There is a super-easy way of getting out and about that is no more challenging than taking a stroll. Let the wheels do the walking, writes Shellee-Kim Gold.
Though it’s an unseasonably cool, blustery day for February in the Western Cape, nothing can dampen my spirit. I have mastered riding the Segway futuristic transporter – on rutted farm roads.
In Holland, it’s no novelty to see preschoolers bouncing about on their bicycles. Then there’s the odd adult foreigner in town whose sense of balance is such that accidents result. Sometimes even caused by a local cyclist’s passenger. In one case, that was me.
Thereafter, my confidence never fully returned to that happy equilibrium on a bicycle or anything else requiring a balancing act.
This is why off-roading so uber-confidently now on my battery-charged, two-wheeler Segway around the Spier wine estate is such a thrill.
But I’m also being lulled into a false sense of confidence because Segways are, in fact, a self-balancing mechanism. Anyone who can stand on its platform and who has a little knee flexibility can ride them. You lean forward to go forwards and backward to go backwards.
Soaring over the bumps of the hilly farm tracks
Essential pre-tour training takes between five to 15 minutes, depending on how fast you learn. A mini-obstacle course is thrown in at the end to test you. Riding is so simple that 10-year-olds have ridden them, and the oldest rider was 96. Weight is more of an issue because the Segway struggles to run with anyone over 120kg.
But traversing the tracks of the biodynamic farm means you do need to take your guide’s instructions seriously. “Take corners widely to turn” means just that. Move the handlebar gently in the direction you want to go or run the risk of unbalancing your Segway. Falling off with this 54kg baby following you can be a crushing experience.
One of a group and a guest of Touring South Africa, who run regular Segway tours at Spier, we’re soaring through the dips and over the bumps of the sometimes hilly farm tracks.
Breezing past pine trees and proteas, the large-tyred machine makes a low, comforting whirring sound. Battery life is seven hours.
Spier has long been known as an innovator of sustainable and green farming practices and we’re here to learn more about such things as a natural wastewater treatment plant and recycled water.
Sample the merlot and cabernet sauvignon
Like Masaru Emoto, Spier believes water has consciousness and reacts – positively or negatively – to how it’s spoken to. Hence the “love” and “peace” signs pasted at the plant to inspire the purest water.
Spier’s dam, used for flushing the estate’s toilets, has saved it 40% on fresh water.
If you eat an omelette at any of Spier’s restaurants, the eggs will have come from its free-range fowls. Many coops yield about 1 000 eggs a day.
As is the way on farms that use natural farming methods, chicken manure is used as a fertilizer.
As a rule, organically grown grapes have far more nutrients and juice than those fed commercial fertilizer. We’re hopping on and off our Segways in the vineyard to sample the merlot and cabernet sauvignon. While we’re at it, the safety feature kicks in. Jump off the Segway and the machine slowly stops, but in the opposite direction to yours.
Segway riding isn’t an extreme sport and high speed isn’t associated with it, but that won’t necessarily stop your urge to go faster.
Halfway through the tour, our guide, Arnold, “unlocks” our machines. Now we’re supercharged on adrenalin and in turbo mode doing Segway’s maximum speed of 20km an hour.
Tour info: Spier Vineyard Tours, R450 a person, T 021 809 1157, visit
This article by Shellee-Kim Gold appeared in the Mail & Guardian
Spier is a WWF Conservation Champion and is listed on the Cape Town Green Map: Nedbank Green Wine Route
