbosch, we have the restaurant De Volkskombuis, which means ‘the people’s kitchen’. And this was the food that I grew up with: traditional Cape-Dutch cuisine, that evolved in home kitchens over generations. Dishes such as waterblommetjie bredie, a lamb stew made with a little flower that lives in the marshes and dams here in the Western Cape.

Which wines do visitors absolutely have to try?

A lot of people will immediately think of Vin de Constance, which was supposedly the first wine that was made in Constantia. It was already being drunk in Europe in the 18th century; Napoleon had it at his deathbed at Saint Helena. But I think in the last two decades or so, we’ve really started redefining ourselves.

Pinotage is our national grape, developed in the 1920s by Professor Perold in Stellenbosch. It’s a unique, interesting grape, and we’re still learning how to manage it. It’s producing beautiful, world-acclaimed wines. Our flag bearers are pinotage for red and, for white, our chenin blanc.

oldvineproject.co.za

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I was a dental technician until 2014 when I appeared on MasterChef South Africa’s third season. Afterwards, I became a restaurateur, opening 4Roomed right here in the township I grew up in. The name comes from the standard four-roomed homes found in the oldest townships across the country. When my mother moved us to Khayelitsha in the ’80s, she built an incredible community by welcoming people to stay with us. The four-roomed homes were about sharing; there were no fences between homes. And I grew up thinking we were all family.

What’s the concept behind your South African township cuisine?

You’ll find a lot of South African restaurants don’t serve South African-inspired meals. It’s become a lot about fast food because of the demands of work and life. With our cuisine, we want to tell stories about growing up in a township. We want to evoke nostalgia and pride.

Tell us about one of your dishes

In the olden days, there was a pumpkin and pap dish called umqa. My twist is that we make it with butternut and nutmeg, with a drizzle of truffle oil. I wanted to create this because umqa is the most undermined dish! I’ve had guests say, “I don’t want to have umqa, it’s a peasant meal.” But when they taste it — although it might remind them of how they struggled growing up, eating this as their breakfast, lunch and dinner — they say, “Oh this reminds me of my gran.”

Which dish are you most proud of?

There’s a dessert called amkhekhe, inspired by a popular scone you’d find in townships. I’ve revamped the recipe, added some citrus flavours, chocolate chips and a yuzu syrup. And we love adding whatever grows in the garden, in this case gooseberries and nasturtium flowers. And it gets topped with a burnt sugar decoration, which is a nod to the sugar I burnt on Masterchef that got me kicked off!

4roomedekasiculture.com

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