The last two weeks in South Africa have lived up to the first two, however they were a completely different experience. Less land mammals and small cute towns, more coast and big cities! After Addo Elephant Park we spent two nights in a coastal town called Wilderness. We are now in the Western Cape region of South Africa. Wilderness is close to Oudtshoorn, which is the ostrich capitol of South Africa. Boy are those giant birds everywhere! We visited the Cango Caves and also a huge market in Sedgefield.
Next we moved on to Cape Agulhas, the Southern most point of Africa. There is an old lighthouse on the point, including museum. It was Elspeth's first time in a lighthouse and she loved it! It is such a charming thing, something from the past.
Cape Agulhas is also said to be the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The water here is a beautiful deep blue. It is windy this time of year so the ocean constantly slams against the rocks and sends up huge sprays of water.
Another beautiful spot is Hermanus. This place is said to be the best whale watching spot in the world. We saw dozens of the Southern Right Whale, which congregates in the bay during the month of November to calf. We saw them playing and splashing any time we were near enough to see the ocean. The slap their tails on the water and jump into the air only to belly flop in a huge splash. The town of Hermanus is an endearing seaside village with good restaurants and good shopping! We were hoping to try a turn at cage diving with Great White Sharks, but the day of at 4am we were told it was cancelled due to bad weather. The disappointment was strong, but for Alex it was crushing.
After a week on the coast we were ready to head to wine country, Stellenbosch is the Napa Valley of South Africa. On the way we stopped at Betty's Bay, which is home to a colony of African penguins!
These little guys spend their days waddling around on rocks, sleeping in the sun, and flying through the sea. And, they SMELL! How can something so cute smell so bad? Once in Stellenbosch we planned a full day wine tour. We visited four different wineries and had a delicious lunch.
We roamed the vineyards and drank a lot of wine (good thing we are close to sea level here.) Sarah said that we didn't have to drink all of the wine at each tasting, it's not really the point. Tasting the wine is the point. But, we thought it best not to be wasteful. These American's think that drinking all of the wine is the point. The three of us decided to stay a third day in Stellenbosch.
We did a walking tour of the city, which has burned down a number of times in it's history. This means that most of the original buildings are now gone. There is Dutch influenced architecture. Small white buildings with thatched roofs are quite aesthetic.
On our last day we went to a couple of more wineries, by this time we had already accumulated 4 bottles of wine (they're so affordable) but Alex decided he needed two more. Good thing we have our own car, and two parents on the way to share them with. We also visited a cheetah reserve at the Spier vineyard. We haven't seen one in the wild so the Cheetahs are quite a treat. A number of people were doing "cheetah encounters", which basically means you go into the cage and pet the cheetahs. Even after seeing other tourists do it, I still don't think it sounds like a good idea!
Now it's time for Cape Town! We arrived on 11/11/11, should be able to remember that! Cape Town is quite a nice city on the coast. It reminds me a little of San Francisco. The defining feature is Table Mountain. A flat topped butte smack in the middle of the city. We spent one morning climbing to the top. The trail is composed of switchbacks and rocks and goes straight up.
Once at the top you have an excellent view of the city and the ocean.
There is a finicky cable car that runs to the summit and we were lucky enough to ride it down. We also visited Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. South Africa has an amazing and turbulent history, the affects of which are still noticeable today. Although apartheid was ended in 1994 there is still noticeable segregation of the black and white populations, heavily defined by economic status. While South Africa has amazing natural features and resources it is really important to me to learn about what has taken place to the people of this country with in my life time.
There is nothing like traveling to a country to make the history of a place come alive and feel tangible. Sarah and Elspeth visited the Jewish Museum where an exhibition was in place for a political cartoonist, Zapiro. This man has a talent for turning a simple picture into a strong message.
One day we drove down to the Cape of Good Hope, which is the peninsula South of Cape Town. We've also gone to two movies (Breaking Dawn is undoubtedly the birth of a classic), had a number of nice meals, spent time shopping at the water front, sailed on a sunset cruise, and visited the beautiful beaches of the peninsula.
Oh yeah, and did I mention shark cage diving? The great white is a seriously big fish, with a lot of teeth. We saw several different sharks, all with battle scars and a voracious appetite. They breach the water to feed. Every sighting was truly awesome.
We said goodbye to wonderful Sarah on the 17th and now will spend a couple of extra days in Cape Town so that the car is in tip top shape for the journey ahead. We are off to Namibia, good bye beautiful South Africa!
El & Al
the two lions
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