Cape Town, South Africa
Today we hopped on a open double decker tourist bus which gave us background info on the area and dropped us off at the base of Table Mountain. We rode the tram up to the top of Table Mountain. It is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. It's large mesa stands like a table overlooking the surrounding bays and coves. The original tram was built nearly 100 years ago. The mountain shoots up from the sea 3500 feet. Black maned lions used to roam the area until the mid 1800s. Cape Town was originally and military port for the Dutch and then in the early 1800s it became part of the British Empire.
Sam and I walked for over an hour and half up on the top of the mountain, taking in the views from all directions. It was spectacular being at the southern tip of Africa and being able to see ocean 3/4 of the way around the mountain. The adjacent peaks are called Lion's Head and Devil's Peak and on the back of the mountain there are "The Twelve Apostles" named for the breathtaking jutting rocks that overlook the Bay. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed looking through binoculars and the landscapes below.
We took a cab over to a spot that sounded interesting. We hadn't heard much about it but was called A World of Birds. Sam and I were BLOWN AWAY at this bird sanctuary. It was like nothing you could imagine. They have over 3000 birds and animals, and that is not an exaggeration, of 400 different species. This Sanctuary was founded by a man we met as we were leaving. His name was Walter Mangold. In the early 1970s he took his hobby of breeding exotic birds and it developed into a place where birds and animals that are in need are brought to find help and be cared for and shared with the public.
Sam and I took 3 hours walking through the park, right until closing. We could have stayed another hour. Each aviary took our breath away, whether we were there to witness the white peafowl display it's full plumage in a private showing, or the horned owls that glared us down, or the huge birds of prey from the King Vulture to African Eagles, to tiny baby hornbills.... we just kept saying "Can you believe this?!" We were giggling the whole time. In American zoos you may see 2 owls. We saw 50 owls-nearly all awake and staring us down...like the Mona Lisa. No matter which way we went, they would turn their head and scope us out. We saw Meerkats and Lemurs and mini Kangaroos and Porcupines too. AMAZING afternoon, awed and inspired and grateful for this amazing exhibit.
Following our World of Birds exploration right at closing we exited. Good thing we did since no one was wondering around to say they were closing and they just about locked us in everyone racing to catch a bus. We asked the gentleman just outside the gate about our Red Line Bus. He said it should be here any minute. The gentleman turned out to be the founder Walter. We praised him for this amazing sanctuary and said it was the most surprising animal park we had ever imagined. We vowed to make a donation to support it., which we will surely do. He was touched and grateful and thrilled we had loved his park, his passion. We took a quick photo and than ran to the street to catch the last bus at the last second that that would take us back to the Waterfront,
The open air bus gave us beautiful views of the coastline as we weaved along the coast and it's surrounding villages, shanty towns, big surf as well as a random Irish looking castle on the mountainside- need to find out more about that. We enjoyed a nice walkabout and grabbed dinner at a tasty Asian restaurant in the Harbor. Great day, thank you Cape Town.
Today we hopped on a open double decker tourist bus which gave us background info on the area and dropped us off at the base of Table Mountain. We rode the tram up to the top of Table Mountain. It is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. It's large mesa stands like a table overlooking the surrounding bays and coves. The original tram was built nearly 100 years ago. The mountain shoots up from the sea 3500 feet. Black maned lions used to roam the area until the mid 1800s. Cape Town was originally and military port for the Dutch and then in the early 1800s it became part of the British Empire.
Sam and I walked for over an hour and half up on the top of the mountain, taking in the views from all directions. It was spectacular being at the southern tip of Africa and being able to see ocean 3/4 of the way around the mountain. The adjacent peaks are called Lion's Head and Devil's Peak and on the back of the mountain there are "The Twelve Apostles" named for the breathtaking jutting rocks that overlook the Bay. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed looking through binoculars and the landscapes below.
We took a cab over to a spot that sounded interesting. We hadn't heard much about it but was called A World of Birds. Sam and I were BLOWN AWAY at this bird sanctuary. It was like nothing you could imagine. They have over 3000 birds and animals, and that is not an exaggeration, of 400 different species. This Sanctuary was founded by a man we met as we were leaving. His name was Walter Mangold. In the early 1970s he took his hobby of breeding exotic birds and it developed into a place where birds and animals that are in need are brought to find help and be cared for and shared with the public.
Sam and I took 3 hours walking through the park, right until closing. We could have stayed another hour. Each aviary took our breath away, whether we were there to witness the white peafowl display it's full plumage in a private showing, or the horned owls that glared us down, or the huge birds of prey from the King Vulture to African Eagles, to tiny baby hornbills.... we just kept saying "Can you believe this?!" We were giggling the whole time. In American zoos you may see 2 owls. We saw 50 owls-nearly all awake and staring us down...like the Mona Lisa. No matter which way we went, they would turn their head and scope us out. We saw Meerkats and Lemurs and mini Kangaroos and Porcupines too. AMAZING afternoon, awed and inspired and grateful for this amazing exhibit.
Following our World of Birds exploration right at closing we exited. Good thing we did since no one was wondering around to say they were closing and they just about locked us in everyone racing to catch a bus. We asked the gentleman just outside the gate about our Red Line Bus. He said it should be here any minute. The gentleman turned out to be the founder Walter. We praised him for this amazing sanctuary and said it was the most surprising animal park we had ever imagined. We vowed to make a donation to support it., which we will surely do. He was touched and grateful and thrilled we had loved his park, his passion. We took a quick photo and than ran to the street to catch the last bus at the last second that that would take us back to the Waterfront,
The open air bus gave us beautiful views of the coastline as we weaved along the coast and it's surrounding villages, shanty towns, big surf as well as a random Irish looking castle on the mountainside- need to find out more about that. We enjoyed a nice walkabout and grabbed dinner at a tasty Asian restaurant in the Harbor. Great day, thank you Cape Town.
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