Africa 2012: Out and Around the Cape

We have hired a car and Geoff is doing a great job driving in and around Cape Town, with a bit of help from Jane, our GPS. I am sooo getting a GPS when I get home, how did I ever live without one? Yesterday we drove south out of Cape Town down to the Cape of Good Hope, which I always thought was the southern most tip of Africa, but no, it’s the most south westerly point of Africa, Cape Aguilas is apparently the most southerly (remember that for Master Mind). Today we have headed east and are staying overnight in an old town called Swellendam. The restaurant where we ate dinner was in a building built in 1749.

Highlights:

1. Seeing the African penguin rookery at Boulders Beach on our way south down the cape. A great boardwalk gets you really close to the penguins, and it only costs $6. Phillip Island could learn a lot from this.

2. The fabulous coastal landscape in the Cape of Good Hope National Park. Sort of like Wilsons Prom but bigger, and no trees. (but ostriches!)

3. The views driving across the Overberg (mountains) from Cape Town to Swellendam.

4. Bontebok National Park, fascinating mountain valley heathland with wild proteas, heaths, leucodendrons etc, as well as the rare antelope, the bontebok, saved from extinction by the creation of this park in 1931. A lovely picnic by the Breede River. It’s cold today! The first day of drizzly rain since we came to Africa.

Obervations:

1. Baboons really like antipasto mix in olive oil. Yesterday on the Cape, everywhere there are signs warning not to feed the baboons, because they are wild animals which can be dangerous. We had been warned about them the previous day by our tour guide. However we found a nice sunny spot by a cliff for a picnic. Geoff was finished eating, but I wasn’t, when a huge alpha male bounded along the road and raced over to the picnic table, screeching at us and baring his enormous fangs. He jumped on the table , followed by one of his harem , and finished my lunch in 2 seconds, including the last mouthful of my wine. Geoff and I just jumped in the car and closed the doors and windows. He was wearing a collar. Apparently they are a real problem in this area, so the alpha males are collared and tracked by satellite. A ranger has the full time job of following this male around and chasing him back into the hills. He arrived within 3 minutes of the animal’s arrival, and forced him away with a zapper. Big Bobby wasn’t at all impressed. He was really aggressive. The ranger had to get out the gun and brandish it before the animal finally scarpered. Then we jumped out and collected our plate and cutlery, covered with baboon slobber. They also nearly chewed the top off the bottle of water, would have done if they’d had a minute or two longer. Now we have a baboon phobia, and a fear of picnics.