Somewhere in what I thought was my infinite wisdom, I decided that our first full day in Cape Town would only be complete by doing an all day tour. Yay? Being one of the umbrella followers that were the bane of my existance in DC was never our thing. But occasionally you need to go to the edge of your comfort zone… or so I’ve been told.
So we woke to the alarm at 6.30 (!), showered and had breakfast on the balcony watching the early morning hang gliders land across the street. But we had a minibus to meet at 7:45 so off we went for our Penguins and Cape of Good Hope tour. The group of 10 (8 from the UK and two wayward Canadians) were at the mercy of Kevin the tour guide to show us all the interesting sights south of the city.
And we got a great tour! We started with a drive down the coast past the most expensive real estate in South Africa in Clifton Beach to the lovely town of Camps Bay before hitting our first stop in Houts Bay for a seal watching trip. We took a short boat ride to a set of rocks outside the harbour where a colony of sea lions were enjoying a lovely mild day. Some of them were hamming it up in the harbour before we left but most of them were enjoying being pretty much left alone – especially the new born seal whose mother was still removing the birth sac.
Then it was back to the van to continue south. But out progress was severely impeded by the appearance of a troop of baboons (look it up – it’s the right collective noun!). Just wandering down the road, and in some instances across the road, they were happily ignoring us while we snapped furiously with cameras and phones. Once we were clear to proceed, we made our way to visit some lovely ostriches at a farm inside the national park. The more unusual animals the better!
We climbed back in the van as the clouds continue to gather and glower. We made it to the Cape of Good Hope for the obligatory photo with the sign (there was a queue for the priviledge!) and a few snaps of the amazing scenery before the sprinkles started and we were back in the protection of the Toyota Hiace. We were headed for the lighthouse point on the cape to take the funicular to the top but the rain was now fairly steady thereby guaranteeing that there was no point in paying the ZAR 100 fee to go look through the clouds. We instead voted to head out to Simon’s Town for lunch so off the group went.
And it was a lovely little town, very much catering to tourists unless local people care a lot about African handicrafts and socks with elephants on them. Half of our group decided that the suggested restaurant wasn’t to their liking and so they tromped off. The rest of us enjoyed a very nice lunch by the water. Frank went for the kudu burger (a kind of antelope) while I went for the fresh kingklip, a meaty white fish vey much like hake. We were joined by the Canadians and the lovely couple from Maidenhead in England and a good time was had by all.
The rain had let up so we had a few minutes to peruse the town and look through the shops before heading to the highlight of the day: the penguins at Boulders Beach. OMG! I can’t even begin to describe how adorable the colony (or rookery!) of penguins was. The photos below are just a fraction of what we took. Definitely the highlight of the day!
But the day was nearly done so back to town we must go. I do need to point out that the entire time we were in the van, our lovely tour guide Kevin had been giving us all the history we could manage as well as tips about where to go (or not go!) and other safety tips about Cape Town. It was now rush hour and we slogged north to make our way to the colourful Bo-Kaap neighborhood. I have seen it described as “the most Instagrammable neighborhood in Cape Town”. UGH. It was very cute but the photos won’t do it justice because the the continuing threat of clouds in the background.
After a very long day with our fellow travelers, it was time to say good bye. We had enough time for a cup of tea before heading to Bobo’s for dinner. A short walk from our flat in Sea Point to Mouille Point, it was an amazing dinner. Cocktails to start followed by three courses and a lovely bottle of Chenin Blanc. Fantastic meal all the way around for about half of what we would have paid at home. The half hour walk home was a welcome opportunity for digestion. Unfortunately, it got us back to the flat for the second half of the Scotland-Spain match which didn’t do anything for the digestion (insert complaint about biased referees here! That was an amazing corner kick!) but tomorrow is another day.
Data for today:
- Steps: 15,946 or 7.5 miles (we were slacking!)
- Calories consumed: I have no idea so don’t ask me.
- Penguins that I wanted to take home: 12 or 14. Some were moulting so less cute.
- Number of tchotchkes purchased: NONE. (We were being very good.)
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