Return from Cape Point, Nov 14

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Was picked up by the tour operator at Cape Point, the crowd was an elderly group of Germans, Swedes and Australians. They debated my age hotly, their best guess was 81 born. Man, people never get that one right 😊

We stopped for lunch at Simon's Town, the driver was a Dutch guy settled in South Africa, he told us an amazing story of "Able Man Just Nuisance".

Simon's Town was a British Navy base during World War II and once a soldier befriended a dog. He brought the dog (a Big Dane) to his quarters, soldiers weren't allowed to keep pets, but the officers ignored the issue. As the Dane grew, he started accompanying the soldiers when they went from Simon's Town to Cape Town, for wine and women. The dog will wait at the train station for the soldiers to come back after their merrymaking, when the last train's whistle blew, he would run to the town and pull at the cuffs of those soldiers who were too drunk/passed out, waking them up, so that they didn't miss the train. Thus, the Dane, now named "Just Nuisance" became a vital part of the British Navy setup. But the train conductor had a problem, the Dane used to take up two seats (it was that big) and when asked for a ticket, would only growl 😊 The conductor complained to the Navy, saying he was afraid the dog would someday bite someone and hence he didn't want the dog on the train. The British Admirality took this issue into consideration and in their wise judgment, decided to make the dog a full cadet of the British Navy. Thus he became "Able Seaman Just Nuisance". You see, you cannot refuse a soldier a ride in the train 😊

And efficient as the British are, they also opened a salary account for Just Nuisance at the Standard Bank and kept paying him a regular salary... Upto 1999... 😊 The dog died way earlier, in 1999 the British realized their folly and closed the account and donated all the money to a charitable organization to prevent cruelty against animals.

We saw the statue of Just Nuisance at Simon's Town.

We then went to Boulder's Beach, saw the Penguins, they are so cute. But don't try to pet the Penguins, they bite hard 😊

On our way from Boulder's Beach, suddenly the driver stopped, screaming "Whale" and we all jumped out in excitement. There they were, 2 Southern Right whales. I focused on one, got off a few shots. A southern right typically gets upto 27 meters in length (born 5 meters, grows 2.5 inch a day), weighs about 8000 times the average man 😊. It was awesome to spot so large an animal from land, going about its business. The reason its named Southern Right is a sad one - you see, these whales float when they die, so whalers call this "Right", because its the right one to hunt. Thankfully South Africa has banned whaling and their population is growing again here, its Japan and Norway where whaling is legal. its a beautiful creature, one we must protect.

From there, it was back to Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden (I'd been there before, but it was part of the tour, so went for a walk again). Peaceful as always, also saw the Baobab, its the "upside down" tree

Back to the hotel, relaxed in the evening, tomorrow to Stellenbosch

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Comments

[Ashutosh]

Baobab
Reminds me of "The Little Prince". Need to read that up again. Nice pics

[Lipika]

Growing 2.5"
Wish I too still grew a bit each day :)