The last leg of my South African adventure saw me heading south, to the southernmost tip of Africa itself. The Elim wine region is just 20 km from Agulhas, and it’s an interesting place for growing wine grapes, with a chilly climate (by South African standards) and plenty of cooling breezes from the ocean.

I visited with a group of Elim producers – in fact, it represented most of the producers in this rather new region: Strandveld, Black Oystercatcher, Berrio, Quoin Rock and Zoetendal.

I’m pictured (top), with Francis Pratt (The Berrio), Dirk Human (Black Oystercatcher) and Johan de Kock (Zoetendal)

We took a drive through the vineyards, and then visited a joint conservation venture. The Elim growers have set aside 22 000 hectares from their farms to form the Nuwejaars Wetland Special Management Area initiative, which has been restored to pristine fynbos, with clearing of invasive aliens. They also have some red hartebeest, and have a disease-free buffalo breeding program.