Day 3 – To the Ends of Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

Day 3 – To the Ends of Africa

Well again, no luck. The morning dawned with another overcast day even though there was very little chance of rain. Still, Table Mountain still had it’s cloud covered peak and so we decided it was time to get out of Cape Town and head down to what has generally been considered the turning point around the African Continent — the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula. There is a misconception that this cape is the southernmost point on the African continent. That title actually belongs to Cape Agulhas, which lies about 90 miles (150 km) east southeast of the Cape of Good Hope. However, the reason this cape is so well known is because of the number of shipwrecks that have occurred here due to the severe storms that wrack this part of the South Atlantic Ocean. Not surprisingly, it was originally called the Cape of Storms by the Portuguese sailors who first sailed around in the 15th century. Nevertheless, the Cape of Good Hope is the Southwestern most point on the African continent. So, I guess I’ve at least attained to achieve that milestone.

The good news was that by the time we arrived at the Cape Peninsula, which is part of the Table Mountain National Park System, the sun was out and the skies were clear. The only weather adversity was the strong wind that was consistently blowing. However, since this is the Cape of Good Hope, there is always wind blowing here. Fortunately for us, it’s not the gale-force wind that wreaks havoc to ships and landlubbers alike.

The Cape Peninsula itself is quite rocky and jagged along its entire 47 miles (75 km) length from Table Mountain down to the Cape of Good Hope. The other promontory in this same area is Cape Point. It lies only a couple of miles from the Cape of Good Hope to the northeast and has a higher peak than its more famous neighbor. The other neat thing about this peninsula is that we finally saw our first African animals grazing in the hills. The three that were observed were the ostrich (which I had for dinner last night), the eland, and the Cape Mountain Zebra. Unlike the other zebra’s that most of us are used to, this one has longer ears, is stockier, and has a larger dewlap. And then there were baboons…lots and lots of baboons.

After spending some time here, we headed up the eastern coast along False Bay to a small town called Simon’s Town. Here, there is a colony of African penguins that gathers at Boulder’s Beach. I was told by a local that there used to be about 3,000 or so of these penguins until a few years ago. But that number has been reduced significantly and no one really knows why. One theory is that an increase in the number of sharks and seals have decimated the penguin population, but nobody has done a real study to find out.

After that excursion, we headed back to Cape Town through the inner metro streets passing the University of Cape Town along the way.

Later that evening, I went out to another restaurant and decided to continue my gastronomical experiment with some more African food. This time, I tried the springbok carpaccio. It came with parmesan cheese shavings and was dipped in olive oil. It tasted like very thin slices of roast beef but with a smoky texture to it. Sorry, no pictures for this one as I left my camera back in the hotel room.