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Published: November 16th 2009
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Cape Point is the south western most point of Africa (its a misnomer that its the southernmost point, actually Cape Aghulas which is 230 km from Cape Town is the southernmost point and that's where Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean meet, but few people go there because there is very little to do there).
Cape Point, the more popular of the two is inside the Cape of Good Hope Nature reserve. With the desire of spending time hiking at Cape Point, I booked myself at Elands Cottage (booked online, they won't take the booking of a single person on phone). Little did I know what I was getting myself into
What I didn't know (and didn't do enough research on) is Elands Cottage is a completely inaccessible place in the nature reserve, in terms of public transport. Its 3km walk from the Buffelsfontein Information Center, which sounded ok (I have left my big bag at the hotel, so can walk), till I heard the word "Baboons".
You see, this place is infested with Baboons and they have a strong liking for food (thanks to errant travellers feeding them, which btw is now a fined act, if you are
caught feeding them). And Baboons have a strong sense of smell, so even if you carrying food in your bag, you are in danger. I am carrying some packed food because Elands has no food, so the idea of walking 3kms with Baboons around didn't sound too appealing 😊
The SANParks folks (that's the South African National Parks, the government agency handling all national parks) wasn't helpful at all. Their "hut" which is closer to Cape Point (and empty and available), well they won't sell it to me (forget about giving it free in exchange of the cottage), because its a) minimum for 2 people and b) I need to hike from the gate of the reserve to Cape Point to get it. Ridiculous, have come to believe that governments everywhere in the world are a bureaucratic nightmare, no help to anyone
Anyway, thanks to some creative thinking and lots of help from Rusty (dude, dunno what I would do without you here 😊 U come to Mumbai, we going to Toto's and getting sloshed 😊, finally a solution emerged in terms of "Denzel", a guy who has agreed to drop me from Cape Point to Elands today
and pick me up from Elands to Cape Point tomorrow morning (god bless Denzel)
That combined with the tour I am taking (half today to get to Cape Point from Cape Town and half tomorrow to get back to Cape Town) is the solution to this precarious position I had put myself in
Now to the good part.
Drive to Cape Point from my hotel at Sea Point was through Hout's Bay, where we all got off and took a cruise to Druiker Island, to see Seals. The sea was choppy, ice (one chinky dude puked, two Austrian women screamed). Sorry, no pics folks, I was too busy holding onto my camera and making sure my ass stayed on the boat. Avendus folks - reminded me of Langkawi trip, for me, terra firma any day above the sea 😊
After Hout Bay, we got to Chapman's Peak, one of the most beautiful mountain passes you will ever see. Its closed most of the times due to rock fall, but with Swiss engineering (they put nets on the mountain like they do in Swiss Alps), it was open to us. Lucky me 😊. We stopped at a
place to take pictures on Chapman's Peak and lo n behold, there was a couple getting married there 😊 Just the couple, the girl's mom and the priest. Was a very sweet moment, I didn't take their picture, would have been impolite, but it was just a nice, unexpected thing to see
Cape Point. Well, its tough to describe. Its one of those places you can come to and believe that nature is the most powerful thing on this world. And human beings are such small part of it.
Its the place where Vasco de Gama stopped in 1497 on his way to discovering India in 1498 (another Portugese dude discovered Cape Point and name it Cape of Good Hope in 1488, he was looking for a place to land his Masala 😊
No one usually stays at Cape Point (I prefer the Cape of Good Hope name though 😊, my tour guide told me she had never dropped off anyone here. I am staying, without knowing, I have booked a 6 room cottage all to myself, I hear/read animals (not dangerous kinds, just zebras, ostriches, antelopes and baboons 😊 roam the gardens there 😊 Let's see
Coming back to Cape Point, upon reaching and saying goodbyes to my friends on the tour (bunch of German, Swiss, Austrian folks, all work at the UN), I decided to take the Cape of Good Hope hike (its a 1.5 hour hike, I took 2 hours).
Well, the hike - phew, I am so exhausted. Had to stop at least 3 times and just to catch my breath 😊 my trousers are already loose by couple of inches (actually been that way for last 3 days 😊, am not sure if I have lost weight, I must have. But getting to Cape of Good Hope peak was something. Just a quiet celebration to myself, just the drive to go on 😊
Back from the hike, decided enough for the day, enjoyed a lazy late lunch and couple of Savannah's (mazdoor kaam karne ke baad daaru peeta hai bhai 😊
Now just chilling, Denzel will pick me up shortly. And then the lonely cottage with animals 😊
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