2006 Africa: South Africa - The Cape of Good Hope

Cape Town is located on the southwestern most portion of South Africa and serves as the gateway to the Cape of Good Hope which jets off the African continent straight south into the waters where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. Upon arriving in Cape Town the evening before, I was a little dismayed to be greeted by gray, rainy skies. I thought that seeing a little winter in the southern hemisphere would be a nice break from summer in the northern hemisphere, or even the perpetually sunny weather of the rest of the Southern Africa region, but I have to take pictures for my website so I require as many blue skies as mother nature can serve up!

Since the weather was forecasted to be mostly clear the following day, I decided to book a tour of the Cape of Good Hope in the event that the skies should part. To my great fortune, just as our little tour van began its jaunt south of the city and descended toward the Atlantic Ocean, the low lying clouds did in fact begin to part and within half an hour the skies were gorgeous and blue.

What luck!

Above: Misty Cliffs beach

Below: the Swiss designed coastal roadway that cuts into the western mountains along the Cape of Good Hope

Me along the Atlantic Ocean in South Africa

Lonely road cutting across the shrub covered flatlands of the Cape

Billed as "the most south-western point of the African continent," the honor is largely for the benefit of tourists since the definition of "south-western" seems a little arbitrary considering that the southern most point of the African continent lies just about 100mi/160km to the south east of this point at Cape Agulhas. On my map, Cape Agulhas appears to be clearly located in south-western South Africa, but hey, who am I to decide what's east and what's west in Africa? After all, if Ohio in the US can be considered a part of the Midwest - even though it clearly lies hundreds of miles EAST of the Mississippi River that generally cuts the US into east and west, then the Cape of Good Hope can consider itself the most south-western point of Africa instead of just being a south-western point in greater south-western South Africa within Southern Africa.

Right?!? ;-}

A chummy little black bird eying the sandwich I'm holding in my hand just off camera. Humorously, while I was minding my own business eating lunch and enjoying the local coastal views, Mr. Bird and his buddies swooped up from behind me, pecked off a giant chunk of my sandwich then turned around and eyed me the entire time waiting for the exact moment to make their move yet again. These birds definitely have courage! To be nice, I decided to crumble my sandwich into bite-sized pieces and ended up throwing much of it at them...

SQUAWK!

A lizard sunning himself along the rocks of the Cape of Good Hope

Statue honoring local baboons at the tourist stop located at the tip of the Cape

The Cape of Good Hope runs straight north-south southwards out of Cape Town and is washed by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Indian Ocean to the east. Aside from deadly ocean currents and low lying clouds often obscuring any recognizable land formations to guide seafarers of yore, the area threw another curve to those attempting to navigate the waters of southern Africa. What you see above is not Cape Town, but rather what is known as False Bay, just on the wrong side of the cape. Prior to the invention of radio and satellite radio navigation, apparently False Bay proved extremely tricky to ships sailing into Cape Town from Eastern Africa, Asia and beyond as they would reach False Bay, turn into it and get lost or shipwrecked in its desolate waters with Cape Town just several miles on the other side of the cape. Hence its name as False Bay - a deterrent to those seeking passage into the real bays of the area: Hout Bay, Sandy Bay, Camps Bay as well as Table Bay of Cape Town itself.

Above and below: South Africa isn't exactly right around the corner from most of the rest of the world.

How great to be so far away for a change!

The south-western most point of the African continent seen at the top of the image

Me at the Cape

The tip of the Cape of Good Hope

What a lovely cove that would be to just sit out on the sand under the sun, enjoy the sound of the Atlantic and Indian oceans merging and forgetting every care in the world.

Hmm. . . humans are dangerous and attracted by food, too. I wonder if we should warn the baboons?!

African penguins sunning along the beaches of the Boulders, South Africa on False Bay.

A little info on these penguins according to information produced by Table Mountain National Parks :

The African Penguin is listed in the Red Data Book as a vulnerable species. Of the 1.5 million African Penguin population estimated in 1910, only some 10% remained at the end of the 20th Century. The uncontrolled harvesting of penguin eggs (as a source of food) and guano scraping nearly drove the species into extinction. Because of their donkey-like braying call they were previously named the Jackass Penguin. Their diet consists mainly of squid and shoal fish such as pilchards and anchovy. They can swim at an average speed of seven kilometers per hour and can stay submerged for up to two minutes. Their enemies in the ocean include sharks, Cape fur seals and killer whales. Land-based enemies include mongoose, genet, domestic cats and dogs and Kelp Gulls which steal their eggs and new born chicks. Penguins have very sharp beaks and can cause serious injury if they bite or lunge!

Above and below: African penguins hanging out along the beach of False Bay

Me and the penguins

Above: sunbathing penguins

Above and below: awwww... look at the penguins!

He looks sweet, but that beak looks sharp!

Me walking along the wooden walkways at the Boulders penguin reserve

Below: An ostrich farm located along the Cape of Good Hope. I tell ya, these birds just aren't all that people friendly. Fortunately their skin makes great leather bags and their meat tastes spectacular! Come here, birdy! ;-}

You can tell that the guy is just waiting to eat my camera and peck out my eyes!

Beautiful green grass and deep blue skies of the Cape. No wonder that so many Europeans relocated to this area of Africa since it looks and feels surprisingly similar to North-Western Europe.

Look at those giant toes!

A beer garden during the summer months?

An eland with ostrich in tow

Hello Mr. Eland!

What a crazy bird! Big eyes, long neck, fat body, fluffy feathers and long narrow legs with giant toes.

Look at those eyes!

Me holding a compass that a Japanese friend gave me in San Francisco to help me find my way home.

A craft market located along the Cape. Such great things to buy, but how am I supposed to fit it in my suitcase for the return trip home?!

At the tip of the Cape of Good Hope

Above and below: lighthouse at the Cape of Good Hope

An old house built on the Cape. The whole area was settled by Dutch immigrants starting in the 1600s and the architectural influences can be seen everywhere.

Winding along the eastern side of Cape Town and down various points of the Cape of Good Hope is a series of rocky peaks known as The Twelve Apostles which look over the city like protective giants.

The hills around Cape Town

The disparity of wealth in South Africa is quite extreme. For the most part, the neighborhoods of the Cape of Good Hope are populated by wealthy white and black South Africans who live in luxurious homes that compare with the best offered anywhere in the world. Amongst these wealthy enclaves are mushrooming shanty towns that have sprouted up to house the physical laborers that work in neighboring communities and homes. Since mass transit isn't well developed in South Africa (gotta keep the poor people out?) it has become more convenient for impoverished workers to just set up shacks right outside the area's rich neighborhoods instead of commuting in from afar.

Above and below: flowers amongst the poverty

Above: South Africa makes no excuses - it is pursuing a very aggressive nuclear energy national policy and you see such plants all over the region.

The tour van that whisked us around the Cape of Good Hope

Simon's Town along the eastern Cape on False Bay, established by European settlers in 1777.

The M4 highway passing through Simon's Town

Boats on False Bay

A South African battle ship, part of the country's military ramp-up

Mist covered cliffs spilling into False Bay

The eastern Cape of Good Hope

Hout Bay along the Atlantic Ocean

Roadway into Groot Constantia (Great Constantia) estate and vineyard, the oldest in South Africa. The area was purchased by Simon Van der Stell in 1685 who was the European governor of the Cape. The estate has since been purchased by the government and is a premier tourist attraction.

The area looks as though a piece of Holland was cut out of Europe and relocated right into South Africa. From the architecture to the crisp winter bite in the air, Groot Constantia is an exact replica of life in North-Western Europe.

Could be anywhere in Europe

Interior of the Groot Constantia estate

Rocky mountains rising up along the edges of the estate's vineyards

Welcome to the wine of South Africa!

Sea cliffs along the Cape of Good Hope

Atlantic Ocean along the Cape of Good Hope

Above: Misty Cliffs beach along the Atlantic. Truly beautiful!

Below: The World of Birds, an eco tourist attraction along Hout Bay on the Cape of Good Hope which showcases over 3,000 species of birds from around the world. However, having just come off a two week safari in the Southern African interior, I must confess that it was odd to look at wildlife in cages.

Great white pelican

Above and below: not exactly birds, but at The World of Birds nonetheless. A South African porcupine and a monkey.

Squirrel monkey of South America

Pied crow and ground hornbill

Flamingo

Southern banded snake eagle of East Africa

Ground hornbill

Black/Verreaux's Eagle of Southern Africa

Yellow golden pheasant

Mandarin duck of East Asia

Peacock

Monk/Quaker parakeets from South America

Scarlet ibis of northern South America

Egret

Scarlet ibis of northern South America

Look at those beautiful green feathers!

An aggressive hadeda ibis (?) using his long beak to nibble at the lining of my shoes and later to bite my pants. Quite a freaky bird that loves attacking your ankles! I had to get out of there shortly after taking this picture.

North American turkey

Blue and gold macaws of South America

Idiots who put their fingers into the cages can't say they weren't forewarned!

Golden pheasant

View of the city of Muizenberg and Sunrise Beach along the shores of False Bay at the eastern side of the Cape of Good Hope