Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point and Penguins 🐧

Our last day in Cape Town had us finishing our city tour. We saw the Parliament area, St. George’s Cathedral, where Desmond Tutu was inaugurated as Archbishop, and other government areas. We also saw shanty towns still in existence since the end of the apartheid era. These areas first were the homes of the oppressed workers, then the homes of the blacks that were forced out of Cape Town. Sad.

Then we started down the eastern edge of the peninsula. We passed by cove after cove filled with small towns, beautiful beaches and interesting stories told by Gillian. We passed her town, which declared itself an independent republic, issued their own passport. People tried to travel on it because for years they could not travel to many places on their South African passports because of the apartheid rule.

Our first stop was at the Cape of Good Hope, named by Benjamin Diaz. Unfortunately for him it was not a good luck place, his ship sank and he died. We walked along the coast and had the opportunity to hike to a small out cropping for better views. Most people think that this is the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, but it is not. That spot is about 100 miles to the east of Cape Town.

We then traveled on to Cape Point. We all hiked to the top to see the lighthouse and the beautiful views. We were able to take a funicular down to the parking lot. There were baboons in the area and one jumped into a car because the people had left the door open. Then as we were traveling to our lunch stop another group of baboons had ransacked the truck of some construction workers and had a shoe in his hand. Many of the baboons had babies that they were carrying.

After lunch we walked to Boulder Beach and saw the penguins. We all enjoyed seeing them waddle around and swim in the ocean. There were some juvenile birds there too. Each penguin has different spots on it belly, sort of like it being his fingerprint.

We returned to Cape Town and had dinner on our own at the One & Only Hotel’s restaurant, Reuben.

Tomorrow we fly to Kruger National Park and safari.

Near the lighthouse at Cape Point

Jackass penguin at Boulder Beach