October 2007: Cape Town, South Africa
Cara and Malia at Cape Town harbor
In October, 2007, the girls had a week break from school so we
decided to take a trip to Cape Town, South Africa. For the first
3 days, we stayed in Cape Town itself. On our first day, we
walked around downtown, sightseeing, and the girls did lots of
shopping. Just outside our hotel at greenmarket square, there was
an African arts and crafts market, very similar to the Masai Market
back in Nairobi, but we thought it was rather expensive at least
compared to the Masai Market.
On our second day in Cape Town, we planned to ride the cable car up to
table mountain, but it was a grey, cloudy day and you couldnt even see
table mountain, so we decided no point in that. We went for a
walk through the company gardens and ended up at the Natural history
museum - a great place to spend a wet and rainy day. Later, we
went down to the Aquarium at the Waterfront. In the evening, we
looked into getting tickets to see Robbins Island, the location of the
prison where Nelson Mandela was held, but found there was a 7 day wait
list! Wow. Since we were in SA for 7 days, then this wasnt
possible.
On the third day, we picked up a rental car and proceeded out of the
city. The day was sparkling clear, so we decided to start it off
with a ride up to the top of Table Mountain on the cable car but found
out that the cable car was closed due to high winds. Hmpf.
Foiled again. We saw some folks hiking up, but the hike looked
steep, and very hot, so not very inviting. Instead, we decided to
hike up the Lions Head, a mountain right next to the ocean, with great
views and a great ocean breeze. It was a great hike. Near
the top, it gets rather steep and rocky and there is a route which
allows you to rock climb using a suspended chain. The girls
really liked that. They scrambled right up whereas I really
struggled. I think this might have been the highlight of the trip
for them. Unfortunately, Ruma tripped on some rocks and twisted
her ankle a bit. Luckily, it was not so bad so that she could
still walk down OK, but it sure swelled up that night. After our
hike, we drove down the coast to Hout Bay. We planned to drive
along Chapmans Peak Drive, a very scenic route along the water, but
unfortunately, it was closed due to rock slides.
On day four, we drove down to Simons Town and saw the African penguin
colony which roosts at Boulders beach. The penguins were molting,
so they could not swim in the ocean. Africa penguins are
originally called "Jackass Penguins" because of the braying noise that
they make. While the term is not very flattering, their braying
is very donkey-like so you can see how the name came about. Later
in the Afternoon, we
drove down to the Cape of Good Hope National Park where we went on a
hike around the Cape of Good Hope and then stopped to play at a small
beach between the capes.
The girls did not get enough beach action the day before, so we decided
to hit the beach again the next day. At first, we tried the beach
at Muizenberg, but the SouthEaster was up and blowing hard. So,
after a few minutes of being sandblasted, we decided to drive back to
the beach at St. James. Here, we had fun exploring tidal pools
and even saw a whale just offshore. After lunch, Cara and I tried
to go for a horse ride along the beach, but unfortuantely we found the
minimum age for riding was 14, so no riding for us. We consoled
ourselves by a trip back to Boulder's beach for a swim with the
penguins. We chose Boulders beach because of it's orientation: it
is sheltered from the SouthEaster. Out of the wind, the beach
felt great, but the water was very cold, at least to me. We have
become very spoiled swimming in the warm Kenya waters (and even the
warm water on the US East coast).
On day 6, we drove up to Tokai and had breakfast at a small cafe in the
Tokai Arboretum followed by a short hike. We then a bit farther
up to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where we had another nice
walk. After lunch, we drove out to Stellenbosch, the heart of the
Western Cape wine country. We went wine tasting at several
vineyards before heading to Stellenbosch for the night.
Day 7 was our last day in Cape Town. We started by taking a drive
up to Baines Kloof pass. We intended to drive across Baines Kloof
pass and then back to Stellenbosch via Du Toit's Kloof Pass but when we
reached Baines Kloof pass, we found out the road was closed because a
bridge was out. We were still able to drive up to the pass, but
we had to double-back the way we came, missing out on some dramatic
scenery. We stopped in the town of Paarl where the girls had some
of their beloved Mcdonalds and then did some last minute
shopping. Finally, we headed back to Cape Town to prepare for our
early morning departure. One thing that was very fun: at our
B&B in Cape Town, there were lots of English staying also.
The next day, England was playing South Africa in the rugby World Cup
final, so the two sides were really egging each other on. Too bad
we had to leave! The B&B had a projection TV in the
lounge. Would have been great to watch the game with the two
opposing sides. FYI, in case you dont know, South Africa defeated
England. Next morning, we got up at the cheery hour of 4:00 AM
and headed to the airport for our flight back to Nairobi.
View all
photos from this trip
Back
to Sarvers in Africa