Back on the bus! Next stop: The Cape of Good Hope.
A short drive through more beautiful South African terrain brought us to the entrance to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Laurence told us that the park was part of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, the smallest but richest of the world’s six floral kingdoms. There are over 1100 species of indigenous plants, many of which only exist there. The fynbos (fine bush) were gorgeous and proliferated throughout the landscape.
Other information provided by Laurence: It is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southernmost tip of Africa and divides the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. That isn’t true. The actual southernmost point is at Cape Agulhas, about 90 miles east-southeast, where the warm water and cold water currents meet. When following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, however, the Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward. Thus, the first modern rounding of the cape in 1488 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was a milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish direct trade relations with the Far East.
There are two reproductions of the crosses erected by the Portuguese govenment honoring Bartholomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama, who are the first “modern” explorers to reach the cape. But not all sailors were so lucky. The Cape is also home to The Flying Dutchman legend: the notorious ghost ship that can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. It comes from the story of a 17th century sea captain for the Dutch East India Company who was hell bent on getting around the Cape on a stormy night. His crew were supposed to have been guilty of dreadful crimes. He failed miserably as his ship sank in the storm and all aboard perished. As penance, they must sail the seas where they died for all eternity. Ocean lore indicates that the sight of the phantom ship is a portent of doom.
In addition to the monumental floral displays, the Cape is also home to many species of animals. One of them is the Cape mountain zebra, which have become a rarity. Imagine our surprise when Linda spotted one. I thought Laurence was gonna freak out. He had never seen one there, and congratulated Linda on her keen eye. Jacob pulled the bus over and let us all gawk at the zebra (pronounced ZEBB-ra by Laurence. As he said, “There are no ZEE-bras in Africa. Only ZEBB-ras.”). Immediately after that, we passed the cross of Gama.
As we neared the actual Cape point, we spotted a baboon. Actually, I think Linda was the one who spotted him. According to Laurence, they’re pretty common around the peninsula. He also warned us not to harass any of them, as they could be touchy. They’re a real problem in that they are always trying to get food from people, get into their cars and also their hotel rooms. He told us a story about a guy who had problems with baboons jumping on his car and trying to get in it while he was surfing. A friend of his told him that baboons hate snakes (who blames them?) and suggested he use that information to repel them. The surfer got several rubber snakes and put them on his car and headed off to surf. However, instead of repelling the baboons, it riled them up to no end. They got rocks and started throwing them at the “snakes,” breaking his car windows and crushing his roof and hood. Ha!
Once we pulled up at the tip, we were given 45 minutes to look around, with a firm time to be back at the bus. It was absolutely beautiful. The other Linda took this shot of Jean and me at the commemorative sign.
After boarding the bus and heading out of the park, somebody (I think it was Linda the first again!) spotted three eland grazing in the fynbos. Laurence heaped praise on her for her excellent spotting.
Our next destination was Cape Point and the old lighthouse. There are two lighthouses at Cape Point: the old and the new. The old one was in use from 1860 to 1919, but was replaced by a new one atop Dias Point in 1919. The reasons the old lighthouse was replaced were: its higher elevation could be seen too early by ships rounding the point toward the east, causing them to approach too closely. Secondly, foggy conditions were frequently present at the higher elevation and made the older lighthouse invisible to ships. The new lighthouse cannot be seen from the West until ships are at a safe distance to the South.
After driving up to the park at the base of the lighthouse hill, we alighted after receiving our return time. There was a souvenir shop, bathrooms and a cafe. “The restrooms are very good here,” Laurence told us. “Although I’ve never been in the ladies.” Methinks he doth protest too much, I thought.
Access to the lighthouse was achieved by either walking up the mountain (uh, no) or riding The Flying Dutchman funicular to the base of lighthouse hill. A short flight of steps from the base of lighthouse hill led to a viewing platform around the base of the lighthouse. Funiculars are the coolest things ever. They’ve also become a common sight at some of the more elevated lake home sites.
I went to the restroom while Jean and Louisa got tickets for The Dutchman. When I got out, Jean reported that some girl had brazenly tried to break in the ticket line and was put in her place by one of the ladies in our group. We were gleeful and gloated about the whole thing. I also took a picture of this neat bird and his poop streaming down the rocks.
Once we got to the top, the views were stunning, and I took advantage of the panorama feature on the iPhone to capture it. What an amazing thing that feature is! Although I took 1375 photos with my Canon, I could see the definite appeal of the iPhone as the source of photography. Louisa used hers exclusively and took some phenomenal shots. The new image stabilization is a boon to somebody as shaky as I am. But the iPhone can’t shoot in the raw format, and the raw format is what makes using Lightroom such an amazing joy.
We rode The Dutchman back down, perused the gift shop (more hoarder’s daymares) and began to head toward the bus. I saw this sign and thought it was cool and funny and took a shot of it. I didn’t quite get it. Was the cobra referring to something poisonous in the area? (Ther
e were some structures behind it). I asked Laurence about it. “Are there snakes up here? Surely not, are they?”
“Oh yes there are,” he assured me. “I was up here not long ago and nearly stepped on a puff adder.”
“Yoiks!” I exclaimed, as I hurried onto the bus.
On the way out of Cape Point, we passed the Dias cross, which is a duplicate of the Gama cross. When lined up, the crosses point to Whittle Rock (34°21’24.63”S 18°28’26.36”E), a large, permanently submerged shipping hazard in False Bay. Cool! We also passed Lion’s Head, another mountain in the area. This picture doesn’t do it justice, but it really did look like a lion’s head. Laurence told us that the Africans were a threat to name their mountains.
Our next stop was Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, at the eastern foot of Table Mountain. Its history begins in 1660 as the site of a hedge of Wild Almond and brambles designed to protect the perimeter of the Dutch colony. After that it went through several hands until it was purchased by Cecil John Rhodes of De Beers Diamond Company and the Rhodes Scholarship. He bequeathed the land to the Nation in 1902.
Laurence advised that we do the Tree Canopy Walkway to maximize enjoyment and do it in the time he had allotted us to be there: an hour and a half. Since the gardens were on a slope below Table Mountain, this walk was accomplished in a counter-clockwise circle up the hill and then down. Jean walked with us at the beginning, but opted to go back to the garden center for the rest of the trip. Her back was misbehaving again.
In the middle of the walk we encountered The Boomslang, a curved steel and timber bridge that winds and dips its way through and over the trees of the Arboretum. It was graceful, beautiful and cool. And it did indeed look like the skeleton of a boomslang – tree snake.
On the walk we also encountered these cool dinosaurs that were positioned among the folliage. It was absolutely beautiful. We had accumulated several of the other folks on the trip on our journey through the gardens. It was fun, and a good initial bonding situation. With 26 people on a trip together, it takes a little time to break the ice and get to know them. After a couple of missed paths and a little indecision, we found our way back to the garden center. I started looking for Jean but couldn’t find her anywhere. It turns out she had been hollering at me and I hadn’t heard her. We finallly hooked back up and all loaded up on the bus to head back to the hotel.
The night’s meal was our “welcome dinner.” It was a buffet (natch) and Laurence assured us that it would include a water, a soft drink, a beer or a glass of wine. The food was buffet (nuff said). We sat at a huge table with Louisa and Whanger, Gayle and Bob and 4 of the Chinese couples on the tour. Toward the end of the meal they slid a small bowl of some kind of appetizery thing down to us and told us to eat it. It was a meaty dried thing that was pretty vile, but I ate my piece and smiled back at them. It would have been better if I had had some of it in my teeth. Then they asked us if we wanted the rest of the wine they had bought. We said sure. It was a cloying, sickeningly sweet, syrupy red that even Bob and I couldn’t get down. The thought was nice, though.
Afterward, down to the bar for a Ron, then up to the rack for an early morning call. We were set to go to Table Mountain, which is an iffy propostion any time. If it’s too cloudy, you can’t see anything, if it’s too windy they don’t run the cable cars to the top. We were gambling on a good weather window. Plus, Laurence wanted us to be there first in order to beat the crowds. Good plan.