'Round the Cape

After an uneventful passage around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, we approached the city of Capetown, South Africa on a clear, crisp March morning. We were just past the equinox and fall was in the air. The foredeck was crowded as dawn broke and we were treated to the distinctive skyline of Capetown with Table Mountain towering above the city, dominating the skyline. It was truly beautiful and I was psyched to get my boots on the trail to climb the sucker. (My inner peak bagger from my grad school days sometimes comes to visit my soul) Hillary said that we climb to get to the top, but really that was just a flip response to a question that if you have to ask it, you cannot comprehend the answer.

Capetown from sea

Following the requisite organized chaos that is customs clearance for a thousand plus people, we were released to go play ashore. I had no responsibilities in this port so I was free to join a group of staff and faculty who were looking to stretch our legs and tour the town a bit. The port facility is right downtown and we were able to get onto busy streets immediately and see what was what. The first shock was to have cars stop at the crosswalks - very different from China, Vietnam, Burma, and pretty much every single place we had visited including Hawaii. People seemed friendly and we had a pleasant stroll through streets where everyone spoke English and all the street signs were in good repair and easily followed. It was quite a treat.

We visited a local market and eventually found a street cafe where we enjoyed a beverage or two and a big basket of chips. "I don't want chips, I want french fries" was a line from one of our group. "Ahhh… 'chips' are 'french fries' here" was the reply. You have to speak English here, not American.

The following day was the big draw for me in this port - we were set to climb Table Mountain. We had a small group of six set to do the  climb and the weather was a bit of a worry. The day previous had been very windy and the mountain had beed quite cloudy by mid-day. This is a common weather pattern for this time of year and we were hoping to get some views from the top of the mountain. When I awoke I was pleased to see that the day had dawned clear and calm. We eagerly boarded the bus and were quickly brought around the city to the beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on the outskirts of the city. We were met there by our hiking guide Binny and another guide Frank who was set to meet us at the top of the mountain. Binny cheerfully organized our little troop and we set out across the gardens to the start of the trail. Table Mountain pretty much rises straight up out of the ground with very little in the way of foothills. We went from a casual stroll to a hike worthy of New Hampshire - straight up. Our track was up the colorfully named "Skeleton Gorge". Switchbacks were few and sections of the trail were so steep that ladders had been installed in order to get us past the sheer rock faces. It was a bit strenuous, but our group moved well and after a couple of hours we topped out and took a snack break.

Our route up Table Monntain

I expected the top of a mountain called "Table" to be pretty flat, so I was surprised to be greeted by small peaks and valleys covered with thick scrub. It looked all the world like the San Raphael Swell in Southern Utah with hardy vegetation covering sand and rock. The top of the mountain is interspersed with five reservoirs built in the 19th century to supply water to the city. The upper basins were dry, but the lower ones still held water kept back by stoneworks hand-hewn from the surrounding rock. We could still see the scars on the sides of rocks were the stone had been broken out and shaped for the dam and stone pathways around the water basins. We spent several hours walking around and across the top of the mountainside and stopped on the far side to gaze down at the broad Atlantic Ocean far below us. There wasn't a breath of wind and the air was warm - it was hard to look across the water and realize that the next stop was Antarctica.

We continued our long loop around the mountain and in a couple of hours we reached our lodging for the night - a stone cabin maintained by the South African version of the National Park Service. I expected some sort of rustic building with rough accommodations and was pleasantly surprised to find bedrooms with comforters and china plates, silverware and even wineglasses for our evening meal. Very cush - not at all what you would find in an American national park to be sure. Our group spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing with a bit of napping and reading all that was on the agenda. As the sun sank low over the horizon, a few of us trooped out to a fantastic overlook and enjoyed the amazing sunset. Turning around, we were created by the rising

Moonrise - our cabin is on the left

full moon for a second amazing celestial spectacle. As the moon continued to rise, the lights of the city came up far below and we relaxed with a glass of wine and good conversation. We had a very nice group. Dinner was an amazing affair with steak, Tandori chicken, local sausage and roasted vegetables. Frank is an amazing cook and there was more food than we knew what to do with. The cabin had running water, but no electricity so our dinner was a lazy affair with great conversation and stories of South Africa from our generous hosts.

Sometime in the middle of the night I was awoken by the sound of the wind which had returned with force. I got up just before sunrise and bundled up and climbed up on some rocks above the cabin to greet the sun. I found a nice lee and huddled down to watch the sun rise. Clouds were pouring over the mountain and cascading into the valley below. The lights of the city stood out as the valley slowly began to fill with clouds. The sunrise was spectacular and by the time I got back down I found breakfast waiting for me. After a lovely meal, we packed up and headed out. Our original plan was to hike across the top of the mountain and take the commercial cable car back down to the city. The winds made that plan impossible, so we went to Plan B which was to walk back down. Binny's extensive knowledge of the area gave us a different way down and we were able to enjoy another aspect of the mountain and very different weather. I learned from a Hurricane Island Outward Bound instructor: "There's no such thing as bad weather, just different kinds of good weather".

Sunrise

The winds were whipping and the clouds were pouring over the top of the mountain - definitely a different kind of good weather from the previous day. We looped around through dry mountain vegetation and eventually passed down into thicker trees and occasional running water. We ended back where we began in the beautiful botanical gardens in bright sunshine. Looking up, we could see the clouds racing across the sky. The winds had not abated and indeed would continue to blow for the entire rest of our visit. We had hit on the only clear calm day in the entire week - good fortune indeed.

The following day four of us took a rental car south along the scenic coastline towards Cape Point - the end of the Cape of Good Hope. This is not the absolute southernmost point of Africa, but it is the one cited by mariners as they pass from Indian to Atlantic and back again. The weather was windy and threatening rain, but the drive south stayed clear and sunny. We enjoyed fantastic views and I got to practice my driving on the left skills honed in Kenya and Grenada. It's so much easier with an automatic transmission. Finding reverse in a hurry when you've got an elephant in the road is much more of a challenge than the smooth, wide roads of South Africa.

The view from Cape Point

We eventually reached the National Park and got to the lighthouse at the end of the road. There was a Visitor's Center and nice restaurant where we had a lovely meal that included my favorite beverage - Stoney! Stoney is an African Ginger Beer (non-alcoholic) that I first grew to love when I used to go to Kenya all the time. I was reintroduced to it last summer when Jim and I went back to Kimana and I was pleased to see it here as well. I'm currently sailing with a couple of six packs to enjoy for the rest of our voyage. While we were down on the Cape, I took a short hike with Ariana down the sea cliffs to a beach to collect a bit of sand for my beach sand collection. The

For the nautically minded

trail was a boardwalk that turned into a steep set of stairs down to the beach. Fun going down, a bit less fun going back up. Our timing was perfect and as we set down to eat lunch, the threatening rain came in and we enjoyed the smokey coastline from the safety of our Ostrich Burgers and Stoney. Happiness.


Retracing our way off the Cape, we turned further east and headed out to Simons Town, the home of a National Park site that hosts a huge penguin rookery. They have a series of

Lots and lots of penguins

boardwalks up to allow people to walk above the nesting penguins. My only other penguin experience was in Tasmania where I went on a "Penguin Safari". This consisted of standing out on the cold shore in the middle of the night to watch Fairy Penguins run across the beach to their nests. You could only see the animals from a distance, lit up by the spotlights of the guides. This was a completely different experience. Our stroll along the boardwalk showed us hundreds of African Penguins engaged in all sorts of behaviors. In the span of mere minutes we observed nesting, feeding, mating and all sorts of social interactions within the crowded colony. It was absolutely fascinating.

Our time in South Africa was way too short. I opted out of going on safari, which was the choice of many of my friends and most of the students. The safaris all involved long plane flights and huge expense. I've already spent a fair bit of money on this year without salary and I've decided to

Penguins are very cool

conserve my funds. Also, if you've read my posts of the awesome experiences Jim and I had in Amboseli this past summer, I figured that I wasn't going to top that anyway. It definitely leaves me with plenty undone here in South Africa and lots of desire to come back and visit again. Now we are on to Ghana on this whirlwind tour. More to follow.