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Cape Town
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We flew into Cape Town on the evening of the 6th, and we were very excited to be in a country that was a little more modern. We stayed in the city center and went out along Long St for dinner. It was very lively and lined with bars and cafes. It was like being in a typcial Western city that gets a lot of travellers.
During the next two days, the rains prevented us from climbing Table Mountain or exploring the Cape of Good Hope but we got organized for camping in the countryside of South Africa and Namibia. We were able to purchase gear, rent a car and arrange flights to get back to Nairobi in time for our flight to India.
On Monday the 9th, we drove east from Cape Town along the coast to the town of Hermanus. The coast line was absolutely beautiful - it resembled Big Sur with a turquoise ocean. There were whales dotting the coast line everywhere; you could hardly look at the ocean without spotting one.
Our destination, Hermanus, was a small town which was renowned for whale watching. We found a small apartment with a patio that overlooked the ocean, and we could watch whales while we ate our meals. On the edge of town, there was a park called Fernkloof Nature Reserve. The next day we hiked for several hours to a 2000 ft. peak called Galpin Peak which had great views of the mountains and the ocean. In the afternoon, we headed to a valley east of Hermanus which was dotted with wineries and spent a few hours wine tasting.
The next day we headed east to De Hoop Nature Reserve. We drove several hours through beautiful countryside and finally reached De Hoop. The reserve runs along the ocean and has spectacular white sand dunes. The beaches went on for miles and were pretty windy which created mini sandstorms at times. From the beach, we could see th elighthouse that marks the southernmost point of Africa. Luckily the camp sites were by a lake and protected from the wind. It was our first test both for camping with our new gear and for taking our Toyota Corrolla on unpaved roads. Everything went well. We were hours away from any city, and the sky was filled with stars.
The following day we did an 8 km hike along the lake. We saw quite a few hyraxes (they look like extremely large guinea pigs-size of a large housecat-but they are closest living relatives to elephants!), and at the end of the hike, we saw a few ostriches. After the hike, we drove to Simons Town, a small town southeast of Cape Town on the coast and the home of one of two mainland penguin colonies. After we checked into our hotel, we walked down to the penguin colony. The beach was jam-packed with penguins and they were fun to watch waddle about. We were the only people on the beach for most of the time and saw well over a hundred penguins. At night, on our way back from a restaurant, we passed two penguins that were just walking down the sidewalk in town. they had strayed up from the beach in what must be a relatively commmon occurence. The winds in Simons Town were overwhelming - we knew it was a bad sign when we noticed that the trees were permanently bent due to the winds!
The next day we headed down to the Cape of Good Hope. It was extremely windy and foggy, but the fog lifted as we approached Cape Point and we hiked from the Point to the Cape of Good Hope and back. With the combination of gale force winds and fog, it was easy to see why there were so many shipwrecks along the cape. We drove along the Atlantic coast and there was more beautiful coast line dotted with whales, spectacular scenic roads, and some gorgeous suburbs.
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