ah da's adventures: The most popular destination in Africa : Cape Town - Day 2

I spent my second day in Cape Town on a private tour of the Peninsula. From my research, going down to the peninsula to visit Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope are things that you have to have to do. However, it's really not that easy for a lone traveller to get out there. I mean, there is that Hop-on, Hop-off option of the peninsula tour, but it does not take you all the way around the Peninsula. Hence, after some research, I've decided to go with a private tour. It's actually not a bad way to do it if you can afford it.

The tour cost around R690 a person which is around ~100 CAD for a full day. You get chauffeured around in a mini bus that seats 14 people with a guide who also acts as a driver. There are also cheaper versions that only for half a day but i figure if you're going to do it and have the time for it, the full day is the way to do it so that you can spend a decent amount of time at each stop rather than rushing through it. The tour operator was African Eagle and i would recommend it to everyone any day.

This is a map that I found online. We started at the point where it says "Cape Town". And then went in a counter clockwise fashion down around the peninsula, all the way down to cape of good hope, back through simon's town and then back to the Table mountain.

So at 9am in the morning, Charlene, my tourguide came to my hostel to pick me and another guy up (Andrea from Italy). Then we went and picked up another Canadian from Calgary named Kamal and off we go.

First stop, we stopped at my favourite beach area - Camp's bay for a photo opportunity of the Table mountain and the surrounding area. I am absolutely in love with the landscape. It was a different look in the morning as it was also a bit hazy that day. But it just added so much more to the scenery.

isn't it just so magical? look at that layer of mist!

love this pic ;) <3

Once we finished our stop here, we drove along the coast into an area that was close to Hout's bay where we stopped for the additional option to take a boat out to see seals. This was one of the few things that was not included in the trip, so for an additional R65 (~$8CAD) you can take a 30 mins boat trip out to the middle of nowhere, somewhere behind the mountains in the Atlantic to watch the seal colony. My philosophy was in line with a really nice Australian couple who ended adopting me for the day (more on that story later) which was why not!?.

The boat ride was very rocky. And it was quite full. I ended up making friends with another guy from our tour bus who was there for the outerspace conference. He's a PHD student in international law from Beijing but currently based in the US. I also overheard another delegate who was from Ottawa but did her studies in Toronto. So hence, I made friends. And coincidentally she was an NSCI graduate (OT5 Aero) and her name was Zoe. She ended up doing her post-doc at MIT and is now a professor at George Washington. What a small world.

Here's a seal that was swimming close to shore

It's the seal colony!! (no it's not, this is just the dock)

after we rounded this mountain, we'll see them! (again misty and magical!)

THE SEAL COLONY! (we had to clear out from the front of the ship because the waves were so strong, they were worried that we'll go overboard)

swimming swimming in my atlantic ocean...

anyone gonna come with me for a swim?

I think it was an excellent choice. The seals were quite cool to observe. Most of them that are on the rocks don't really move, but the ones in the ocean are quite active. Their biggest enemies are sharks. But because the water is cooler here, there are less sharks. The other thing that I've observed was that the Seals smelled quite fishy.. it must be from the fish that they eat.

After we've left the seal colony, we were driven to the other side of Hout's bay at a lookout point so that we can have some more photo opps:

Looking into Hout's bay - another gorgeous day in Cape Town

I'm not good at these pictures at all...

Then we proceeded onto driving through Chapman's peak drive. It's one of the most scenic drive in South Africa. However, because the higher areas of the mountain are softer rocks, there has been a lot of landslides and rock falls that had caused accidents. As a result, there has been a lot of investment in the area to build in nets and other safety measures to prevent further tragedies. This also means that part of it is a toll route with the money going towards maintenance.

Chapman's peak drive - it's a very popular route for biking and jogging

they used part of the mountain to shield the cars! kinda cool!

going under that rock canopy!

After a scenic drive along the coast, we started driving a bit more inland and towards the Cape Peninsula National park. On our way, we were to stop at an Ostrich farm to check out the Ostriches.

I can go home to scarborough if i want!! (british influence town names)

Baboons on the streets!

They are quite smart and aggressive, so our tour guide rolled up all our windows and locked the doors

Hello i'm a male ostrich! I sit on the eggs at night, so i have black feathers

And this is my wife, she has grey feathers because she sits on the egg during the day! We're monogamous and dangerous ;)

The ostriches are quite cool. This farm is literally in the middle of nowhere. Each pair of ostriches live in their own squares, one male and one female. Ostriches apparently have the 2nd toughest leather second to the kangaroo and second most expensive to the crocodiles. They can also run quite fast and they are apparently not that bright since their head is so small.

After a short visit at the Ostriches, we continued our drive down to the cape of good hope nature reserve. We first stopped at the base of Cape point for a stop for lunch and a visit to the top where the lighthouse is. we have 1 h and 40 mins to do everything. I was way too hungry to do anything at that point, so I opted for lunch first at the Two Oceans restaurant (It's called two oceans because people mistakenly thought that the peninsula divided the Atlantic from the Indian ocean because the water temperature is different on the sides). I ordered the fish of the day which is a seabass. Unfortunately, the server gave our food away to the table next to us (we were a table of 2, with 2 orders of the seabass, they were a table of 8 and i suppose with 2 orders of seabass, but isn't it weird that only 2 plates were served?!?!) Anyways, so there was a huge delay with the serving of our food. When we finally finished and got the bill, more misfortune continued to fall on me. A giant tourbus of tourists just arrived and they were all lining up for the shuttle bus to get to the top of the light house (as suppose to a 15 mins hike up). We had to wait for 4 shuttles before we got on. At that point we were running out of time, hence we practically ran up the last 120 steps to the top of the light house, snapped pictures and then ran back down. It was all worth it in the end and the pictures will tell the story better than I can. I really hoped that that used up all my badluck for the day, for the week, for the month and maybe even for the year.

The view at the Two Oceans Restaurant at the base of cape Point light tower. It was the only thing that was helping me with my patience

the seabass that finally came! it was worth the wait...i suppose

looking down from the top!

the lighthouse!

this will have to do, Toronto is not important enough...

That is Cape Point!!

Huge winds at the top, but the picture is not as cool as the Demarsh's sisters ;) I needed to have put my hair in a pony tail for the effect! (Travel tip, if you have long hair, tie it in a pony tail and let the wind do its work for a good photo)

manage to catch this picture quickly before running back into our bus!

Once we boarded the bus again, our guide took us down to the Cape of Good hope, which was only a short 5 mins drive down. It is the most south-western point of the continent of Africa and used to be known as the Cape of Storm. A Portuguese king decided to change its name to Cape of Good Hope so as not to deter sailors from sailing towards it.

ostrich out for an afternoon stroll by the atlantic

Ostrich crossing!

After we've left this beautiful scenery behind ( i did not want to leave), we started driving up the peninsula on the east side near false bay. Apparently False bay got its name because sailors used to think that they have rounded the tip of Africa once they pass cape Point and would be on their way to india. However, they would've just entered False bay and hence its name.

Next on our stop list is Boulder beach and we were looking for these animals:

PENGUINS!

Follow the signs!

There they are!!!

It was my first time seeing them in bushes, but apparently the water can be too cold for them and the sun too warm, so the shade is somewhere they will hang out in

boulder's beach, beautiful!

Hello!

I'm an African Penguin, I used to be named "Jack-ass" Penguin because of the annoying noise that i make

two baby penguins chasing mama penguin around for food

The penguins were the coolest! I wished we had a bit more time to go inside the paid area (you can pay R40) to hang out with them. You will notice that the area is fenced off, it is in an attempt to control the penguin population and separate them from houses and especially the roads. Those penguin alert road signs exist because the penguins would use to come up to the houses, cross the streets and walk all over people's backyards.

After our beautiful visit at Boulder's beach, it was time to start driving back towards Table Mountain. On our way, we saw the beach where a guy's legs were bitten off in a shark attack a week before. They actually have specific people employed as shark watchers, trained and well equipped with polarized sun glasses to watch for them and alert the public.

simon's town

mariensburg beach where the shark attack was

The australian couple (Jeff and Wendy)'s non- made in china giraffe souvenir!

our tour bus!

Our last stop of the tour was the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. The Garden was beautiful and you can spend hours in it to look at all the plant species (since the Cape plant kingdom is so diverse). It was a beautiful spot where families also come and picnic and enjoy the outdoors. I ended up taking tons of pictures of plant species that I don't even remember anymore. In the attempt to save you from the boring details, I'm only going to share a small selection.

Birds of Paradise but in Mandela gold, a species/colour that was bred specifically for Nelson Mandela and only at this botanical garden

beautiful colour combination

He looks quite happy in this statue

such a lovely setting

Camphor Avenue - apparently camphors are planted in colonies in hopes that monarch would visit

Apparently there are lots of these in hong kong...

Then we were dropped off at our hostel and our tour was over. I really enjoyed it and especially recommend it for single travellers or even for a couple. It's a great way to travel and not only do you get all the information about the places you're visiting, you also start building new friendship with your fellow tourists and end up with photo taking help!

When I returned to my hostel, I ended up meeting the National Lifesaving team from Canada who were in SA (Durban) for the Commonwealth games and came to Capetown for a few days. We hung out at the bar at the hostel and had long conversations about the South Africa situation, Lifesaving competition, what I do and other general things.

They are a really cool bunch (with a few Quebecoise with whom I really wanted to practice my french). We ended up going out to the V&A harbourfront to have dinner together. It was a great way to see the harbourfront at night. (I probably wouldn't have gone if I was going alone as it was a good 15 mins walk, hence I was super thankful for my new Canadian friends). We ended up at a restaurant called Meloncino, and my food came as a present and it was delicious.