South Africa – The Travels of Eric and Eva

March 27 – April 3

We left the remote South Atlantic islands and cruised over open and often rough seas for several days to South Africa. We had to leave the islands a bit early as one of the guests fell and required medical care not available on the ship. The landing in Cape Town, South Africa was quite significant for us as it meant we had now visited all seven continents, a feat which many of the guests had already achieved.

We have met many guests with financial means far exceeding our own who have been to all corners of the earth, and many places multiple times. But, nearly without exception, everybody is incredibly friendly and eager to share their travel stories and make recommendations of where to go. There is never a shortage of people to join up with for meals or any of the many activities on or off the ship when you choose to do so. In fact, since this is a smaller ship, I often find it a bit challenging to just get the time for a quiet meal or the solitude to read a book out of the cabin. The number of guests so far has ranged between 170-190.

CAPE TOWN

Our first landing spot was Cape Town, which is teeming with a new species of mammal we had not yet encountered – humans! So, after a month of seeing practically nobody at any of our destinations, we landed at a regular city, and a beautiful one at that. It sits on the southern coast of the continent with beautiful views, sparkling beaches and a well-planned waterfront area of modern stores and activities. The main landmark here is Table Mountain that towers over the city and provides a haven for many local plant and flower species. The other striking part of the city is the prominence of memorials and mentions of Nelson Mandela, who served many of his 27 years in prison in nearby Robben Island. The history of apartheid here is impossible to miss and is the main theme of any local historical exploration.

Homes from what is known as the Bo-Kaap neighborhood. The origins of the area date back to the 1760s, when political exiles, craftspeople, convicts and every day people (predominantly Muslim) were imported as slaves from Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and beyond.

We spent one day here doing a private van tour with two other couples and visited the Cape of Good Hope and other scenic areas. Combined with Cape Horn in South America, we have now been cape to cape. Part of the tour was a visit to Boulders which is home to a local colony of African Penguins.

The African penguins in an area known as Boulders, a popular tourist site. The rocky shores with dense sea kelp in the water is common in the Cape Town area.

The LAST penguin pic of the blog – promise. All the penguin species we saw generally differ only in appearance primarily in the coloring of the neck and head areas.

Simons Town, a tourist destination and one of the stops along the coast.

It is estimated that around 3000 sunken ships are in the waters here.

We ate lunch here at the Cape of Good Hope with this view. Had a local fish called hake.

A decent hike up to the top for the lighthouse view.

This guy was fast asleep on the path up to the lighthouse. We almost didn’t see him.

Came across these elands in Cape of Good Hope park. We had lunch at a game reserve later in the week and found out what we ate was eland – oops. Ostrich meat is becoming quite popular as well. Apparently, it is quite low in cholesterol.

Late afternoon pic from a lookout point on the coastal road.

GAME RESERVES

The last four days here were focused on visiting local game reserves, one of the highlights of the trip. We made it to four destinations and am sharing a long series of pictures from those locations. These reserves, and national parks, have been specifically created either privately or publicly to save these animals from extinction and at the same time encourage revenue from ecotourism as a way of providing jobs and placing pressure on limiting poaching which continues to this day. I hope you enjoy these images half as much as I enjoyed taking them.