1 Arrival & Cape Peninsula Tour

Hello all – Although the date of these posts are mid September- early October  2024, I’m writing them in March 2025. Sorting through 12,000+ photos took a bit longer than anticipated (ahem); coupled with Italian studies, normal life and the exceedingly abnormal dystopian craziness of our times, I’ve found it difficult to focus on fun things like this blog. However, if you are like me, a bit of escapism from the Big Picture train wreck now underway would be very welcome. So here goes…

In what feels like long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we embarked on a safari trip to South Africa and Botswana.  We planned the trip a year before with 5 long-time friends and traveling compadres: Dominique, Don & Barb, and Ken & Judy.  Rob Slater and his terrific crew at Safari Consultants handled all of the arrangements, creating a marvelous itinerary spanning five private wildlife reserves with different ecosystems, plus a couple of days in Cape Town right at the start. If you ever get the hankering to go safari-ing, I highly recommend these folks: they provide very personalized service and and know the camps intimately. Our trip to Botswana’s Okavango Delta and Zimbabwe 10 years ago was also planned by Rob, and that trip was also amazing.

Matt, Barb, Don and I left Denver on the same plane, bright and early on the morning of September 12.  We hooked up with Dominique (who lives in the Seattle area) at DC/Dulles in the early afternoon, and hung out in the airport lounge while waiting for our 6:30 pm departure to Cape Town, South Africa. (Ken and Judy followed a slightly different itinerary and joined us at our 2nd safari camp on Septmeber 20.)

It’s a looong flight from DC to Cape Town (14 hours+) but we all managed to wangle business class seats in order to reduce the torture.

For me, business class is all about those lie-flat seats. They are roomy (like, you can actually fit in them); private (no contention for the armrest); and they come equipped with a pillow, duvet, blanket and mattress pad (on request).  Not quite bliss, but close. Our crew on the outbound United flight was outstanding.

We arrived at Cape Town at 3:20 pm on September 13, eight time zones and + 24 hours after leaving home.  The transit through immigration was smooth and relatively fast…for most of us. Dominique, Matt and I traversed the lines together, with Don and Barb (who were at the front of the plane) ahead. The three of us exited customs and quickly met the folks from Vineyard Ventures who were there to collect us, and were surprised that D&B weren’t already there ahead of us.

Dom and Matt traipsed off to find an ATM while I hung out with Acquibba from Vineyard to snag D&B when they appeared. After some time, I texted Don, who texted back that they had been held up in immigration. Over the next half hour, through a series of texts, we learned that they had been denied entry into South Africa because their passports were invalid – they had inadvertently picked up their expired passports instead of the current versions.

Since Cape Town International is a small airport with no hotel accomodations, they could not wait at the airport while their passports were Fed Ex’ed. Instead, they had to get back on a plane to the US, fly back to Denver to collect their passports, then turn around and repeat the journey to join us at the tiny airport where we were all booked to fly into for our first safari camp. (D&B’s return itinerary: Denver -> Dulles -> Adis Abbaba (with a stop in Lome) -> Johannesburg -> Skukusa). So these two unlucky souls spent the first 4+ days of their vacation in the air, missing the sights at Cape Town; experiencing a flight delay and quick reschedule; planes with marginal passenger amenities; a hair raising transit in Addis Abbaba; and a six hour layover at the Johannesburg airport before meeting us at Skukusa. What troopers! 

We were booked for 3 nights at The Winchester Hotel, a lovely place on the Sea Point Promenade, facing the Atlantic Ocean. There’s a long linear park between the sea and the road  with, as Rob promised, “has one of the best locations of any hotel in Cape Town.” The service was outstanding and the amenities were top notch. 

After a couple of hours working with hotel staff to cancel D&B’s reservations, and with Rob to rearrange D&B’s Cape Town bookings and re-arranged arrival itinerary, we were finally able to enjoy our “junior suite seaview room” with its fabulous sunset views over the ocean.

The three survivors of our transatlantic journey decided to try the Winchster’s on-site Shoreditch Restaurant for dinner rather than venture out into streets – a sound decision. The restaurant served great food and our server was entertaining and informative, providing history along with the contents of local wine and dishes. We learned that traditional South African dishes have a pickle base (salt and sugar or vinegar) to aid preservation, which gives the dishes subtle sweet-and-sour undertones. One unique local flavor combination we really liked was Chakalaka spice mix, a combination of peri peri, oregano, cumin, garlic, coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, fennel, mustard.

My favorite of our server’s stories: Growing up in Zimbabwe, locals would use baboons to determine when it is safe to eat certain foods, like the highly prized fruit of the Marula tree. To trap a baboon helper: cut a small hole in the top of a wooden box (just big enough for the primate’s hand to fit through) then add roasted nuts.  The baboon will reach inside to grab the nuts and won’t let go, trapping its hand in the box. (Clever.)

Saturday morning (14th September) I was awakened very early by shouts, cheers and laughter in the street below. Looking through the window, I saw dozens of people running through the park and along one side of the boulevard (now closed to cars). A kiosk featuring cheerleaders with pompoms was right across from our room.  Turned out that folks were participating in the first of the weekend’s Cape Town Gun Run events: a 10km Run/Walk; 5km Fun Run; 5km Pet Walk; and a 17km Trail Run.  It was great fun watching the diversity of people and pets passing by.

At 8:30 am we were picked up by our fabulous guide, Genevieve (of Vineyard Ventures) for a day-long guided tour Cape Point & Peninsula. 

The Cape Peninsula extends from Signal Hill just south of Cape Town through Table Mountain National Park to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, both at the peninsula’s very tip. The Peninsula has rich biodiversity with a lot of unique vegetation and wildlife; Cape Point is a protected Nature Reserve and World Heritage Site.

Genevieve is a long time Cape Town resident and former business owner who embarked on guiding as a later-life career.  As a guide, she was personable and very knowledgeable, providing a wealth of information about not only tourist sites, but also Cape Town history and the good and bad of life in Cape Town today.

We began in Sea Point, the Cape Town neighborhood in which The Winchester is located, then traveled through the wealthy suburb of Clifton: fancy, multi-story homes built into slopes overlooking the sea. Genevieve pointed out a shanty town that had grown up in a high valley at Clifton’s base – no jobs, no local transit, and high crime rate. Cape Town has a poor bus system and a barely functioning train system so transport from shanty towns like this to areas with jobs is non-existent.  G. said the crime rate is so high for theft/burglary that better off people have to install perimeter fences/walls and alarm systems to get homeowners’ insurance. I noticed that signs for private “armed response” security services are common.

Cape Town nestles against the Table Mountain massif (above), which extends south through the a range called the Twelve Apostles. Sailors who were miraculously saved from drowning through prayers named the range after the 12 apostles – even though there are 18 peaks.  Table Mountain has interesting geology: a granite base with a sandstone top, which means lots of landslides.

We drove past miles of white sand beaches far below the road, then curved around the top of Hout Bay. Our first stop was at a picnic overlook with views across the bay to the back side of the Twelve Apostles.

Leaving Cape Town in the rear view mirror, we paid a fee to enter Chapman’s Peak Drive, a narrow, highly engineered highway shelved along the side of sheer cliffs plunging into the sea.  There were lots of Sunday cyclists out on this stretch of the road.

Near Chapman’s Point, the highway turns sharply east and makes a loop through the arid interior of this section of the Peninsula. In this inland stretch we passed the township of Ocean View, a sobering reminder of the impacts of South Africa’s long standing inequality among its white, coloured and black residents. (In South African parlance, “coloured” people are of direct or mixed South Asian descent, many descended from Indian and Malayan people brought here as laborers in colonial times.)

Ocean View is a very long way from even a glimpse of the ocean. The people living here were orignally fisherfolk living in villages along the west side of the Cape Peninsula. The beaches and seaside vistas of their former homes became attractive to white residents in the 1950s, so the the apartheid government forcibly relocated coloured residents to this desolate township  in the 1960s. The township was originally called “Slangkop” by the government but renamed “Ocean View” by its unwilling residents in ironic recall of their seized seaside residences.

Continuing south, we entered the nature reserve and spotted our first wildlife: a Bontebok. They are found only in the Cape Peninsula, so we were lucky to get a glimpse of these handsome antelope.

“Bontebok were once extensively killed as pests, and by the early 20th century were reduced to a wild population of just 17 individuals. The species was saved from certain extinction when Dutch farmer Alexander van der Bijl corralled the remaining individuals into a fence, which they were unable to jump out of. In 1931, this herd of 17 was transferred to Bontebok National Park, which was established for the explicit purpose of conservation of the species. By the time the park was relocated to better suit the needs of the bontebok in 1961, the herd had grown to 61 members. Today, their population is estimated to range from 2,500 to 3,000, all descendants of the original herd of 17 members.”

Shortly thereafter, we encountered a troop of less rare and much less appreciated creatures: Chacma Baboons. This troop had about a dozen members, with adults on both sides of the road and little ones dashing back and forth. These intelligent and fearless primates are omnivorous, eating fruits, roots, honey, bulbs, insects, scorpions, shellfish and anything else they can get their clever fingers on. Their sense of smell is strong and they will climb inside cars if the windows are left open. Thus, my pix of these charming crittters were taken through the green-tinted (and firmly closed) windows of Genevieve’s automobile.

Escaping the baboons unscathed, we shortly arrived at the entry to the Cape Point Nature Reserve and joined the queue at the entrance station.  The Reserve has rich and unique vegetation with over 1,100 species of indigenous plants. It’s part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, which is smallest in area of the six plant kingdoms, but has the greatest concentration of non-tropical plant species in the world – over 9,000 species of plants, of which 70% are endemic. (More about that tomorrow.) 

The park entry was also a bathroom stop, so I had time to photograph the station’s lovely stone architecture, dramatic setting and a bit of the native vegetation. (Our timing was excellent: there was a very short line when we arrived, but the line to enter was at least ½ mile long when we passed by on our return.)

We continued south along the west side of the peninsula with occasional views of the sea…

…finally reaching the rocky promontory of Cape Point.

The Point was crowded with sea birds (Kelp Gull, Hartlaub’s Gull, Bank Cormorant, White-breasted Hag and Pied Crow), Cape Fur Seals and humans.

 In 1488, Portuguese sailors trying to navigate around this rocky promontory named it the “Cape of Storms,” due to violent weather and unpredictable swells which caused lots of shipwrecks. (It was later re-named the Cape of Good Hope, presumably as propitiation to the gods.)  In 1859, a lighthouse was constructed at the Cape’s highest point to alert ships to the presence of the Cape. However, because this area often has fog clinging to higher elevations, the lighthouse frequently wasn’t visible – exactly when it was needed most – and its position of visibility often drew ships too close to the rocks.  After (another) major shipwreck in 1911, a new lighthouse was built at a lower elevation in a position that ensures passage of ships at a safe distance. The old lighthouse became a tourist attraction, the Cape Point Lighthouse.

Visits to the lighthouse are made in two stages: by riding up on the Flying Dutchman Funicular, then using shanks mare to trudge up the trail with its 1000+ steps

I adore a good ghost story, and Cape Point has one of the best: the Phantom Ship. Back in 1641, a Dutch sailing ship encountered murderous weather as it approached the Cape. The Captain swore he could get the ship safely round the Cape of Good Hope (which is the next peninsula east) if it took until Doomsday.  Of course, the ship went down – but the Captain still keeps sailing.

There have been numerous sightings of the Phantom Ship over the centuries, many recorded in other ships’ logbooks. One famous sighting occurred in 1881, when the future King George V of England, serving as a midshipman, recorded in his journal that he saw “… a strange red light, as of a phantom ship, all aglow in the midst of which light the mast, spars and sails of a brig two hundred yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up.” Thirteen crewmen from other ships in the squadron also witnessed the phenomenon. In August, 1942, several men serving on the British ship Jubilee reported seeing an unidentified schooner under full sail – even though there was no wind. The Jubilee had to change course to avoid a collision. German U-boats hung around the Cape to stop Allied ships from passing, and several also recorded seeing the Phantom Ship – almost invariably a bad omen for their own ships’ survival. 

The Flying Dutchman has been immortalized in literature numerous times, including by famous authors like Washington Irving and Sir Walter Scott, and Richard Wagner wrote an opera about it. (For those who don’t appreciate ghostly apparitions, there’s a “rational” eplanation for these strange sightings in the link above.)

Exiting the funicular, we found that the lighthouse was still a long way up. But the trek up was great, with lots of interesting plants and critters and amazing views all along the way.

Leaving Cape Point and the Lighthouse, we retraced our route through the national park entrance, then continued north up the east side of the Peninsula towards Boulders Beach and Simon’s Town.

Boulders Beach was once a popular spot for a family day-by-the-sea – Genevieve used to take her daughters here as toddlers. Then, back in 1982, two breeding pairs of African Penguins took up residence and started raising chicks. Helpful pensioners living nearby cut barrels in half and placed them around the beach for shelter, and a mob of penguins gradually descended. The Conservation Service eventually took over, and today Boulders Beach is famous for a penguin colony of about 2200 birds (down from 3900 birds in 2005). Sadly, African Penguins are highly endangered (projected to be extinct in the wild within 10 years) due to competition with commercial fishing and habitat loss. But a bit of good news: on March 18, 2025, South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) reached a legal settlement between commercial fishers and environmentall groups establishing a number of protected penguin fishing zones in key areas around the Cape. (And here’s a lovely article about the New England Aquarium’s new retirement island for the geriatric African Penguins in its care.)

The penguin colony is accessed along a residential street that has been converted a row of stone walls (with some landscaping relief) due to heavy visitation.

The penguins are viewed from a series of boardwalks constructed over granite boulders and sandy beaches.

Like penguins everywhere, these little guys are adorable. Get ready for way too many pictures of penguin frolics.

On the way back we popped into the shop, with this made-from-beach-trash penguin sculpture.

Tearing ourselves away from the penguin follies, we traveled about 1.5 miles up the coast to Simonstown, a quaint little Victorian village reminiscent of British seaside resorts. It began as a British Naval Base and is now a base for the South African Navy.

We strolled past a Champion Gum Tree in the harbor’s parking lot…

… then encountered the statue of Just Nuisance by the harbor itself.

Just Nuisance was an enormous Great Dane who loved to ride the train (unaccompanied) from Simon’s Town to Cape Town, visiting local pubs along the way. Train engineers considered him a nuisance but he was very chummy with the local sailors.  When the train staff decided to shoot him, sailors intervened and got him enlisted in the Royal Navy as a mishipman (confirmed by Whitehall). When asked his name by the recruitment official, the sailors said: “just Nuisance.”

The shark cage was a special treat.

We clambered down a set of stairs for an excellent late lunch at Berthas Seafood Restaurant.

By the time we finished lunch, it was late afternoon so we drove directly north without stopping past the other “usual stops” on the Cape Point Tour (Fish Hoek Beach, Kalk Bay and Muizenberg) then caught the expressway behind Table Mountain to loop back into Seaport.

Dominique and I noticed many examples of an unusual (to us) landscaped conifer as we headed back into town, but couldn’t decide what it was. Later that evening, I saw one of these trees outside the Winchester and realized it was a Norfolk Island Pine – 50 feet tall but otherwise just like the potted tree in my sunroom. (The Norfolk from which this tree originates is an island controlled by Australia, located between New Zealand and New Caledonia. Who knew?)

We decided to try dinner out and settled on Bobos, a popular spot with the locals.  The food was good (not spectacular) but the stunning sunset made a lovely end to the day.