I just returned from the most jam-packed South African adventure that I've had yet. A few of my friends and I decided to rent a car for the weekend and take a road trip down to the southernmost tip of Africa, called Cape Point. All of the cars here are manual and they drive on the left side of the road, but luckily my friend Becca is from Scotland, so her experience designated her as our driver.
We got a very early start on Saturday morning and took a little detour to explore Hout Bay. We found ourselves once again on a beautiful beach filled with blinding white sand and a warm breeze. It was pretty early so there weren't many beach-goers around, but almost everyone was there with their dogs. Of course, when I spotted a beagle I went straight to his owner and started gabbing about dogs and how much I miss my own beagle at home. The hardest thing about being away from home for so long is missing Ruby!!!
We then voyaged on to Chapman's Peak drive, which is a long stretch of road named after the peak that looks over it, well-known for its amazing scenic views. We made a few stops along the way to take pictures, of course and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.
After a short drive, we reached Simon's Town, another great city along the coast. Its most famous for Boulders Beach, where all the colonies of African penguins hang out. This was by far the most exciting part of the trip! We had all been looking forward to seeing the penguins since we first arrived and we couldn't get enough of them. Part of the beach had a "viewing area" where you stood on boardwalks and took pictures, but the other section was wide open and we got to sit next to them on the rocks!
For accommodations overnight, we had rented out this wicked cute guest house that, once we saw the inside of, didn't want to leave! It was two floors with a balcony upstairs, two bathrooms and had a full kitchen and dining table - better yet, it was only $130 a night (for all five of us together!) The renters were the SWEETEST couple of people I've ever met and kept reiterating how we should call them if we needed absolutely anything. The house was located on a small street in a really rural area; the town only had one restaurant, which was right down the road, so we went there for dinner. It had a wicked cozy, small-town feeling to it and had amazing seafood. We ate on the porch outside, drinking wine, watching the sunset and listening to a man play piano inside. As much as we all love Cape Town, we each have a little bit of "small-town" in us, so it was nice to get away from the city for a bit. The view of the stars on our walk home was stunning.
We again got an early start on Sunday to head towards Cape Point, which is part of Table Mountain National Park. We had been warned that this area has quite a few wild baboons and we kept seeing signs on the road about not feeding them. Sure enough, we saw a ton today! They're not aggressive, but are quite a nuisance because they'll do anything to get food - a park ranger had to shoo one off when it bolted towards the car next to us with an open trunk of sandwiches. As we entered the park, we saw one simply sitting on top of a car, looking around as if it were taking in the scenery!
We hiked to the top of Cape Point (quite steep) where the view cannot be described in words. There's a small lighthouse at the very top, along with a post showing the direction of where some major cities in the world are located (New York's arrow said it was over 12,500 km away). It was amazing to be looking at the Indian and Atlantic Ocean at the same time! After our trek back down, we headed "home," where we grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch and then crashed back at the apartment. An amazingly fun yet exhausting weekend!
(Uploading pics isn't working - will post soon!)
xoxo Em
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