Where: Cape Town, South Africa
When: November 21, 2012 / December 13, 2012
With: Dave, Nic and David / Dave and Rahul
The coast line of South Africa is one of the most stunning bits of scenery I have ever seen in my life. And by driving along to the most south-western tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, you get the chance to explore a road that winds right alongside high mountains, crashing cliffs and turquoise water. While the Cape of Good Hope was our final destination, the entire drive was something to be seen.
After leaving Cape Town, the first place to really pull over and let your jaw drop is at Hout Bay, which is Afrikaans for Wood Bay. When Cape Town settlers needed to start planting more trees to support their building industry, pine trees were planted here and then shipped from this calm, natural harbor.
Continuing on, the road at some points was carved right into the sides of the mountains. It makes for an exciting, but slightly worrying drive.
Just as you start to turn from going southwest to southeast, you start seeing some flatter coastline and bits of white sand beaches, all marked by the Slangkopunt Lighthouse.
While we were admiring the views of this lighthouse (and fittingly began to play the opening song to the Lion King in the car), a couple of baboons came scrambling up the road. Their timing couldn't have been more perfect, as if they heard the music. They like to hang out by parking lots waiting for unsuspecting tourists to leave their windows open so they can climb in and hunt for food.
A little further down the road, we decided to get out and explore the beach. It required a bit of hiking through heavy brush, but we all survived and were happy for our adventure in the end.
The beach made us feel like we were alone in the world. The crash of the surf and the howling of the wind sucked away all other noise. With the distant mountains and endless white sand, I felt like I was standing in a painting.
At this point, the road turns inland for the last leg before the Cape of Good Hope park. However, one last little surprise awaits: an ostrich farm.
The first time we stopped here, the ostriches seemed completely disinterested. It wasn't until we pretended to have food did they perk up and come galloping over.
Then it became a bit of a staring match when they learned we had nothing for them. Although, their brains are so tiny, they may have forgotten why they came over in the first place.
The second time we drove past here, we didn't have to tease at all. A male came charging right toward us, then dropped to the ground and started swooping its neck back and forth while occasionally lifting its wings, posturing at us. I don't know if it was a mating dance or a means of intimidation, but we were all very happy there was a fence between us.
After he calmed down though, another staring contest ensued.
The male and the female.
Good signs that gave me the "where the hell are we?" feeling.
After that, it's straight on to the Cape. It's difficult to drive through this area without stopping to take a lot of pictures. This was our first view of the Indian Ocean.
At the Cape, we stopped both times to have lunch at a place called Two Oceans. It has an incredible view and great food (the seafood platter made me very happy). Afterwards, it's time to work off your lunch and start hiking up to a high overlook that gives you stunning views of the entire cape. From here, you can see the Indian Ocean on your left, the Atlantic on your right, and where they meet in the middle.
Looking down on the Cape.
Afterwards, the final stop is to head to the actual Cape and be as far south on the African continent as possible. On our second visit though, we made a pit stop when we noticed a wild ostrich, casually eating along the shore. We stopped the car to get out and take some pictures. This was all fine until the ostrich suddenly jerked up and charging towards us. As we ran away, we reminded ourselves we weren't in a zoo.
On our trip with Nic and David, we decided to hike out a bit to the end of the cliffs on the cape. Not sure if this is technically allowed (though there are no rules in Africa, so that's silly) and I'm not sure if it's safe, but we survived and had a Lion King moment to celebrate.
Apparently, there's always one sucker who heads out to the end of the cliffs, only to regret that decision later.
Then it was time to climb. The hike was steep, but at least there were dassies to keep us entertained along the way.
At the top of the trail, you have two choices: take a right and walk a short, but treacherously narrow trail or take a left and hike another up yet another steep incline. We chose to do both. To the right first.
This was a gorgeous place to just sit and relax. The rocks were pretty steep going down, but the middle part provided excellent lounging.
And now for the trail to the left. As it's much higher, it's a more expansive view. However, looking down was even more intimidating up here.
The slow, steady descent down. This looked so much worse in this direction than when we were climbing up.
On the drive home, there was one more stop to make at the famous Boulders Beach, known for its colony of African penguins. We found the beach and the boulders, but no penguins. Turns out this was the wrong beach filled with boulders. It was still very pretty, but a warning: follow the signs.
Once we found the signs, we knew we were on the right track.
This beach didn't have as many penguins as we saw at Stony Point, but what they lacked in numbers, they made up in personality. All the sunbathing penguins, nearly done with their molting, was hysterical.
African penguins are commonly also referred to as "Jackass" penguins. This is due to the donkey-like bray that is their call. This sound can be heard all over the beach, but the funniest way we heard it was when two penguins started to fight each other. These two penguins hee-hawed at each other, while the one in the middle tried to keep things from getting violent.
Several times, they lunged at each other. While most of the penguins just circled and cheered the fight, a couple more jumped in to try to break it up. Just like people fights!
When one penguin tried to take the high road and walk away, the other one snuck up behind him and coldcocked him. He'd peck him to the ground with a beak to the back of the head, and then beat him with a fierce flapping of his wings. It was hysterical.
Eventually, we dragged ourselves away from the penguins and started for the long drive home. At least the drive back was no less stunning. The entire trip, from end to end, was incredible. This was one of my favorite activities in Cape Town.
For the rest of our trip in South Africa, click here.
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