What a day this was.
We started by taking an Uber out to a place called Simon’s Town. We visited an amazing beach there called Boulders Beach with a breeding colony of African Penguins. It was an unforgettable experience!
We had done our homework, and got there shortly after opening at 8am. It was an hour’s drive, so we made sure to get up nice and early. Instead of going to the main viewing platforms, we went down the boardwalk to the other end, where you can actually walk on the beach. Then, if you clamber over and under a few rocks and wade through a little bit of water, you get to an area where several of the penguins hang out!
The penguins were adorable. They were quite tame, although we were warned that they will bite if you get too close or try to touch them, and if they bite you, you might need stitches. We made sure not to touch them.
But we did get quite close to them, and they waddled around very close to us as well! We got some great photos and videos. It was really cool to see them swim. They can paddle around with their heads up out of the water, and they do a lot of preening and splashing around while they’re swimming. They sometimes stick their heads into the water to take a look, perhaps looking for some small fish. And then they can dive under and swim. And oh man, can they ever swim! We saw them swim underwater a couple of times and they are very fast! Later we read that they can swim up to 20 km/hr underwater. That’s a pretty fast swimming bird!
There were also some strange little critters called Dassies (or Rock Hyraxes). They look like rodents, but are actually in their own scientific order, apparently the closest relative of elephants. They wander the beach, sleep on the rocks, and climb around in the bushes looking for food.
After spending quite a lot of time with the penguins (literally hours) and thoroughly enjoying every minute, we finally tore ourselves away and moved on.
We walked back along the boardwalk (where we could also see penguins off to the side) to the viewing platforms and went down to take a look. The platform was very close to where the penguins were nesting on the beach. There were a bunch of burrows with penguins in them sitting on their eggs. Occasionally a penguin would sit up and stretch, and we would see the egg underneath them. Their mates would sometimes come over with nesting material. There were also several mostly-grown chicks there. They still had their fuzzy “down” feathers, and some were starting to go through their first moult. Very neat to see the breeding colony.
These penguins are endangered. They only live off the south coast of Africa and on a few islands. In the early 1800’s, there was estimated to be about 4 million penguins. By the beginning of the 1900’s, this was down to 1 million, and now there are less than 50,000 left. Hopefully colonies like the one at Boulders Beach will help to strengthen their numbers over time.
Next, we walked down to the main stretch of Simon’s Town and had lunch at a restaurant called Fran’s Place, which Sarah had looked up ahead of time. It had a very nice view out over the water, and we sat outside on the deck.
Sometimes when I’m travelling, if I see something on a menu that is weird or intriguing, I just can’t stop myself from trying it. So when I saw a “Bacon and Banana” toasted sandwich, obviously that’s what I ordered. Sarah got Prawns and Chips.
The sandwich was actually quite good! A strange but tasty mix of sweet and salty. I enjoyed it a lot. Sarah’s prawns were good, but the fries were amazing. I should have added some to my order as well. We enjoyed our meals, and shared a banana split afterward.
We weren’t really sure what to do next. We had left the rest of the day fairly open, since we needed to pack and then get up super early to catch a flight in the morning. We briefly checked out another beach, and then we ordered an Uber. We actually wanted to zip over to an African art shop closeby, but we couldn’t get an Uber for that short trip, probably because we were so far outside of the city. But when we ordered one to take us back into Cape Town, we had no problem.
We had the driver take us back “the long way”, along the western shore through the Chapman’s Peak Drive. It was beautiful! We had great views of the ocean, the cute towns along the way, and the stunning mountain range along that side.
When we got into town, we actually needed to be dropped off a street over from ours because the main road was closed for the Cape Town Carnival. We had noticed that they were setting up staging and seating yesterday for the event. Shortly after we got back, there was a big parade going on right down the street from our apartment! After having some supper, we walked down to the corner and watched a bit of the parade. It was quite cool! It started with some city firefighters and wildfire firefighters, along with some other official groups. We also saw a couple of floats, marching bands, and dancers. When we finally went back to the appartment, we could still hear the cheering and music. It went late into the night.
But it wasn’t a late night for us! We got packed up and went to bed early. Our flight the next day was scheduled for 6:30, so we were aiming to leave at 4:00, arriving at the airport around 4:30.
Cape Town was great! We enjoyed it a lot. Next up: Addo!
