Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
We rented a car and left Cape Town to head on a road trip along the Western Cape Garden Route. But before we headed to the Garden Route, we took a detour down to Simon’s Town and then further on to the Cape of Good Hope. Interestingly, though hours away, both of these areas are also part of the same National Park where we hiked Table Mountain.
Simon’s Town, an hour drive from Cape Town, is famous for being home to Boulders Beach and a South African Penguin colony. Once we arrived, we got to walk along the boardwalks near the aptly named beach and be within yards of an entire wild penguin colony. It was so cool! Some penguins were sleeping in the shade of the boardwalk itself, but most were hanging out on the boulders or swimming in the ocean.
After leaving Boulders Beach, we headed further south towards Cape Point. After accidentally driving past the sign to the park entrance, we lucked out in finding an ostrich farm nearby before we turned around. I had no idea how big these guys were in real-life. I am not sure, but they seemed like they’d love to get ahold of Zach's hat, or maybe his nose.
Once we did get to the Cape Point park, we quickly realized we had not allowed for nearly enough time to explore this huge park. We had only a few hours before we had to leave in order to make it to our next apartment before dark (driving after dusk is strongly discouraged for many reasons). That gave us enough time to hike up to the old lighthouse and to hike/jog out to the new lighthouse out on the point.
Interesting fact is that the old lighthouse location was blamed for the sinking of the SS Lusitania in 1911. It was found to be too far inland and too high as to cause navigational mistakes. The new lighthouse was built right at the end of the furthest point to avoid any navigational confusion. According to the brochure, it is now the strongest light on the South African coast with a visibility range of 34 nautical miles.
Live and learn, but if we did it again, we would plan to spend the entire day here or maybe even two days. There were dozens of multiple-hour hikes and they all looked amazing.
On the drive out of the park, a group of baboons had blocked traffic. The baboons looked cute from a distance, but once they started fighting, it was a different story. We were told to lock the doors as they are smart enough to open them. After seeing them fight, we agreed if they got in the car, we would all get out fast!
Lot going on in this picture
