A Tale of Two Chemists: Cape Town and Cape Point

Cape Town and Cape Point … Thursday 30 - Friday 31 May 2013

Thursday

The weather continued to be windy with heavy rain showers so we decided to take a mini-cab down town. We had noticed the hooting and cat-call whistles from the passing mini-cabs the night before and just assumed that they were just being obnoxious – but it turns out that all this noise is just to grab potential passengers attention and simply how they do business. We hailed one down, squeezed aboard and paid our 6 rand (60 cent) fares. Tash and Gloria got a seat at the back. I was next to the door and had to jump up and out of the van several times to let people on and off. At one point we had 17 people in this little van and Tash says she has never seen anyone turned away. We arrived at the downtown mini-bus terminal in about 20 minutes – it was quite the experience. We wandered around outdoor markets and a busy shopping area. There were hundreds of great photos to be had but I felt so out of place and certain that the sight of my big camera would cause some uproar that I left it in my bag. We the strolled around “The Company Gardens” – we think these were established by the Dutch East India company, as was the first European settlement here in Cape Town. The gardens are quite lovely with formal lawns, borders, lilly ponds, and a wide selection of specimen trees. It would have been even nicer if it hadn’t been pouring, so after a while we walked back to the shopping area and an Ethiopian restaurant that Tash knew. I have to say this was excellent and by far the most different dining experience I’ve had in years. We sat on low stools around a small drum shaped table, with individual side tables for our drinks. Tash and I had some honey wine (delicious) and Gloria some spiced tea (not so popular!). Then the waiter came with a kettle of warm water for us to wash our hands with. We ordered three dishes – chicken, ground beef and chickpea, as well as a side dish of spinach. When the food arrived it came on a large tray that just fitted the table, and the tray itself was entirely covered with a pancake onto which all the dishes were tipped. We were given additional pancakes but no utensils, so we dug in using pieces of pancake to pick up the fillings. The food was fabulous – each cooked in regional spices and all very different from one another. After this wonderful meal we caught a University of Cape Town bus from the down town campus back up to the University and then walked the short distance back to Tasha’s house and our guest house. In the evening we went round to Tasha’s, cooked pasta and “Vegetable scampi” and met her house-mates, who seem to be a very nice bunch of people.

Mike

Friday

We met Tasha after breakfast and set off for Simons Town and Cape Point. While there was some cloud around we were thrilled that it wasn’t raining - in fact it turned into a beautiful day. At St. Simon’s we stopped to pick up food for lunch. Then we drove further through town to the penguin viewing spot. A colony of African (Cape) penguins is resident on Boulder Beach. We were lucky enough to see both adults and juveniles still covered in the downy feathers. The adults look pretty clumsy on land but once in the water they are amazingly agile. In the beach area we saw a mongoose and something called a dassy—a groundhog sized mammal that is related to the elephant (despite it’s rodent-like appearance).

Traveling further south we entered the Cape Point National Park. The road winds it’s way through the park giving astounding views of the sea and cliffs. From the first stop we took a short walk and spotted a small antelope. We sighted the first troop of baboons crossing the road. Then we drove along to the lighthouse, walking up the path with half the world (it seemed). Again we had amazing views down to the sea on both sides of the point. It was amazing to look of from the Cape of Good Hope. On the return trip northward through the park we ventured down a side road and were rewarded with more wildlife sightings. We saw four zebra shortly after turning off the main road. In an area that had recently burned we saw our first bontebok and two ostrich. A bit further along we saw the second troop of baboons. The road ended at the beach where more bontebok and ostrich were photographed. On the beach itself we saw many birds including some sacred ibis, many Egyptian geese, a pair of blacksmith plover, a three-banded plover (resembling a killdeer) and a few unidentified peeps.

Leaving the park we headed up the west coast of the peninsula along the Chapman’s Peak road. This impressive road seemed like a marvel of engineering, running along ledges and under rock shelves. From the high point of the road at Chapman’s Peak we looked down into Hout Bay. Luckily we arrived before sunset and could enjoy the view of the sun reflected in the water. We drove down to the town of Hout Bay and went to the market. This combination of craft market and food stalls provided us with a great dinner in lively atmosphere. This was clearly a popular spot—we saw all manner of people from young kids to old duffers (such as ourselves). The drive back was a bit hair-raising as the headlights only seemed to illuminate the road for about ten feet in front of the car. We arrived back at our B&B at about 8 pm after a fantastic day.

Gloria