Cape Town, South Africa
April 10, 2025
Cape Town, South Africa
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| Sculptures at Kirstenbosch Gardens |
A bit more about South Africa itself is in order. It is the southernmost country in Africa. It has nine provinces which are bounded to the south by 1,739 miles of coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. It has a population of 63 million people and growing. Pretoria is the administrative capital, Cape Town the executive capital having the seat of parliament, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban.
South Africa has eleven official languages: English,
Afrikaans and nine ethnic languages of which Zulu and Xhosa are the most widely
spoken. While most South Africans can communicate in more than one language,
English is the most spoken and is the language of official business and
commerce. Indeed, in all our travels
here in Cape Town at least, all signage was in English only.
There are five racial population groups. The 2022 census figures for these groups
were: Black African at 81%, Colored at 8.2%, White at 7.3%, Indian or Asian at
2.7% and other at 0.5%.
Cape Town is known as the country’s “mother city”, since it
was the site of the first European settlement in South Africa.
Disembarkation was easier here since we did our face to face in Durban. We scheduled an all-day tour that would get us out of town and around the cape peninsula.
Our guide turned out to be Ron McGregor, a local historian, and the best tour guide we have experienced. He has even written a book entitled “The South African Story” which is in its 4th edition.
Our journey takes us through the coastal suburbs of Sea
Point, Bantry Bay and Clifton. Most of
the coastlines along here are very rocky and unsuitable for use as beaches. Typical rocky shoreline
The few sand beaches they have are highly
valued and open to the public. But to
own an apartment in this area would cost upwards of 12 million Rand, about half
million US$. Unfortunately, the water is
so cold, it is only used by wet-suited surfers.
And we did see some great surfing areas with some brave souls taking
advantage of them.
We pass some areas where Ron says around a thousand, day
laborers come each morning to hopefully bargain their skills with locals
looking for help and earn a day’s wage to take home. This is their only way to earn a living, and
Ron says a lot of these people come from Johannesburg where their chances are
even less. They live in Squatter
Communities and have no running water or bathroom facilities. He calls it semi-immigration. Immigration from within South Africa.
Our first stop is a
scenic opportunity in the village of Hout Bay.
We pull into a park with great views of the bay and an opportunity to
visit the restrooms provided, which is always a good idea not to pass up. There are several locals selling their
creations. Hout Bay with Sentinel Peak
Carvings, paintings and wire
and bead animals and insects that were hanging from a bush got my
attention. The young man who was selling
them said it took eight hours to make the “bee” that I was looking at.
I should have told him it might only take seven
hours if he only made six legs instead of the eight my bee had. I paid him the asking price of 200 Rand ($10). My 8-legged bee
We snapped
a few photos and left our next stop, Chapman’s
Peak.
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| And we were on the inside! |
Chapman's Peak is a mountain on the western side of the Cape Peninsula, between Hout Bay and Noordhoek. The west side of the mountain falls sharply for hundreds of meters into the Atlantic Ocean, and a road, known as Chapman’s Peak Drive, hugs the near-vertical face of the mountain.
The drive offers great views of Hout Bay, Sentinel Peak and Noordhoek Beach, all while the road curves 114 times! This drive also hosts two annual races, the Cape Argus Cycle Race and the Two Oceans Marathon. Ron says if the narrow roads and curves bother you, just look away or close your eyes! There were indeed some stunning views and our weather was again perfect.
We wound our way down and through Noordhoek Beach and Simon’s Town on our
way to the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern point of the Arican
Continent. We passed an ostrich farm
which are common in this area. We have
seen in the shops we visited, ostrich eggs for sale, decorated in all kinds of
ways. Wild ostriches, no commercial value
We would have liked to purchase
one, but transportation is again a concern.
Ron says they raise them to the age of 14 months and then process them
for their feathers and meat.
On the roadside, I saw a sign that said not to feed the baboons as they
were dangerous. I asked Ron about that
and he said they were indeed a nuisance and getting to be a real problem with
homeowners as they are becoming bolder about foraging for something to eat.
Video of the Cape at sea level:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qb5AcyNf9EGAtezt5
Video of ride up to lighthouse: https://photos.app.goo.gl/38svgnDmip64J8NG8
Video from just below the lighthouse: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rhi2k3vFjHcxQ5mY6
We arrived at the Cape and spent some photo time there. There is a lighthouse atop a peak there that
was built in 1860, the most powerful of its time. Unfortunately, at night the light was almost
always shrouded in mist and clouds. Useless lighthouse
Consequently,
many sailors lost their lives depending on it and it was taken out of service
after about 50 years and another one built nearby at sea level. It has been restored and is now a tourist
attraction. Ron said not to make the
climb to get up there as the view was no better and we didn’t have the time. But not the most "southern" point
The waves were quite lively and crashed up
over the rocky shoreline. Seals on coastal rocks
There were
also a bunch of seals on the rocks just off the coast.
We left the Cape and traveled up the eastern coastline of the peninsula to
the Black Marlin Restaurant in Simon’s Town.
On our way there, Ron exclaimed, “we have a baboon siting”. Indeed, the bus had to stop as a group of
them were on the road. I managed to get
a couple of pictures as a pair of them crossed in front of the bus. Into the brush In front of our bus
We had a choice of either a seafood or chicken entrée, not a hard choice
for us, especially since it was well-known for its seafood.Enjoying a local lager
We ate outside with umbrellas to keep the
mid-day sun off and enjoyed a wonderful meal which included your choice of
beer, wine or soft drinks. Nice view while eating seafood
The meal was
superb considering they hosted two busloads of us as well as their regular
customers. And the scenery was
outstanding as well.
Our next destination would take us to Boulders Beach Penguin colony, a part
of the Table Mountain National Park. We
made our way from the entrance along the rail-lined boardwalk to keep all the
visitors corralled so they the bother to the penguins would be kept to a
minimum.
Penguin video link:More humans than penguins
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xqnnfJoRJWuXzj7t8
Another penguin video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q9qD8JE9r9FocmxL8
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| That's kelp on the beach by the colony |
Our last stop of the day was at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Ron expressed his displeasure with the touring office trying to fit in too much in too little time. He said this stop should be a minimum of 2-3 hours to do it any justice at all. It really did turn out to be a seven most magnificent botanical gardens in the world. We explored precious little of the over 1300 acres of gardens. I’ll post some of the pictures we took.
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You don't see these in Iowa! Serene!
Likewise!
On the way back to the ship, Ron pointed out the Groote Schuur Hospital
where Dr. Christiaan Bernard performed the first human heart transplant in 1967. I remembered that making international news back
then.
We got back on the ship a full hour later than scheduled, which interfered
with some of the group’s dinner plans.
Ron said he would take the heat, but I think everyone appreciated his
expertise and was forgiving for any inconvenience.
Tomorrow, Table Mountain.
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