Day 6

Today’s tour started down the western cape towards the Cape of Good Hope - the southwestern point of Africa. On the way to the park we passed Camp’s bay with its beautiful views and expensive condos to Clifton where the hoi polloi have homes to Houts bay where illegal immigrants have taken over some of the best land around the bay. We stopped at Houts bay to shop and then continued along the cliff road to the Cape of Good Hope. We stopped at an ostrich farm and got our first look at a pair of baboons. We arrived at the cape park and you may remember from our blog post Yesterday I mentioned that baboons were are pests the farmers drive off with paintball guns. Well today at the cape it was Baboons, Baboons and more Baboons. We saw whole baboon families with babies clinging to their mothers as they sauntered along. In fact, baboons in the park have their own minders to keep them from stealing tourists’ stuff like handbags or anything that might hold food. We also saw more wild ostrich and a couple of eland, which are large antelope. We arrived at the Cape of Good Hope to find it overrun with French tourists that didn’t get the idea of queuing up for pictures. We saw flocks of Cormorants and Seagulls in a feeding frenzy diving after sardines. On the back side of the cape is False bay and the Indian Ocean. We got a much better view of both the Atlantic and the Indian oceans from the top of the cape lighthouse. We reached the lighthouse by taking a funicular - a train pulled up the hill by a cable. Leaving the lighthouse we drove up the eastern cape to see the penguins. We were not disappointed. The African ( or Jack-ass) penguins are quite cute and very photogenic. I also saw a Dassie or hydrax - a kind of mountain rabbit with no tail. After a bunch of pictures and an ice cream cone we headed back to our last night in Cape Town. Tonight for dinner we were hosted by a local couple - Virginia and Wayne. V&W have been hosting tour groups once a week for 4 1/2 years. They were wonderful hosts, the food (local and family recipes) and wine were delicious and Wayne described the political and economic scene in SA since Nelson Mandela was president to the present which was very interesting. I especially liked the chocka-wocka, a spicy bean dish. After a nightcap in the bar we retired to write the blog and pack up for our trip to Stellenbosch and more wine tomorrow.