Cape Town, South Africa - A little slice of Heaven

We arrived in Capetown after a nine hour flight @ 2 AM out of Mumbai to Johannesburg followed by a 2 hour flight to Capetown. Arriving in Africa, we were met by some obvious differences like the color of people’s skin, the language, the music, etc. and some unexpected differences like the weather (warm and windy), the lack of crowds and the lack of noise in traffic. Cars are small, clean and look new, nothing like India. There is generally a more satisfied attitude about life and what people are doing. The government is obviously trying to keep people happy by giving them jobs. At the airport, our plane was met by a ground crew of around 25 people looking to assist passengers deplaning.

I was expecting South Africa to be a bit more 3rd world like but have found it to be pretty progressive. The roads are clean, cars are clean, buildings and property are well maintained. Of course, we haven’t ventured into the “townships” where life is much more difficult so we might only be seeing a small sample. I’m not overlooking the crime issues here as there are lots of warnings about being out in certain places at night, carrying your camera in full view of others, etc. We have found many places take credit cards something that was fairly rare in India.

I am also surprised and impressed with the level of physical activity as many people are riding their road bikes on long, hilly treks. Others are seen running or kite sailing. The weather is ideal for all these activities. Staying in a guest house with a view of the East Coast of the peninsula here, we can see para-sailors and kite boarders from our room, watch the waves breaking on the shoreline and enjoy and almost 180 degree view of the water. It’s certainly a nice place to chill out for a few days before the 60 day trek north begins.



Our first adventure was to go see the African penguins this area is known for. While we were unable to find the main group, these few were entertaining.





The next day it was off to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. This is the southern tip of the African continent. Although it was quite windy at the top of the mountain at the point, the views are breathtaking and it’s an amazing thing to see. We were able to observe several animals in the wild like ostriches, eland, dassies, baboons and springbok. So here are some photos of the views and the animals…

Tip of Africa, two views…



Who lives in this house?



Dassies





Birds I’ve seen before in the Galapagos





Eland



Cormorants take flight among the water spray…



Ostrich in harsh sunlight…



Springbok (or some other antelope like bok)



The next day, it was up at dawn and a short drive to a beach area where they have some classic looking change houses in the early morning light.





After another great breakfast at the Guest house, it was off to see the botanical gardens called Kirstenbosch. This was another great experience as they have done a first class job of creating an environment for plants, flowers, trees and animals. I was able to observe some interesting animals as Susan “whiled away the hours, conferring with the flowers, consulting with the rain…” (you can name the title of that song pretty easily, I hope.)
My photographic efforts peaked with a sunbird feeding on a large flower with his made for this type of eating beak.







And then there was this guy ( a spotted eagle owl) watching the festivities…