Before I moved to Doha, I had never considered visiting South Africa but after so many colleagues told me how great a time they had on their trips, that's just what I did this past Christmas. And am I ever glad I did! Let me tell you about my adventures in Cape Town...
South Africa is known as "the world in one country" because there are so many different nationalities in the same country who all live together in harmony. An amazing example of what the world could be.
On the first evening in Cape Town, we laid pretty low and just checked out our neighborhood, Seapoint. We were fairly close to the waterfront and took advantage of that to stroll along and check things out. I fell instantly in love with the city and I hadn't even seen anything. There is a very relaxed, chilled out vibe that permeates everywhere. We strolled to one end of the boardwalk and had gelato and then strolled back to where we entered the boardwalk. We walked back to our neighborhood and had dinner on the little patio at La Boheme Wine Bar and Bistro. It was crowded but that only added to the great atmosphere. I had ostrich meatballs (first time) with pasta...mmmmm, delicious!
Our second day was consumed by an all-day bus tour starting in Cape Town and going down around the Cape Point, including a stop of the Cape of Good Hope and then back to Cape Town via Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
Our first stop of the day was in a small little fishing village for an hour long boat tour to see some seals. It took about 20 minutes to travel each way. You knew you were approaching the rocks that the seals like to sun themselves on because of the eye-wateringly, nose-clenchingly bad smell. I would not have thought that a colony of seals could smell so bad...I mean they swim all the time - that's just like bathing isn't it??
Upon our return to the dock, it was time to board the bus again and speed off to the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope is the most southwestern point in the world (though not the southernmost tip of Africa). It is mostly a rocky outcropping with a little grass, a car park, and a sign reading Cape of Good Hope in English and Afrikaans and the GPS coordinates to get there. I think it tends to be the sort of place you drive an hour or so to get to only to stay for a maximum of 30 minutes, though it would be a wonderful little spot for a picnic.
A little further up the road is where many folks stop to take a lunch break and hike up to a stately lighthouse on the hill. This is exactly what we did - we went to the little restaurant which was overlooking the sea and ate lunch with the other folks on our tour. We made friends with a couple of fellas who were traveling solo and chatted with them through a delicious seafood lunch that included mussels, whitefish, and some type of prawn like shellfish that I had never heard of and now can't remember the name of...Oops!
After lunch, the four of us decide to take a hike up to the lighthouse even though it was shrouded in thick fog and you couldn't see the top from the bottom. Baboons kept us company along the way and the view from the top was definitely worth the 15 minute hike to the top and the run back down so we didn't miss our bus.
Next it was off to the penguin colony at Boulder Beach in Hout Bay. I always thought penguins liked the ice and cold but these little guys were living it up in the sand dunes and the dune grasses, laying out and getting suntans. They were not terribly afraid of the humans either. There were plenty of us walking, standing, staring at the little tuxedoed birds, taking pictures and trying to call them over.
Our next and final stop online the road was at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where we had about an hour and a half to stroll through the exotic gardens to see birds of paradise, pink peonies and so many other beautiful shrubs and flowers. Then they loaded all of us intrepid travelers back into the bus for the ride back to Cape Town and our many hotels, hostels, and b&b's.
Upon arriving at our guesthouse we were greeted with a message regarding our pickup for the next day...2:45AM!! Are they crazy?? Turns out it was a 3-hour drive down to Gaansbai so the early pick up was totally necessary.
Our dinner that evening was at a little Italian Bistro called Posticino. The staff was extremely friendly. The maitre'd greeted us with the usual two-cheek kiss and a little hug. He helped us make great food decisions and interacted with every customer to come through the door. The food was delicious as was the sangria and the short walk back to the guest house was a great way to round out the evening.
Back at the guesthouse we drank wine with some Germans who were also staying in the guesthouse. We chatted with them for for a while and then it was time to hit the sack for our early morning wake up.
The excitement started when we tried to get out of the guest house to the street to meet our tour. It turns out the German folks staying at the guesthouse, from the previous evening, had locked the door from the back garden into the hotel proper. Since we had a separate cottage in the back garden, this caused a huge problem.
It was quite a trick to try and get out...we even tried climbing through a window but that ended in a locked room and we were no further ahead. Eventually, we made enough noise that the lovely Germans woke up and let us out. I hope they weren't too upset!
By now you may be wondering what exciting thing we were planning down in Gaansbai that would make us get up for a 2:45am pick up. Well...it was cage diving with Great White Sharks. I thought we were crazy to plan this but it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.
Upon arrival at the tour company, Shark Lady Adventures, they provided us with a lovely breakfast and showed us a safety video and talked to us about what we could expect while out on the boat. Then it was time to sign our lives away and board the boat.
After about 15 minutes skipping across the waves, we dropped anchor and started to call for the sharks. This is done by throwing a chum slurry into the water, waiting and then dragging tuna heads on a rope through the water to draw the sharks. It took a while but one finally came along to swim near the boat. It was at this point that the first group hopped in the cage in the freezing cold water (about 10C) to check out the sharks close up.
When it was finally my turn to get in the cage, I was quite surprised to find that I wasn't nervous at all. In fact, I was terribly excited. Once in the water, we waited for the sharks to swim on over. I was surprised to realize that they had no interest in us whatsoever. They didn't even know we were there observing them. Watching these amazing animals from under the water was incredible. There are just no words to describe it. You need to see if for yourself.
After a much needed afternoon nap, we headed over to V&A Waterfront to a South African restaurant called Karibu for dinner. We had a Braai platter for two which included steak, lamb, ostrich, kudu, impala, wildebeest, and boerwors. There was two dipping sauces that I wish I could duplicate. One was amarula cream sauce and the other was a sweet onion sauce. They truly enhanced the Braai flavour. If anyone out there has a recipe for either of these...please send it to me.
On our final day in Cape Town, we tried to pack in everything else. We spent 12 hours riding the hop on hop off bus, shopping in Green Market Square (a local market in the center of the city that sells handicrafts, jewelry, artwork and carved ostrich eggs), and shopping at V&A Waterfront some more.
Over all, Cape Town was amazing. I can't wait to go back!!
Oh...and those shellfish I couldn't remember the name of...they were langoustines!
Stay tuned to read about the next leg of the African journey - Kruger National Park
