South Africa has a charm unlike most other places. I had to explore a bit as soon as I checked into a hotel in Cape Town in the evening. We went to waterfront as recommended by the hotel. Situated on the port and packed with restaurants, malls and tourist adventure packages, it was a beautiful place to spend the evening. Took a sunset cruise on a sailboat, and saw a few seals at some distance from the shore. The sunset from the boat was also incredible, however I was more or less freezing as I had underestimated the weather there. Despite that it was an enjoyable evening.
The next day was with a tour guide to check out areas around Cape Town. First stop was Table mountain. The ascent to the top was with a cable car and on the flat top (hence the name) was a great view of the city. Managed to see a few hyraxes on the sides. The day was clear and sunny so no hitches at all as we learnt on some days the weather is terribly and the ride has to be closed down. We saw that happen the next day.
We then took a ferry to circle seal island which stank to high heavens but that is because it is packed with seals. Would have suspected a few sharks to be there but guess they don't come close to the shore. While getting down there was a funny routine by some of the locals. Next stop was cape point but before we got there we managed to see an ostrich farm, some vineyards on the way and an amazing handicrafts collection made from stones and wood. Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point provided some more amazing views. We managed to see a few wild ostriches around that area as well. We had lunch there and just as we walked off after paying the bill, a baboon dropped in to clean up. The waiter and the baboon screamed at each other until the baboon gave up and ran away.
We drove to Boulder's beach after lunch. It is famous for the African penguins that reside there. Most of the beach is restricted because of that but there are boardwalks which allow you to get very close to them. On the way to Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, we traveled along the coast and on the way we saw a couple of whales extremely close to the coast as they got stuck due to a couple of ships in the way. After all the unscheduled stops we managed to get to Kirstenbosch extremely late in the evening but it was still before closing time so we got to see the botanical garden as well. Atleast some parts of it. It is humongous and even running between the areas was not sufficient.
The next day we woke up to some terrible weather but that did not bother as we traveled to Johannesburg in the morning. Johannesburg on the other hand was sunny and hot. Thanks to a goof up on part of the hotel we had a BMW luxury coupe to pick us up from the airport. We visited a stalactite cave and a very small wildlife reserve near the hotel after lunch. The cave was also a mine earlier so some history lessons there as well and also a crazy amount of steep steps to run up. The reserve had lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, rhinos, and a bunch of African grass-eaters in different areas. The night was spent at the casino attached to the hotel(won a little, lost slightly more) and the next day we took a long but one of the most scenic drives from Johannesburg to Kruger.
South Africa has a charm unlike most other places. I had to explore a bit as soon as I checked into a hotel in Cape Town in the evening. We went to waterfront as recommended by the hotel. Situated on the port and packed with restaurants, malls and tourist adventure packages, it was a beautiful place to spend the evening. Took a sunset cruise on a sailboat, and saw a few seals at some distance from the shore. The sunset from the boat was also incredible, however I was more or less freezing as I had underestimated the weather there. Despite that it was an enjoyable evening.
The next day was with a tour guide to check out areas around Cape Town. First stop was Table mountain. The ascent to the top was with a cable car and on the flat top (hence the name) was a great view of the city. Managed to see a few hyraxes on the sides. The day was clear and sunny so no hitches at all as we learnt on some days the weather is terribly and the ride has to be closed down. We saw that happen the next day.
We then took a ferry to circle seal island which stank to high heavens but that is because it is packed with seals. Would have suspected a few sharks to be there but guess they don't come close to the shore. While getting down there was a funny routine by some of the locals. Next stop was cape point but before we got there we managed to see an ostrich farm, some vineyards on the way and an amazing handicrafts collection made from stones and wood. Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point provided some more amazing views. We managed to see a few wild ostriches around that area as well. We had lunch there and just as we walked off after paying the bill, a baboon dropped in to clean up. The waiter and the baboon screamed at each other until the baboon gave up and ran away.
We drove to Boulder's beach after lunch. It is famous for the African penguins that reside there. Most of the beach is restricted because of that but there are boardwalks which allow you to get very close to them. On the way to Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, we traveled along the coast and on the way we saw a couple of whales extremely close to the coast as they got stuck due to a couple of ships in the way. After all the unscheduled stops we managed to get to Kirstenbosch extremely late in the evening but it was still before closing time so we got to see the botanical garden as well. Atleast some parts of it. It is humongous and even running between the areas was not sufficient.
The next day we woke up to some terrible weather but that did not bother as we traveled to Johannesburg in the morning. Johannesburg on the other hand was sunny and hot. Thanks to a goof up on part of the hotel we had a BMW luxury coupe to pick us up from the airport. We visited a stalactite cave and a very small wildlife reserve near the hotel after lunch. The cave was also a mine earlier so some history lessons there as well and also a crazy amount of steep steps to run up. The reserve had lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, rhinos, and a bunch of African grass-eaters in different areas. The night was spent at the casino attached to the hotel(won a little, lost slightly more) and the next day we took a long but one of the most scenic drives from Johannesburg to Kruger.
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