Citrusdal to the Cape of Good Hope

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Gekko lodge was a welcome retreat in the midst of a large working citrus farm just below the Cederberg range (with unique beautiful fynbos vegetation that smelt like wild thyme and reminded me of an alpine hillside).
As we left the Drakensburg Mountains, fog rolled dramatically off the peaks and the delicious scent of orange blossom filled the air. We past many groves, wheat fields and huge farmsteads-all very Western-looking before arriving in Cape Town which was so Westernised it really didn't seem like part of Africa at all.
Onward to Cape Hope, there are myriads of beautiful beaches along the coastline. We walked up to the old lighthouse and round the point- it was a perfect sunny morning, the air was scented with blossom from more fynbos plants and there were loads of little black girdled lizards so Luke & I decided to see how many we could stroke-great game! Then we spotted some Southern Right Whales off the point-amazing. There were heaps of gannets and cormorants along with 2 feeding seals diving through a shoal of fish (glad I remembered the binocs!).
We also walked down to the most South-Westerly point where our path was intercepted by a female ostrich- actually I should say a massive female ostrich- and her chicks which was quite surreal. Lunch by the sea and onto boulders beach to spot the jackass penguins. It was fairly pricey to go onto the main beach so we hoped to spot some further down the coast. As we walked down the path, we heard a sneeze and looked into the bushes to see a pair of penguins! There were heaps of them by the path, mostly snoozing in pairs and by the neighbouring beach, they were strolling right up to the sun bathers!

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