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Cape of Good Hope
At the southwestern most point on the whole continent of Africa. Pretty cool! Sunday morning we all woke up bright and early (much to our chagrin) to head down to Cape Point, which is the southwestern most point on the whole continent of Africa. It was really an amazing day. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, and the sky was this intense blue. In Cape Town, the weather wasn’t too cold; breezy, but I was comfortable just in a light sweater. However, by the time we got halfway down the peninsula, the Arctic wind was coming in and I had to put my fleece on.
Our first stop was at Chapman’s Peak, which is the beginning of a strip of highway that was closed for many years due to rock slides. The coastline here is very similar to the Californian coastline, with the hills and mountains basically dropping off immediately into the ocean. It’s very dramatic looking. We climbed up Champan’s Peak, took pictures, meandered around, and generally enjoyed the weather.
We kept driving until we got to the national park at Cape Point, where we immediately saw some ostriches on the side of the road. There was one male ostrich (which is the black and white
From Chapman's Peak
On the drive to Cape Point, the views were absolutely breathtaking. ostrich that you typically think of when you hear ostrich) and a pack of female ostriches, which are an ugly brown color. One female ostrich got pretty close to our bus, but nobody got out, since they are very vicious, and it would be pretty ridiculous to have to tell your family that you were mauled by an ostrich.
We finally got to the Cape of Good Hope, which is the southwestern most point on the continent. It was very rocky, and actually probably the least beautiful place out of all the places we went today. We took plenty of pictures with the sign, and then our professor gave us the option to either drive up to Cape Point with the bus, or to take the 90 minute hike. Owing partially to temporary insanity and partially to adventure, I decided to hike up. The Hoff lied when he told us that it was a ‘leisurely stroll’…my legs were hurting! But the view was breathtaking, and I’m pretty proud of myself for doing that. On the way, we saw some really cute rock hydraxes (also known as “dassies”, which are basically like prairie dogs). Jonathan, one of the students on
Ostrich!
Why did the ostrich cross the road? the trip, decided it would be a good idea to “pretend” to feed the dassie, and proceeded to actually get bitten by the thing. We’re all betting how long it takes him to get rabies. The wind was blowing really heavily, and I feel partially deaf in my right ear.
I had a nice lunch at the restaurant at the top of Cape Point with Nicole, her husband Elvis, Michael and Eric, and then we went up to the old lighthouse at the top of Cape Point. Once again, beautiful view, and you could actually see a line where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet! It didn’t photograph well, unfortunately, but you’d never guess that something like that exists.
On our way back from Cape Point, we saw a family of baboons on the side of the road. They were also very cute. We saw a Cape Zebra grazing, too. Then we stopped at Boulders Beach, which has one of the largest colonies of African penguins (also known as “jackass” penguins due to their braying call), where I definitely was tempted to smuggle a penguin into my bag. We didn’t see any rockhopper penguins, which, for those of
Dassie
The cute little animal that bit Jonathan. you who are less educated in your species of penguins, were the Mexican penguins from Happy Feet (think Lovelace). So cute!
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Lisa
non-member comment
PLEASE please please please tell me you managed to smuggle a penguin!!!!!! Teddy would love a penguin buddy - you could name him winston. Sounds dignified and appropriate. Miss you!