Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Today we embarked on a full-day private tour of Cape Point & the Cape Peninsula. After an excellent large buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant, our Kwathlano driver, Vaughn, picked us up in the lobby at 9:00 am. Vaughn was an interesting guide who had grown up in Pretoria but moved with his mother to Cape Town years ago. He shared his personal perspectives with us throughout the day’s tour. At Jane’s request, we stopped by a Hypermed Pharmacy before the tour began so that Jane could purchase some pseudoephedrine to ameliorate a sinus problem she was having.
Then, we quickly left the city and descended through lovely landscape to the coast. Our first top was Muizenberg, a beach town famous for surfing and its colorful changing houses. Vaughn was an avid surfer and seemed to know local folks as well as where to duck into for a cup of coffee while Jane and I strolled the beach and main street absorbing the ambience.
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| Colorful Changing Houses line the Muizenberg Beach |
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| Surf’s Up! |
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| Muizenberg’s Main Strip
We continued driving along the coast to Kalk Bay, where we viewed Cape fur seals lounging around the docks and a few seals swimming in the nearby waters. Views down the coast westward were beautiful.
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| Cape Fur Seal Hanging Out |
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| “This Pillow’s kinda Hard” |
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| Docks at Kalk Bay |
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| Western Coastal View from Kalk Bay |
We continued driving westward along the coast with fantastic views and passed through Simon’s Town where a South African naval base is located. We stopped at Boulders, whose sheltered beaches provide protection for a thriving colony of African penguins. Vaughn purchased our tickets, directed us to the turnstiles, and set a one-hour meeting time. Jane & I proceeded down a nice boardwalk with signage providing lots of information about the area and the penguins. Near the end of the boardwalk was a large deck where a small crowd had congregated to get the best view of the colony. We walked around snapping lots of pictures of the cute creatures.
I was approached by a young South African lady who saw that I had an iPhone and asked if I could take her picture. Soon she, and a group of her friends, were posing for a group picture! I asked why none of them had camera phones. They held up their phones with disparaging remarks. I didn’t recognize the brand(s) but apparently they weren’t capable of good photography, if any. I snapped a couple of shots of them and one of them emailed the photos to herself for distribution to the group.
After gawking at the penguins a while longer, Jane & I walked back toward the entrance. Close to the entrance we noticed that there was another boardwalk and so we took it and walked through a rookery were we saw articial penguin houses and mothers attending to their chicks. The boardwalk eventually led back down to the beach where we could observe the same penguin colony from another perspective as well as visitors on the observation deck that we had previously occupied. We returned exiting through a gift shop and met Vaughn right on schedule.
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| Colony of African Penguins |
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| African Penguins |
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| Penguin Close-up |
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| A Flock of Female South Africans |
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| Mom & Chicks in the Rookery |
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| Visitors watching Penguins watching Visitors |
We continued our scenic drive westward. Inside of the Cape Point Nature Reserve, we began seeing baboons. The youngsters were very active playing around. Then suddenly there was a commotion in the road. A small baby baboon was hit and killed by a car. The mother grabbed the body in her mouth and carried it to the roadside. I saw another mother baboon trying to stop her child from running into the road. She eventually ran in front of her child and herded it back to safety. The whole episode was distressing and a stark reversal from the previously joyful and amusing vibes.
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| Terrified Mother Baboon preventing her Child from running into the Road |
In the Cape Point parking lot, Vaughn set us off on our own for two hours. We had the option of riding a funicular, the Flying Dutchman, or climbing stairs up to the lighthouse. We opted for the latter, and huffed and puffed up the stairs but were afforded magnificent views of the surrounding land- and seascapes.
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| Seaside View at Point Cape |
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| Lots of Stairs to reach the Cape Point Lighthouse |
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| Getting Closer |
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| View from the Lighthouse |
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| Passing Cars of the Flying Dutchman Funicular |
From there, we proceeded to the most south-western point of the African continent, the Cape of Good Hope. Vaughn dropped us off to wait in line for a photo in front of a short long sign while he searched for a spot to park in the crowded lot. Just as we made it to the front of the line, Vaughn showed up and took several pictures of us behind the sign as proof that we had been there.
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| Cape of Good Hope |
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| We were There! |
While we were leaving, Vaughn spotted some tourists prodding a helpless and ill seal near the parking area. This upset Vaughn and he chastised the pranksters. On the way out of the Nature Reserve, he informed an officer of the situation and the officer left to attend to the seal. We continued along the coast passing Camel Rock and pulled into the Village Hub in Scarborough for a late lunch. The food was good and definitely had the feel of a destination for locals rather than tourists.
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| Camel Rock |
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| The Village Hub, Scarborough |
During lunch, a heavy rain set in and afterwards as we continued along the coast, the skies were dark emitting rains occasionally. We then entered an extraordinarily scenic section of the drive, the Chapman’s Peak Drive, that required a toll. At the booth, Vaughn ordered three veggie burgers with fries, but only received a pass and a chuckle in exchange for his money. Chapman’s Peak Drive was beautiful and curved around the mountain side with gorgeous views of the rocky coastline. In the past, falling rocks had caused many serious accidents along this route until a group of German engineers was commissioned to design a very unique system to protect the road.
As we descended and continued, we approached Cape Town and traffic and caught a quick view of the red-and-white square Green Point Lighthouse. Shortly after that, Vaughn dropped us off at the Commodore Hotel and we said our farewells.
