Day: May 19, 2019

Today we explored the Cape Peninsula and let the wind blow around our noses. We drove to the Cape of good Hope and did two small trails to the lighthouse and the Cape of good Hope.

Huge rocks that rise to the 200 m from the sea. The paths are very well made and easy to walk. From the parking lot there is even a cable car up to the lighthouse (Who wants – extra ticket). Many nationalities cavort here and enjoy the great view. A sign shows 9635 km to Amsterdam. We had quite nice weather at 16 degrees, fresh wind and good visibility. Unfortunately there were no whales or dolphins in the water. The water itself is crystal clear and has a wonderful turquoise blue on the coast. Dias Beach is fantastically located between Cape Point and the Cape of good Hope. You can climb down a staircase. We hiked about 4 hours from viewpoint to viewpoint. We talked with two nice women from Kiel at the lighthouse for a while. Esther lives and works for 3 years in South Africa.

Back at the apartment, we had pasta again. After that we checked our photo backup. All photos from the phone are in a cloud/or uploaded to Amazon Photos. This is very reassuring in case we ever lose the phone, or it breaks. By the way, the entrance fee to the park is R303 pP (without South African Wild Card). Opening hours Apr – Sep 7:00 – 17:00.

Silke

Reiner got up early and saw two whales in the bay not far from shore. I slept a little longer. Then we had a leisurely breakfast. Back on the Garden Route we drove past vineyards, mostly along the coast. Our destination today was Simon ‘s Town, where we stayed in “Romans Rock” apartment. About 1 km away is a large colony of African Penguins (Jackass Penguins), which we visited in the afternoon. The animals settled here in the 80s and one pair has become several thousand.

The beach section is protected via SanParks and is only open during the day. Entrance costs R 152 (approx. 10 EUR) or incl. withSouth Africa Wild Card. The colony can be observed from a wooden jetty. Some penguins prefer the bushes on the slope. (There we also discovered Dassies and Weasels). The African penguins are here all year round.

The cute bipeds are about 40 cm tall and estimated to weigh 3-4 kg. They talk loudly and waddle across the beach into and out of the water. They also stay with their offspring during the day to feed. Some young are fatter than their parents. Some nesting sites still have eggs in them, while in others some of the fledglings’ fluffy feathers had already transitioned to their shiny “tails.”

In the evening we cooked noodles in cheese sauce, played a round of Carcassonne and watched the Eurovision Song Contest over the internet.

Silke