9: Who’s a Jack Ass?

4.04.2016 – 4.04.2016 semi-overcast 19 °C

Cape day! One of the days I’ve been looking forward to today because I’m really hoping to see an African penguin!

We organised our day so that one of our last stops would be at Boulders (where the little critters live). This therefore meant that we travelled down to the bottom of the Cape via the Eastern side (Atlantic ocean) returning up the Western side (Southern ocean). First photo stop was at Camps Bay, where the clouds were spilling their way over the mountains and down towards the sea.  Very reminiscent of Norway’s fjords.  From Camp’s Bay we wound our way around the steep cliffs to Hout’s Bay, it is the tourist mecca for Cape seals. Off the coast is a large island where a big colony of Cape Seals live, and so where all the tourists zoom out to on tour boats! We bi-passed the Cape seals as we are hoping to see them at Cape Cross in Namibia and don’t want to spoil it. However, a couple of enterprising locals have trained a couple of the seals to come up on the docks and pose for photos~ so even though we didn’t travel out to see the colony we saw a couple up nice and close.

DSC_6138Coffee break over and we continued south through the majestic Campbell’s Peak pass. Very breathtaking spots to stop and grab photos~ huge big mountains coming right down to the ocean, and little bays drenched in sunshine and sand. Very beautiful. This part of the trip was fairly short (30mins or so) because before long the road wound inland and south, headed straight for the tip of the Cape of Good Hope. Like all famous destinations, it can be a bit of a let down when you finally get there! The Cape itself is housed within the aptly named, Cape National Park and it isn’t the most southerly point of Africa. It is the point where Diaz thought he had finally reached the southernmost point of Africa and could now set a course for India (for those interested, we passed the southernmost point when we were driving through the mountains on the way to Stellenbosch).

DSC_6156The Cape itself is wind swept mountains and hills home to some small animals (baboons were the only ones we saw) and lots of small hardy shrubs and sea birds galore. The day we were there the wind was howling (probably howls most days) and the air was pretty cool. First and only real stop for us was at the Cape of Good Hope sign for our obligatory family photo with the cape headland in the background and the rough Atlantic seas to our right. The other key stop for most tourists (including us) is down at the Cape lighthouse where you can take a funicular up to the top of the mountain for more photos. We were feeling like lunch and the options at the takeaway weren’t overly appealing~ neither was the look of funicular… I mean it is blowing, it isn’t super warm and what do you do when you get to the top of the lighthouse?!? Answer, you by pass and head up the Western side of the Cape to Boulders and the Penguins!

DSC_6198Lunch was fairly average fish and chips but it did fill the fairly gaping hole that we all had in our tummies and then it was time to see the little critters! Boulders NP is a very small area on the foreshore of the town (actually there are houses all around) and within this space is one of the only remaining colonies of African Penguins. More penguins than I have ever seen in one space! Apparently there are in excess of 3000 penguins living, breeding and eating in this small space. The African Penguin used to be called the Jack Ass Penguin and it became pretty clear as soon as we arrived why they were so named.. This type of penguin’s call sounds exactly like a donkey. DSC_6227The park is set up very well with two board walks that wind you thru their colony, both of which end up with a birds eye (pretty lame huh?) view of the main part of the colony at Foxy Beach. There are literally hundreds of penguins living on this beach. All paired up, lying on eggs or baby chicks. The babies are especially adorable but the highlight for me was watching the penguins surf into the beach and then hop themselves up and waddle up to their mates. SUPER ADORABLE!

DSC_6229Our day finished us on a bit of a low as we got stuck in road works that took almost an hour to get through. Needless to say we missed our last stop (which was to be a photo stop to see Victorian beach huts on the beach) and headed straight for Cape Town. Our last night in Cape Town was a cook yourself dinner (two minute noodles for me) and a large load of washing as tomorrow afternoon we are out of SA and into Namibia

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