Cape Town & the Cape Peninsula

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Cape Town Day 2

Even though we had been on an organized tour for the past 45 days, we decided to book an organized tour for one more day, in order to see the Cape Peninsula and visit the most southwesterly point of Africa. Some of our group opted to visit Table Mountain. However, it was a terrifically windy day and the cable car up the mountain was closed for the day. It turns out that we chose the best day to see the peninsula.

Our van picked us and 7 others up just after 8:00 and off we went. There were many stops this day, including Hout Bay for an hour of shopping the markets, and s few stops for photos. All with constant commentary from our driver/guide. He was full of information.

We stopped at a beach known for it's resident penguins and they posed for photos with no fear of humans. Later in the day we stopped to watch some southern right whales cavorting not too far off shore. Lots of tale shots. These seem to be much smaller than the grey whales that we see in Hawaii.

By late morning, we were at the Cape of Good Hope, taking photos of the point, the beach, the ostriches wandering on the beach, and of course the sign. It was a beautiful blue-sky day, great for photos. Next was Cape Point, where we had lunch at a restaurant while local wardens chased the chacma baboons away. They were very aggressive, and known to steal anything that looks like food, even from inside the takeaway store. Just try to take your things back to see how aggressive they can be.

After lunch, we climbed up the hill to the lighthouse and a spectacular view. Just think - Antarctica was only 6,000 km further south!

By now, the afternoon was wearing on, and we made only a short stop at Kirstenbosch Gardens to see the proteas. This garden deserves it's own full day, but alas, we only were able to squeeze in a very small part of it, before returning to our hotel at 6:30. It was a very full day.

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