Cape Town

We’ve been in a lot of beautiful places, but as far as cities go, Cape Town may be the most beautiful. I’d like to say it’s hard to take a bad picture, but we managed quite a few….  Here are some of our best plus a couple just for fun.

We spent 3 full days exploring Cape Town and Cape Point—one day on our own and 2 days with a guide who got us to all the right places. On New Years Day we didn’t want to venture far. It’s National Beach Day and roads become clogged with traffic. We headed to Kirstenbosch Gardens, which are amazing. We followed that with high tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel—the original grand hotel, which housed visiting Brits in the 19^th century. With champagne, 2 trays of savories, tea and a dessert table, with at least 30 desserts, we did not leave hungry.

The drive to Cape Point is breathtakingly beautiful—although it started with these fun guys. Picture 1 shows a group of African Penguins, whose home is on the Indian Ocean side of the peninsula, on the way to the Cape. These penguins used to be called Jackass Penguins because the braying call they make sounds like a donkey. But political correctness prevailed! It’s nesting time and picture 1 shows one of the partners sitting on the nest. Their mouths are open in order to keep cool. While we were watching, a gull flew in and robbed an unguarded nest, carrying the egg away in its mouth. The little fellow in Picture 2, was so cute he required his picture taken!

Pictures 3 and 4 were taken in Cape Point National Park, which stretches from Cape Town to Cape Point. The rugged coastline is beautiful. Picture 5 is a picture of the actual Cape Point. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the southernmost point in Africa; it’s the southwesternmost point in Africa. If you look in the distance, across False Bay you can see Point Alguhas, which is actually further south and IS the southernmost point in Africa.

After making the obligatory climb to the lighthouse, we visited the Cape of Good Hope, shown in Picture 6.  People form a queue to have their picture taken with the sign. We’re not very interesting, but the people in front of us were. They were a man and woman and their motorcycle. It took some struggling to get the motorcycle next to the sign, but he said they had to do it. They had ridden over 28,000 kilometers from Austria to get to the Cape and they wanted to record it. It had taken over a year. I asked our guide what the safest route might be. He guessed Egypt, Ethiopia and Uganda, but then you get into some countries that are none too safe—Nigeria? Congo? What an adventure.

While at the Cape, we found some wild ostriches. Picture 7 shows Dad and a couple good-sized babies.

On our way back to Cape Town, we made a brief photo stop in Hout Bay (Picture 8), with The Sentinel looming on the left.

The next day we toured Cape Town. Our first activity was supposed to be the cable car to the top of Table Mountain, but the top wasn’t visible, so that activity was postponed. Instead, we went up Signal Hill, which wasn’t quite in the clouds and watch parasailors taking off and landing on the beach below (Picture 9).

We spent time walking through downtown Cape Town and getting a history lesson. Picture 10 isn’t a great picture, but provides an important history lesson. Cape Town was founded by the Dutch East Indies Company. They were traveling to the Far East to bring back spices and other products. With a journey that long scurvy became a significant problem. They needed somewhere to get fresh fruit and vegetables. Cape Town became that stop. This garden is on the site of the original garden planted by the Dutch. It has been growing in some shape or form for 400+ years. Cape Town also provided fresh water and the fact that grapes grew well there made it even more attractive.

By noon, the skies had cleared—somewhat…. We decided to take the cable car up Table Mountain. Pictures 11 and 12 were taken on the ride up. Picture 11 shows Lions Head and Signal Hill in the foreground and Robben Island in the distance, barely visible through the clouds. Picture 12 looks east toward Devil’s Peak. At the top we were not so lucky. Picture 13 shows the clouds rolling in again.

Picture 14 is special. We have one of these on every trip we take. We call it an “End of the World” picture. We’re great fans of the movie “The Gods must Be Crazy”. At the end of the movie, the bushman drops the Coke bottle off “the end of the earth” because it has brought him nothing but bad luck. We vacationed here 17 years ago and, in our wanderings, happened upon the actual “end of the earth” location in the movie, which was a beautiful vista. Ready to snap a great photo, we got to the point and fog completely obliterated the view. So now we look for an “end of the world” photo on every trip. We’ve had fog on the Inca Trail and at a beautiful lighthouse in Portugal. We should keep a list. For this trip, the “end of the world” is the top of Table Mountain!