Vineyards and Table Mountain

We started our last full day in Cape Town with a trip to Table Mountain so that we could ride the cable car to the top, hoping the clouds would clear by the time we reached the summit.

We had a great view on our way up the mountain.

The floor of the cable car rotated but I found a nice perch near the center that was stationary.

 

Unfortunately the summit was cold and enveloped in clouds.

 

As our cable car started down the mountain, we passed another one going up.

 

Our drive continued on to South Africa's fabled Stellenbosch wine area with a stop at the Waterford Estate vineyard for a wine and chocolate tasting.

Delicious!

 

 

Our next stop was at a vineyard in the lovely town of Franschoek for lunch.

 

Look what I found down a flight of stairs on my way to the Ladies Room!

 

This gourmet restaurant specializes in serving locally grown natural foods, and our lunch was both beautiful to see and tasty to eat.

 

The sun finally came out after lunch, just in time for us to enjoy this view across the valley. Franschoek is surrounded by mountains yet they don't make you feel hemmed in--more like you're in a gigantic bowl. This has to be one of the loveliest places on Earth, and it was a fitting conclusion to our last day in Cape Town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visiting Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden

One of the special highlights for our group of orchid lovers was a visit to Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden with a tour by its current director.

He was so knowledgeable, energetic and funny as he led us through the gardens.

Our first stop was to see a yellow Bird of Paradise that has been named for Nelson Mandela.

At this time of year, the "pincushion" Proteas were in full bloom and they come in so many beautiful colors.

The King Protea plants were just starting to bloom and I think they're my favorite.

 

A sugar bird found a nice perch!

 

One of the newer parts of this garden is their Tree Canopy Walkway called the Boomslang, which is Afrikaans for tree snake. Unfortunately by the time we started walking on it, the showers and wind we had earlier turned into rain and we hustled along the walkway. It must be a really beautiful walk in nice weather.

 

 

The cable car to the top of Table Mountain was closed for the day due to the inclement weather so our next stop was the South African Museum. We enjoyed their large collection of taxidermied African animals displayed in glass cases. Then we were off to a restaurant at the V & A Waterfront for a late lunch. We certainly never got bored on this trip!

 

 



Cape Town

After 2 nights in Livingstone, our group flew to Johannesburg to go through Customs and Immigration before boarding another plane for the trip to Cape Town. It was time for dinner when we arrived at The Table Bay Hotel, which was in a great location on the Victoria and Albert (V & A) Waterfront. A huge shopping mall was next to our hotel, and we didn't even have to go outside to visit it. By this time most of our group had head colds and we saw several of them in the mall's pharmacy. Fortunately Mark and I weren't very sick but we were able to stock up on throat lozenges there.

Early the next morning, we boarded our bus for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope and Simon's Town.

We stopped at various scenic points along the way. Unfortunately, the 3 days we were in Cape Town had very changeable weather with periods of rain.

At Camps Bay our group boarded a boat for a trip to Seal Island, which is basically a huge rocky island filled with seals. The weather was quite stormy and seas were rough, but it was only a 45-minute ride to the island.

The road to the Cape of Good Hope follows along the mountains and it's quite a steep drop to the sea.

 

We took the funicular to the top of Cape Point and decided to walk down the pathway. That's the Cape of Good Hope behind Mark. Neither of these "points" is actually the southernmost point of Africa! That distinction belongs to Cape Alguhas which is farther east.

Next we drove to Simon's Point to eat lunch and see the penguins--quite a

combination, palm trees and penguins!

 

The penguins were so much fun to watch! Tourists stay on a wooden walkway that passes right through the areas where the penguins live. This is a colony of African penguins, Speniscus demerus, that are popularly called jackass penguins because their call sounds just like a donkey braying. Then we boarded our bus for the long drive back to the hotel. Here's what we saw along the way:

More zebras! Can you see the one closer to the rocks? Such good camouflage!

Mosi-oa-Tunya, the "Smoke That Thunders"

Victoria Falls truly are a wonder of the natural world. Even though we visited at the height of the dry season, the falls thundered and the mists rose above the cliffs.

Look how small the people are in this photo on the left! During the rainy season, the cliffs on the right are a curtain of water and people walking along the viewing paths have to wear rain slickers so they don't get completely soaked. I'm sure the roar of the falls must be deafening then.

 

This bridge over the gorge to the left of the falls is actually in Zimbabwe. Since the US does not have diplomatic relations with that country, we were warned that we should stay on the Zambian side of the border.

In the morning our tour group took a bus to the falls, but in the afternoon Mark and I followed the pathway from our hotel past its sister hotel and into the falls area. It was a pleasant walk with wildlife along the way.

 

It's hard to believe that this peaceful river flowing past our hotel tumbles over huge cliffs in spectacular falls just a short distance away. Visiting Mosi-oa-Tunya was definitely a highlight of our trip to Africa. It is impossible to capture the true grandeur and majesty of Victoria Falls in photographs.

 

Visiting Victoria Falls in Zambia

We arrived at our hotel, The Royal Livingstone in time to be treated to an elaborate buffet luncheon before being shown to our rooms. This hotel is located in Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park and is right on the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls. There were impalas, zebras, giraffes, and monkeys wandering on the property.

 

That evening our group went for a leisurely cruise on the African Queen.

 

Because the river is so wide, the animals on the riverbanks were far away. The wildlife viewing from a boat was much actually much better on the Chobe River but it was a relaxing couple of hours and we got to watch the sun set.

 

The hotel isn't allowed to feed the animals that wander through the park, but they are allowed to give them vitamins. Some giraffes and zebras have figured out that every day at 3 pm a man will come and give them something special to eat. This is a female giraffe with her 9-month old baby and on the right is a orphaned yearling that she has adopted. When you're standing this close to them, it's hard to remember that they're wild and I had to stop myself from trying to pet them.

 

 

This is where we got to see lots of zebras up close.

Oh look, I have black and white camouflage too!

 

 

The hotel was really lovely, but nothing could compare with

the majesty of Victoria Falls which will be the subject of my next post.