Touring the Cape Peninsula

After a good night's sleep, and a wonderful breakfast of fruit, granola, smoked salmon, coffee and crepes, Leslie and I met our driver for a trip down the Cape Peninsula which stretches south of Cape Town for 30 miles. Enjoying our ride for the day in a Mercedes E class (very comfortable), and avoiding the tour bus crowd (which, after leading such tours for ten years, I have learned to avoid being a part of one at all costs), our English transplant tour guide Tony got us started on the topic of wind. Cape Town puts Chicago to shame in terms of the impact the wind has on the city. The winter brings drenching winds from South West and during the summer, wind dried by the mountains come speeding in from the South East. The trees tell the story; in some parts of the peninsula, they grown horizontally, long having give up fighting off the ferocious power of the southern wind.

Leslie & Tony our Tour Guide standing before our ride for the day

We spent the first hour of the day driving down the west coast from Cape Town, passing coastal towns every few minutes - each having their own residential pricing and attraction based on their proximity to the various seasonal winds. One area called Hout's Bay was especially beautiful, located on a scenic bay with lovely beaches and with a moutain range called The Twelve Disciples standing guard.



Hout's Bay and the Twelve Disciples

We learned the history of the area, starting with the first successful navigation around Southern Africa by De Gama, followed by the colonization of the Dutch (initially only to send farmers to grown fruits and vegatables for the ships that would pass through to prevent scurvy), the Boer War and into modern day politics. What a paradise this place must have been for the early settlers. Rich soils, moderate climate and right in the middle of the trading lanes of the time.

Tony then spent some time explaining the modern political history of South Africa which wouldn't be complete without explaining the impact Apartheid had on the country. He told us of townships, of blacks (Africans) vs. colored (Indians and Muslims), of the pecking order during apartheid, of the harsh penalties for breaking nonsense laws, and of the intolerable attitude that permeated the country from the codification of racism in the late 1940s to the return of majority rule in the early 90s. Of course, much that freeing the slaves only ushered in a different kind of racism, so is the separation of the races much in plain view today. He showed us a township that, when immigration was controlled (mainly because other Africans didn't want to be subject to apartheid), the black and colored townships were built of cinderblock and brick. Only since apartheid, and the rise of migration have the tin corrugated shantytowns started to expand out of the established townships.

Black Township south of Cape Town

Passing over the mountains, along a two lane highway literally burrowed into the rock at places (with 500 feet plunges to the sea in others), we worked our way along the eastern coast of the cape. Into view came False Bay (named by sailors who mistook the wide body of water to be the open Atlantic Ocean), an enormous bay (that struck me as being large enough to be called a Sound) with a huge range of mountains stretching across its eastern edge; I was reminded partly of Southeastern Alaska and part Puerto Montt in Chile.

Leslie in all her beauty

Then we came upon the penguins. Leslie was really excited to see two things - penguins and Baboons Fortunately we saw both on the journey.  Located just south of an old British navy town called Simon's Town is a colony of African penguins (formally the breed was called the Jackass penguin due to the bray of their vocalizatons). Tony said that he remembers swimming with the penguins 20 years ago; today, the colony is under the auspices of a nature reserve, protecting the colony and controlling the potential commercialism of the place (of course, we're charged $10 to see them).

Lone Ranger

Three Amigos

Yours Truly

Colony Life

Afterwards, we had a light lunch of fish and chips (can that ever be considered light??) at a restaurant just down the road from the penguin colony. I think it's obvious they don't mind associating themselves with their penguin neighbors.

After passing the table top, wind swept tundra-like region of Table Mountain National Park, we came upon the Cape of Good Hope, the most South-Westerly point of the African continent (not to be confused with the actual most southerly point, which separates the Indian and Atlantic oceans, located some 100+ miles further east).  There, the skies opened up, and the rain began...but we also saw our first baboon!  Supposedly, they can get agressive (as many YouTube videos demonstrate), so if encountered while in a car, windows and doors are to remain shut and locked (they are smart creatures). We encountered one in the rain looking miserable and downright forlorn. I was able to get close enough to get a nice shot of him with the Cape of Good Hope in the background.

This guy I shot from the safety of our car. He also looked a little depressed having to sit in the rain.

We worked our way back to Cape Town in the rain, and Tony told us the story of Cecil Rhodes...yes, the same dude for whom the Rhodes Scholarship is named. Apparently, this guy was really smart, but kind of a shit. He made his fortune by being smart enough to follow the big winners of South Africa's first diamond rush, buy out their claims (who thought them worthless since the diamonds were literally picked right off of the ground), and they understanding geology, realized that where diamonds were found on the earth's surface, below must be 10x more. Indeed there was. He never married, hated women, died alone and left all his money to various good causes. His most notable legacy is the scholarship funded in his name. However, until British law prevented it, only men could receive the 40 scholarships given per year (and to this day, 20 must go to South African men and women). That changed (finally!) when the first female Rhodes Scholar was named in 1980.

Finally, in the pouring rain, we arrived at our hotel, bid Tony good evening, and are resting (well, I'm writing this blog post, and Leslie is napping) until our dinner tonight. Tomorrow, we rejoin Tony for a day of wine tasting through the region's wine country. Yummy! To end, here's  a bunch more photos.