Woolly says – Our trip to the south had been another nightmare, the travel Gods are really not with us at the moment. We always allow three hours for check in and all the other airporty things, at Cario International we needed every moment and ended up finally clearing security as the final call for the flight was made, racing to the gate we collapsed into our seats and had a comfy flight into Doha.
With a two hour layover we had plenty of time to check out all of designer outlets without buying a thing. Arriving at our gate we hopped onto our long flight to the south. Just over an hour had passed when an announcement came over the Tanoy telling us that due to over one hundred passengers still being in transit for our flight we were being offloaded, we weren’t happy, but neither was the other four hundred on the flight. Off we got and were told to come back in two hours which we duly did, back on we got and sat and sat and sat, Jo and I were half way through a film when an announcement came over that there was a medical emergency and a doctor was on the way!
The whole plane was muttering, and I felt that if we continued like this, we would all need emergency medical care for the stress it was causing. Another hour and a half ticked away and then by some miracle the plane started to move, and we were finally off, seven and a half hours late. The ten and a half hour flight passed as they do with films to watch and sleep to be attempted, arriving mid evening we had lost a day in our next destination already.
The last of the sun showed us wonderfully intact roads without a camel in sight as we cruised along the highways into Cape Town.
Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa, the country’s oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa and the country’s second largest city, after Johannesburg. A quick bite to eat and a shower and we collapsed onto our bunks in the lovely hostel to ready ourselves for an early start and our day tour.
Jo was up early resorting one of our cancelled flights and we just had time to grab a few bites of the complimentary breakfast before our minibus pulled up outside. A lovely lady called Silvie welcomed us on board, and we were off along with another eleven people. As the bus climbed higher and higher out of the city we sat taking in the views and continuing to admire the fresh looking buildings and parks that we passed.
Within a short time, we pulled up at one of the most famous places that South Africa offers, Table Mountain a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town. Attracting 4.2 million people every year for various activities, the mountain has 8,200 plant species, of which around 80% are fynbos, meaning fine bush. The main feature of the Mountain is the level plateau approximately three kilometres (2 mi) from side to side, edged by steep cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devil’s Peak to the east and by Lion’s Head to the west, forms a dramatic backdrop to Cape Town.
Clutching our prepaid tickets, we joined the line to access the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway. in the 1870s, Capetonians had proposed a railway to the top of Table Mountain, but plans were halted by the Anglo-Boer War. The City Council began investigating the options again in 1912, but this was in turn halted by the First World War. Despite initial cost estimates of £100,000 to build the cableway the city’s population was supportive of the project and in a referendum overwhelmingly voted in support of the project. A Norwegian engineer, Trygve Stromsoe, presented plans for a cableway in 1926, and construction began soon after with the formation of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company, it was completed in 1929 at a cost of £60,000. The cableway has been upgraded three times since then.
I watched Jo carefully as the car came into dock as she’s not a fan of heights but on she leapt and off we set flying high above the cliff faces and the incredible views below.
Our guide told us the time to meet up again and we set off to take in some more of the views which were just amazing, all to quickly we were heading back down and onto our next stop.
We headed out of the city enjoying the scenic views of the townships as we passed by.
Pausing for a quick photo stop at the place where Jolandi Le Roux, a young lady on her honeymoon toppled over the cliff edge and sadly lost her life.
As the minibus pulled into our next stop Jo became way to excited and raced off towards the thing that she wanted to see most, everywhere we looked there were pictures of penguins which seems odd in a hot country.
Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is located on the Cape Peninsula, in Simon’s Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is a popular tourist spot because of a colony of African penguins which settled there in 1982, these African penguins are only found on the coastlines of Southern Africa (South Africa and Namibia). Sadly, these penguins are currently endangered, as a result, the penguins are under the protection of the Cape Nature Conservation. Even I had to admit that they were adorable as the women cooed over them, I searched around for the nesting boxes that inhabit the undergrowth near to the sea.
With every penguin admired we headed into the shop which raised funds to help the black and white guys with the women helping the charity out rather a lot given the amount of booty they arrived back at the bus with.
Our next stop was for lunch in Simons Town, sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape of South Africa, for more than two centuries, it has been a naval base and harbour (first for the British Royal Navy and now the South African Navy). The town is named after Simon van der Stel, an early governor of the Cape Colony. The colonial buildings filled the town and having tucked into some local fish we were very happy with our stop.
Back onto the bus and off we went again, heading to the last piece of land in the whole continent of Africa. The Cape of Good Hope a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast, A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, when following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, the Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward. The first modern rounding of the cape in 1487 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was a milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish direct trade relations with the Far East, Dias called the cape Cabo das Tormentas (‘Cape of Storms’; Dutch: Stormkaap), which was the original name of the cape. It is sadly one of the areas known for shipwrecks including the SS Lusitania, a Portuguese twin-screw ocean liner of 5,557 tons, built in 1906. The ship was wrecked at 24h00 on 18th April 1911 in fog while en route from Lourenço Marques, Mozambique, with 25 first-class, 57 second-class and 121 third-class passengers, and 475 African labourers. Out of the 774 people on board, eight died when a lifeboat capsized. On 20th April the ship slipped off the rock into 37 metres (121 ft) of water to the east of the rock. The wreck has become a fairly well known recreational dive site, but at 33 to 40 metres, it is deeper than recommended for the average recreational diver, and the currents and breakers over the reef make it a moderately challenging dive.
As the transport pulled up, I was given strict instructions to stay inside which didn’t please me one bit until I saw a lady get blown off her feet followed by someone else a few moments later. I watched as the Jo and Zoe tried to take pictures in the wind that seemed strong enough to take me well up into the sky.
Suddenly I noticed that Jo had broken away from the group in pursuit of an ostrich, having hopefully taken its picture she climbed back onto the bus looking incredibly dishevelled after her windy escapade.
Off we went again this time heading upwards once again until we pulled in and having tucked me into the bag the ladies set off to the Cape Point and its lighthouse.
We elected to take the small funicular railway to the top as it looked very much like a steep uphill hike.
Alighting from the small carriage we fought our way up the steps with the winds doing everything in its power to knock us down again. Finally battling the element, we rounded the light house and did our best to take pictures, it wasn’t easy.
Woolly says – The new lighthouse is at a lower elevation (87 meters; 285.5 feet above sea level), for two reasons, the old lighthouse, located at 34°21′12″S 18°29′25.2″E (262 meters; 859.6 feet above sea level), could be seen ‘too early’ by ships rounding the point towards the east, causing them to approach too closely. Secondly, foggy conditions often prevail at the higher levels, making the older lighthouse invisible to shipping. Following the wreckage of Lusitania the new light house was built.
Once the women had arrived back at the bottom it was safe to come out and I was at least able to see the new lighthouse from the bottom.
Back onto the transport and we set off back to the city for our last stop, this one was easy to see as wonderful colours stood out long before we arrived.
The Bo-Kaap was formerly known as the Malay Quarter. It is a former racially segregated area, situated on the slopes of Signal Hill above the city centre and is a historical centre of Cape Malay culture in Cape Town.
Bo-Kaap is known for its brightly coloured homes and cobblestoned streets. The area is traditionally a multicultural neighbourhood, and 56.9% of its population identify as Muslim. In 1760 Jan de Waal bought a block of land at the foot of Signal Hill, starting in 1763, de Waal built several small “huurhuisjes” (rental houses) on this land, which he leased to his slaves.
The brightly coloured facades are attribute to an expression of freedom by the new homeowners, as all the houses were painted white while on lease it appears that the tradition of brightly coloured homes began in the late 20th century.
Preservation of the area began in 1943 when 15 houses were restored by a group of prominent citizens, with the support of the Historical Monuments Commission. In 1966 a portion of the area was designated as a National Monument. From 1971 the City Council began restoring houses and streetscapes, with 48 units completed by 1975. It was lovely to see, and every building was in excellent condition.
As we climbed back onto the bus for our drop off, we all agreed that although it had been a busy day it had been incredible, and we had seen some of the most wonderful sights possible.