Cape Town, South Africa

---

The last week of my time in Africa was spent in the amazing city of Cape Town. Lisa Krupp and I spent a week here and it was really nice to be in a fantastic hostel - if you ever go please go the The Backpacker it's a nice posh hostel and it was pure luxury for us. 😊 Plus the bonus was not having to pack up our stuff for a week. We got to Cape Town late Saturday and didn't see our few until the morning. I always assumed that Table Mountain was a distance from Cape Town, uh nope, it was literally in our backyard.

This city is certainly much more diverse than Joburg and heavy with tourists but the views continued to be stunning. Table Mountain is certainly another natural wonder of Africa, it has this beauty and mystery that is breathtaking especially when the clouds cover it and the light hits it. It makes for mind-boggling views and sets you up for some great photos. Most of these photos I'm posting are coming from my small camera as I again took most of my photos in the RAW format. It seems as though I'll need to have a viewing party for my photos when I return... ha!

Anyway, Cape Town certainly didn't disappoint. We were fortunate to meet up with a friend of a friend. Our friend Bellamy connected us with a classmate of hers named Hans. He was gracious enough to show us around town and hang with us. But first, Lisa and I entered our hostel with fresh linens and towels! This was a hostel? Anyway, this place was perfect as it had a great bar and restaurant, travel centre and cool people all around. After a nice sleep where we were able to "sleep-in", if you call 8:30 sleeping in, we relaxed and strolled down to the waterfront and hung out there for the day. It's a tourist trap but it was kind of nice to be around civilization again... haha! I bought some new clothes since some of my tanks and shirts got really grimy, so I had to buy stuff that made me look like I didn't live in the bush for almost 2 weeks.

After our relaxing Sunday, we hit the tourist route. Monday we went to Robben Island, which is where they housed all the political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela during apartheid. But this prison was established back in the 17th century and is a pinnacle piece of history for the city and country. It was quite fascinating as our docents were actually former prisoners. Our last guide was ironically named Sparks, and he mentioned why he was held there. They charged him for terrorism and he jokingly said, "Not to worry, I will not be terrorizing you." It's amazing to think what we humans do to one another, it was a striking reality of how cruel we can be to another for simply not wanting to learn another's viewpoint or because of the color of our skin. We weren't able to go to the apartheid museum in Joburg, but this tour certainly didn't disappoint. After Robben Island, we headed to Table Mountain. We took the cable car up to the top and got there just before the clouds covered the top of the mountain. The views from above were stunning. You're basically able to see the entire city from up top. Soon after we grabbed a late lunch we were enveloped by the clouds and the city was then blanketed.

We took advantage of the hop-on and hop-off bus in Cape Town, it was a great way to view the city and familiarize yourself with the area along with getting the history of the city and tidbits of knowledge thru their handy audio guide on the bus. On Tuesday we took the blue route to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. I was finally able to use my new macro lens... hee,hee! This beautiful garden is on the other side of Table Mountain and it really reminded my of the Ko'olau Mountain Range in Hawaii, if you know what I mean. Cape Town is kind of like home in that there was the dry side and the wet side, this side was the Kailua side. The background is Table Mountain and it's beautiful and is very lush and as green as it could possibly be. After the gardens, we headed back to the bus and took a drive around the city and hit Camps Bay and Sea Point. Tuesday was one of the windiest days in Cape Town, which the city is apparently quite known for. Well when we hit Camp's Bay, we were pelted by the sand. It was like needles poking you, owwee! The little boardwalk was like a sliver of Miami Beach, we jumped back onto the blue bus and stopped at Sea Point and walked thru the city and the boardwalk with amazing ocean views.

Wednesday was our adventure day. We did a day tour to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. We left early and traveled with 6 others, our guide's name was Alex who was a native of Cape Town. Who also had a vast amount of knowledge, he was able to answer most if not all of our questions. Guess that's why he's so good at what he does. Anyway, we headed out to Hout Bay and caught a boat ride to see the seals on a tiny island. We traveled with a boatload and literally a boatload of Chinese, who had no problem pushing us aside for pictures. I literally was pushed from behind by a woman, to the point where when we got to the island of seals, ALL the Chinese tourists went to the one side and my friend Lisa and I didn't bother. We asked one of the crew about the boat turning and so we just waited till it was our turn. We soon saw them and didn't have to push anyone around, though in a cruel way it would have been fun...ha! Mean I know. It's embarrassing to know that I'm partially related to these tourists, now I understand why my Paga refused to admit her Chinese background... haha! After surviving the tourists, we jumped back onto the bus and headed to Boulder's Beach, where we saw the Jackass Penguins, they're now known as the African Penguin but Jackass is better. They were referred to that simply because their call sounded like a donkey. Poor guys. On our way down to the beach, we saw some penguins off the beaten path, like in a gutter. It was a mom protecting her young, pretty odd place for a penguin to be but I guess that's what happens when we humans invade their space. 😊 It was remarkable to see these creatures within this beautiful environment.

We then headed off to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. We had lunch in the National Park and then drove to the lighthouse. It was a good hike up but the views going up, at the lighthouse and coming down were breathtaking. I know I keep using some of the same words to describe the beauty of what we saw, but really they are amazing. It also was windy up there from the point, 4 of us opted to ride a bike down to the Cape of Good Hope. It was mostly downhill and flat but then towards the finish line, you hit this wall of wind and I had a better understanding of cyclists hard work. I've been to windy cities but Cape Town has definitely got Chicago beat especially when you're trying to bike to a destination. We got there though and our climb to the top was priceless. All of it was worth it and I would do it again in an instant. On our way up, we met up with some dassies which look like little groundhogs but they are supposedly related to the elephant... huh? They were cute little buggers though.

Thursday was our last full day in Cape Town and what else was left for me and Lisa to do? Drink good wine! S. Africa is making a name for themselves in the wine industry and they didn't disappoint. We were greeted bright and early by a cheery, spunky guide named Marinda. She had some energy and blasted music at 8:30 to get us going. We visited 4 wineries and had the chance to not only drink wine but eat cheese and chocolates... yummy! The estates of these wineries are beautiful and are socked away in areas that to me sometimes beat N. Ca and Santa Barbara. I know... but wow, it also could be the amount of wine we consumed that day. We ended up having 4 bottles of party wine with our new found friends from London and Holland on the ride back. Lisa and I ended up buying 6 bottles each to be sent to LA - pretty inexpensive wine that tasted great. The wine that S. Africa is becoming known for is a blend that is special to them - Pinotage. It's half of a Pinot Noir grape and Hermitage.... it's a robust red and we drank much of this in Africa.

Friday was our last day before Lisa K and I parted ways. We tried to hit the District 6 museum but unfortunately it was closed that day since Friday was the beginning of a long holiday. Remember that holiday called Easter? 😊 Well S. Africa recognizes it as a long holiday and the beginning of holiday break for many kids. We walked thru the Company Gardens that is situated within the parliament buildings and went the S. Africa Jewish Museum. Cape Town has a strong population and it's one of the first cities that the Jewish settled in in Africa. After some last minute souvenir shopping, we headed onto the airport to leave Africa.

It was an amazing three weeks and I'm definitely returning. There is still so much to see and to learn. Next time I'm here, I'll definitely return to S. Africa but then I'd love to explore Kenya, Namibia, and Mozambique and of course Egypt. I hope you enjoyed my Africa blog and up next I'll be back in Europe, exploring history and culture in Paris and then ending it in Amsterdam.

Till then!
Aloha!!

---

Photos

Robben Island
Complex where Mandela's cell is located

Tourists almost tipping the boat to see the seals
They're just seals people! :)

Beware of baboons!
We heard that one of the workers here was harassed by baboons. They stole food from the cafe.

Comments

[Christiana]

jealous
Hi Leilani, It looks like you are having the best time on all your travels. We miss you! Have fun and safe travels back to the USA.