After 5 days in Cape Town we hit the road for the North, driving through Western Cape province – a huge area with the least population in South Africa. It was actually our anniversary but we must have forgotten it while planning this trip so we spent the entire day sitting in the car. Even though the main roads in SA are pretty good maintained, it’s a very long drive from Capetown to Kgalagadi National Park so we decided to take a break and spent the night in Kenhardt, a small town in the middle of nowhere in the Western Cape. The landscape started to change slowly but dramatically, the further North we were, the less green and the more deserted it became with not a single car/person or tree in sight. Although the drive was exhausting, it was deliberating at the same time. We were starting to feel at ease and leave all our worries behind.
Driving through Western Capeendless roadWild flowers along the road, you can see them for only a short period in SA spring timeChanging landscape as we go
Arriving in Oude Herberg in Kenhardt, the number 1 hotel in town – and the only one. We received a very warm welcome from the owner – a nice lady in her 50s. She even cooked dinner for us herself, very tasty steaks, I believe it was springbok. The room was kind of old-fashioned and unique: the toilet was separated from the rest of the room by a folding-screen ;-). It was simple, but very authentic. We took a walk after dinner around the very deserted town, trying to imagine how life in a place like that would be. Finally we found the most beautiful thing Kenhardt had to offer, its incredibly bright sky with a zillion stars at night.
The watch-dog, I think she liked me.Sunset in Kenhardt, more romantic in picture than it actually was 😉And the journey continued the next morning
On our last day in Cape Town we hiked up Table Mountain via Skeleton Gorge hiking trail starting in the Kirstenborsch Botanical Garden, which is a more interesting trail compared to the shorter one starting in the Table Mountain Park J once did.
Received some “tribal make-up” from the waitress after breakfast in the Botanical Garden.She said this was a wedding custom in the African tribesThe trail was actually even steeper than it looked on this picture.View to the South-EastMade it to the topBloubergstrand in the background
Spot P!Spot her againClose to the end of our hiking trip with the Lion’s head in the background, one of Cape Town’s landmarks.
September is a good time to go whale watching in Hermanus. Southern Right Whales are on average about 14m long, 41 tonnes heavy and can live up to 50 years. A pregnant one can reach a weight of 80 tonnes. They come to South Africa during the local winter time to mate, calve and nurse their baby which they carry for about 13months and only once in every 3 years. Impressingly they do not feed at all during this time. In fact, they fat up themselves between Jan-June down in Antartica and literally “starve” for the rest of the year. Human, try to feed a baby who sucks up 600 liters of milk (!) from you per day for 8 months long WITHOUT feeding! That is truly a nature wonder.
The tour often goes on like this: you go out there on big tourist boats searching around until you see any whale in sight. Then you turn off the engine and wait for them to approach you. Yes, otherwise they’d feel “disturbed” and dive away. The three-hour boat tour in such a stormy weather was a hard one on me that day. But we did see some whales and one of them even made a little dance for us, so it was all worth it I guess.
P
Exploring Hermanus downtown while waiting for the boat.
This is my first time in the continent and J’s third time in the country so I left all the planning for him. We spent the first 4 nights in Cape Town doing the normal tourist routes: hiking up Table Mountain, visiting Bo Kaap quarter, dinner in Camp Bay, seafoods at Hout Bay, penguin watching at Boulder Beach, whale watching in Hermanus (where I got seasick very badly), and reaching the Southern most part in Cape of Good Hope. Although we had heard many stories about security issues in Cape Town, nothing bad happened to us, we were neither robbed nor threatened but we wouldn’t say we felt completely at ease hanging around town either. While we did enjoy our time in the city, we were more than glad as we hit the road and headed up North.
Greenmarket Square, one of the oldest market places in Capetown, many stands selling the usual African souvenirs for tourists
Bo Kaap quarter, formerly known as Malay quarter. It had been built as a housing area for slaves brought to SA by the Dutch.Lunch time in Bo KaapThe Nurul Islam Mosque of Bo Kaap, established in 1844African Gold Museumspeaks for itself….Table MountainThe clocktower at V&A waterfrontLunchtimeV&A waterfront at nightBoulder’s BeachAfrican penguins are a lot smaller than their Northern relatives. Despite seeming very harmless, we were warned that they can get quite “stinky” so you’re not supposed to get too close.
Boulder’s BeachCape of Good HopeThe most Southern part of the continentP on top of Cape of Good Hope
It was the Alantic ocean right after winter so the water was icy coldSomewhere between Kommitjie and Hout Bay
