Yesterday, I had a true day of discovery on my BAZ Bus Cape Peninsula tour! Ten of us headed out with our driver and guide to get to the bottom of it all. I should have known it would be an adventure when I saw the trailer filled with bikes that was hitched to the back of the minibus!
Our first stop after leaving Cape Town through all the posh beach communities was Hout Bay Harbor. We boarded a boat to Duiker Island which is a Cape Fur Seal sanctuary, home to thousands of seals. We saw hundreds of seals sunning themselves on this "Bachelor" rock. The majority of the seals are male and waiting breeding age (8-12 yrs) when they will go to the nearby breeding grounds. The large numbers of seals are one of the reasons for the high shark population in this area. Sharks love to eat seals!
Bruce, our guide, told us that there is only about one death a year from Great White Sharks in this area, but there are about 40 deaths a year from lion attacks, 1,000 a year by Hippos, and a death every six minutes caused by taxis.
We stopped at nearby Chapmans Peak for scenic views of Hout Bay before heading over to the suburbs of Simon's Town on the west coast of False Bay. False Bay got it's name because the seacaptains would often get confused and think that Cape Town was on this bay. Wrong!
Our next stop was "The Boulders" an African Penguin colony. About 3,000 penguins live on the beach and the brush in this nice suburban area. We could walk very close to them on a series of board walks through the breeding grounds. They were cuter than you can imagine! They are very clumsy on land but are built for speed in the water. They mate for life and I saw them sitting on eggs in their nests (they take turns guarding the eggs) and running on the beach. They used to be called Jackass Penguins because of the noise they make. I wanted to take some home!
We then headed to Cape Point national park. We had a picnic lunch and learned a lot at the Visitor's Center before hiking up to the lighthouse for magnificent views. Seeing the convergence point for two ocean currents was very cool! The Atlantic and its cold water plant and animals and False Bay which is warm water and brings different flora and fauna. While in the national park we saw baboons, zebras, bontelook (white tailed antelope), and a Southern Right whale off the coast.
We rode bikes from the Cape Point Lighthouse down to the Cape of Good Hope its self. It's a good thing that I conquered my fear of biking on the Red Bicyclette trip to France last summer! I managed to stay on the bike despite the confusion of cars driving on the wrong side of the road! I stopped at one point to watch some baboons playing on the beach and they came right up to me. Their mannerisms are frighteningly human.
It was a great day of learning about SA history and seeing amazing natural beauty. The animals, flowers, and rocky beaches were heavenly! The bright sunshine made the whole day a photo op! I think I took more pictures here than anywhere I've visited so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment