Cape Town, South Africa
Today was filled with spectacular views and a coastal drive that rivals the drives along the Hawaiian Coast and the Western Coast of the USA. We enjoyed our day with our driver/guide Mistura, a local Cape Townian. She drove us down the Cape towards Cape Point which drive boarded the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Table Mountain range on the other- which I didn't realized stretched all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope. The ocean is freezing and the winds blow here- it is also known as the Cape of Storms. Cape Point was our first stop where we climbed up to the lighthouse that has a light that is 19.5 million candle power. Hundreds of ships have crashed over the years along the southern coast of Africa and the coastline is dotted with lighthouses. This light house stands high up on the point, the wind was howling and you felt like you were at the end of the world. Baboons climbed around the walkways, one holding a baby. Sam was excited and a bit concerned about the Baboons since there are signs all over that say they are dangerous and can bite. We took in the windy but spectacular view from Cape Point and hiked down.
We made our way to the Cape of Good Hope which was just below it, along the ocean. It was named Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese King John II. It had been called the Cape of Storms by the first Portuguese explorer who on his second visit around the Cape died in a ship wreck but King John II gave it the name Good Hope since it provided an important trade route from West to East.
Cape of Good Hope marks the most South-Western point of the African Continent. It was beautiful with strong winds, crashing ocean spray, large boulder rocks along the beaches and wild ostriches feeding along the road.
We enjoyed a nice lunch near Boulders Beach at a tasty restaurant where Sam had calamari and I enjoyed a bowl of butternut squash soup. Then to Boulders Beach where a colony of African Penguins live. There are four kinds of penguins: African (only found in South Africa), Emperor (Antarctica), Chinstrap (between South Africa and Antarctica) and Rockhopper (cool ones with yellow crazy eyebrows, can be found between South America and the Antarctic). Penguins don't live at the North Pole, only near the South Pole- didn't realize this before today.
There are only 5 colonies of penguins in South Africa and the spot where we went there are believed to be 3500 penguins in this colony- although many were out "fishing" and many were hidden in the ground cover along the beach. We loved watching them, the way the swim, they waddle, the way they clean each other, they were molting- which they do each year for 21 days and fatten up before they do since they don't go in the water when they are molting. It was fun to just observe. Many were also paired up, which reminded us that they mate for life.
Great day. On the way through one of the beach towns headed back along the False Bay coast, we spotted while driving some cool beaded animal heads that can be hung on a wall. We turned around and bargained with the man that was selling them and who had beaded them. We came to an agreement and Nathan, expect in the mail a beaded Elephant head and a Bontebok- a South African antelope :) Love them!
Penguin on the right is almost ready to molt it's fuzzy layer- where it is no longer waterproof and so can't go in the water for the 21 days it takes to complete since it sheds it's waterproof layer and so they fatten up since they can't fish during that time
Today was filled with spectacular views and a coastal drive that rivals the drives along the Hawaiian Coast and the Western Coast of the USA. We enjoyed our day with our driver/guide Mistura, a local Cape Townian. She drove us down the Cape towards Cape Point which drive boarded the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Table Mountain range on the other- which I didn't realized stretched all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope. The ocean is freezing and the winds blow here- it is also known as the Cape of Storms. Cape Point was our first stop where we climbed up to the lighthouse that has a light that is 19.5 million candle power. Hundreds of ships have crashed over the years along the southern coast of Africa and the coastline is dotted with lighthouses. This light house stands high up on the point, the wind was howling and you felt like you were at the end of the world. Baboons climbed around the walkways, one holding a baby. Sam was excited and a bit concerned about the Baboons since there are signs all over that say they are dangerous and can bite. We took in the windy but spectacular view from Cape Point and hiked down.
We made our way to the Cape of Good Hope which was just below it, along the ocean. It was named Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese King John II. It had been called the Cape of Storms by the first Portuguese explorer who on his second visit around the Cape died in a ship wreck but King John II gave it the name Good Hope since it provided an important trade route from West to East.
Cape of Good Hope marks the most South-Western point of the African Continent. It was beautiful with strong winds, crashing ocean spray, large boulder rocks along the beaches and wild ostriches feeding along the road.
We enjoyed a nice lunch near Boulders Beach at a tasty restaurant where Sam had calamari and I enjoyed a bowl of butternut squash soup. Then to Boulders Beach where a colony of African Penguins live. There are four kinds of penguins: African (only found in South Africa), Emperor (Antarctica), Chinstrap (between South Africa and Antarctica) and Rockhopper (cool ones with yellow crazy eyebrows, can be found between South America and the Antarctic). Penguins don't live at the North Pole, only near the South Pole- didn't realize this before today.
There are only 5 colonies of penguins in South Africa and the spot where we went there are believed to be 3500 penguins in this colony- although many were out "fishing" and many were hidden in the ground cover along the beach. We loved watching them, the way the swim, they waddle, the way they clean each other, they were molting- which they do each year for 21 days and fatten up before they do since they don't go in the water when they are molting. It was fun to just observe. Many were also paired up, which reminded us that they mate for life.
Great day. On the way through one of the beach towns headed back along the False Bay coast, we spotted while driving some cool beaded animal heads that can be hung on a wall. We turned around and bargained with the man that was selling them and who had beaded them. We came to an agreement and Nathan, expect in the mail a beaded Elephant head and a Bontebok- a South African antelope :) Love them!
Cape Point
Lighthouse at Cape Point
Cape of Good Hope
Molting penguin
This map shows were the African Penguins naturally colonize
No comments:
Post a Comment