Table of Contents
Peninsular Tour to the Penguins
Must Do - Visit the African Penguin Colony at Boulders Beach
Cape of Good Hope
We stopped off at The Cape of Good Hope on our journey along the coast road – The African continent’s most South Westerly point.
Flora and Fauna
Sharks
No-one was swimming in the sea. Maybe because the water is very cold here in Summer (it is warmer in Winter, oddly?) – or maybe because sharks are common in these waters.
Sharks are so common they employ shark watchers to sound the alarm if they spot one.
Baboons
Baboons are a problem too – pinching things from people’s cars in an attempt to find food. Concrete ones were the closest I got, although there was supposed to be a 70 percent chance of seeing one here.
Puff adders live in the fynbos (fine bush) too – although I didn’t see any warning notices for those?
There must also be tortoises because there was a road sign warning they might be crossing – glad we didn’t have to wait for one of those!
Oyster Catchers
We spotted several as we drove along the coast during the day.
Everlasting Flowers
Today’s highlight? It was a stiff competition here between the penguins and the snowy white drifts of paper like everlasting flowers growing by the coast – just beautiful.
Glad I Packed
Sunscreen – It was so hot today.
Tips for Future Travellers
Taking a tour to the Penguin Colony today meant that we could have a relaxing start to the trip without worrying about picking up the hire care for a couple of days. The cost of the tour was covered by the money we saved on delaying picking up the hire car and also gave us the opportunity to chat to out driver about tips he had for driving in South Africa – always really useful at the start of a road trip.
Buying a hop on hop off bus tour ticket on our first day in Cape Town proved doubly good value because we could use it to finish the day with the sunset bus tour that was included in our ticket.
It took a couple of hours to trundle round the city playing jolly African music to get us in the mood for the rest of our trip (Awim Away, Awim Away …).
The bus dropped us off at the top of Signal Hill where crowds gathered to sit and watch the sunset. It was much better to have come on the bus than in our own car – the traffic was manic up there.
