Today we started early, and went to a beautiful botanical garden area called Kirstenbosch. It was a very large green area near the side of the Table Mountain Range which pushes into Cape Town. The views of the various mountain peaks were stunning, the plants were really cool, and as usual, we found lots of good birds!
We arrived at 08:00 and did some morning birding, when the birds were most active. We found lots of Sunbirds, along with several other species.
We also went on the Boomslang Tree Canopy Walkway. This was pretty cool! The walkway is named after the Boomslang snake, which is sometimes around in Kirstenbosch. It was a winding walkway on the side of a forested bank which eventually went up to 12m above the ground! It was very cool to be at the level of the tree canopy, and we got beautiful views of Kirstenbosch, and the Table Mountain range.
A little later in the morning we joined a free guided tour of the gardens. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave us a lot of interesting information about the various plants and trees in the garden. We went on the Boomslang again, this time with the whole tour group. With more people, the walkway would sway back and forth. Maybe not so good if you’re scared of heights!
We had lunch at the “Tea Room” restaurant in the gardens. And then we went back for a couple more hours. Sarah had a target bird she hadn’t seen yet, but thought she heard earlier: the Cape Sugarbird.
We gave it another try, and sure enough we found it! Actually we found a pair of them. The male has a very long tail, which pretty unique. These birds are endemic to southwestern South Africa, meaning that they are only found in that region exclusively, and nowhere else in the world.
Next we got an Uber ride to the cable car to take us up to the top of Table Mountain. The cable car took about 5 minutes to get to the top, and the floor rotated so everyone got a chance to see the views. It took us right to the top of the 1km-high plateau of Table Mountin.
From the top, we had amazing views of Cape Town, the surrounding area, and down toward Cape Peninsula and the mountain range in that direction. And of course, we saw plenty of ocean all around us, since this was the southwestern “point” of Africa, after all!
As we walked some of the trails on top of the mountain, we saw some clouds come in and “hit” some of the mountain peaks below us. One mountain peak, called Lion’s Head, had a single cloud brushing over the top. It made the point look like a volcano! It was pretty neat.
And that was our day! Coming up next, we’re going to get up early and head out to the Boulder’s Beach Penguin Colony, which was an unforgettable experience! Stay tuned!
