7 - The Cape of Good Hope



On Sunday, we met early and spent an entire day going down to the Cape of Good Hope.  Our first stop was Table Mountain.  Table Mountain dominates the skyline of Cape Town but only on days when there is not a marine layer and you can see it.  When we left the hotel, it was beautiful.  By the time we got to the top a marine layer had set in and while it was totally clear on top of the mountain, we were above the clouds and could not see Cape Town or Robben Island.

One of the inhabitants of Table Mountain is a very small, distant relative of the Elephant called a Dassie - they have the same toe patterns - four toes on their front feet and three on the rear.

 

The drive down the Atlantic Coast of South Africa is similar to the drive down Big Sur.  It is simply beautiful.  We stopped to see South African Penguins.  They are much smaller than what we saw in Antarctica but cute nonetheless.

We continued down the coast to the Cape of Good Hope – the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.  While it is not quite as treacherous to get around as Cape Horn (South America) it is still difficult.  Originally named the “Cape of Storms”, the king of Portugal (his explorers found the cape) decided that people would never want to go there so he renamed it the Cape of Good Hope.

We also encountered Ostriches.  Ostriches mate for life.  The females are grey which is a good camouflage during the day time and allows them to protect their young while the males are out gathering food.  At night, the males protect the young while the females gather food.  Their black color helps in two ways - it is a great camouflage at night and the black feathers absorb and collect heat which helps keep the chicks warm.

We spent our last evening in Cape Town having a wonderful dinner with Deborah and David at Den Anker on the Cape Town Waterfront.  On our way to dinner, we gave Leanne, our Cape Town tour guide for two days, the beautiful flowers Myra received for her birthday.