Touring The Cape, penguins and some stowaways

Early start this morning, for a tour of the Cape. The sun is shining and it’s going to be a bit warm. Picked up by the tour bus (one of two identical ones, but more of that later). Us being first pickup we blagged the front seat at the top of the double decker bus. Several pickups later, including our throughly entertaining guide Mark, and we were off.

Trying to dodge lots of cyclists out practicing for tomorrow’s race, we soon hit the affluent Southern suberbs and winelands. Beautiful countryside, although everywhere there is evidence of the vast disparity here between the haves and have nots. One amusing and enterprising begger raised a smile through when we were stopped at traffic lights. He was holding a sign saying “I only need 250 rand for some beer” (250 rand is about £10) but then reversed his sign to read “sometimes it pays to be honest”.

After about two hours we reached the Cape lighthouse, built at the top of a hill overlooking the most amazing beach at the very tip of Southern Africa.

Interestingly, the current lighthouse replaced the original one, which was much taller. Apparently it was so tall that passing ships couldn’t see the light if there was any low cloud about, a common meteorological phenomenon here in SA.

After that we moved on to the true tip of the Cape of Good Hope and the ubiquitous photo op. And here was when the fun begins.

We had all been told to keep the same seats on the bus (which suited us, since we had the best seats) but organising a bus load of tourists of different nationalities is like herding cats. We took our places on the bus and Mark announced, several times over the next 10 minutes, that people were in the wrong seats, so it was impossible to say whether all passengers were safely on board. Something verging on anarchy then ensued, with people complaining that their seats were occupied. Turns out that two people (I suspect either Germans or American cruise ship passengers) had got on the wrong bus by mistake and refused to move, causing a domino effect on the coach seating. Things eventually calmed down and we finally went on our way with two extra stowaway passengers and about 40 grizzly ones!

Final stop was Boulders Bay, home to the largest colony of African penguins in the world. These lovely little fellers are far smaller than the emperor penguins seen at the South Pole, but really cute and entertaining to watch in their natural habitat.

So, back to base after a long day, but stopped for sundowner cocktails and a magnificent sunset. And an impromptu reunion with Uncle Tumbley.

Then it was across the road to the nearest restaurant to our billet, the highly-rated Codfather. This place adopts a simple but great concept. There are no menus, just a fish counter. You choose your piece of fish from a wide range of choices (I chose a piece of Kingklip, never heard of it but apparently it’s a local line-caught deep water species) which is weighed, priced and then taken away, grilled and served simply with some potato wedges, veg and a range of dipping sauces. The result was delicious, even for someone like me, who isn’t a fish fan. Very reasonable as well, with a meal for two, including deserts and wine for around £40. South Africa is incredibly reasonable compared with most of Europe, North America and Australia.

Tomorrow we move on down the coast to the whale watching capital of the Western Cape, Hermanus, for a couple of days of R&R.