Day 19: Cape Town! Table Mountain, Beach & Penguins

July 16th, 2019

We leave early in the morning from the Aero Guest Lodge and drive towards the airport.

Here are a few pictures of the lodge 'Oasis' in the middle of Johannesburg

The return of the car at the Avis counter goes smoothly and quickly, on the way to the gate we grab something for breakfast.

At 8:30 sharp, we start the 3rd part of our Africa trip with the 4th flight on South African Airlines during these 3 weeks: Off to Cape Town!

The flight is short and when we approach Cape Town, we even catch a glimpse of Table Mountain

So the decision on what we will do today is clear:

To Table Mountain!!!

At the airport we pick up our rental car (a Toyota Avanza - strange car....) at the Europcar counter.

I booked with billigermietwagen.de

And the good news for me: from today on, my husband is driving again!!!

Yay! That comes in very handy for me in the traffic of Cape Town

After our luggage is stowed in the car, we head straight to Table Mountain.

There is not a single cloud on the mountain, the view is amazing!

We are very happy to enjoy the view from the top.

In 2005 we were already here in Cape Town with our daughter, but back then it was a scorching hot 40 degrees in February and Table Mountain was covered in clouds. Our daughter is no longer a 9 month old baby, but a whopping 15 years old...

Long long time ago....

We walk to the cable car and the big disappointment follows immediately:

'Out of service'

Oh no...................

July is the absolute off-season here in Cape Town, we learn that this time is used to 'overhaul' and 'maintain' the cable car. Oh great... that´s it with the beautiful view :-(

Disappointed, we go back to the car and decide to spend the rest of the day, especially the fantastic 'winter weather', at the beach.

So off to Muizenberg!

In Muizenberg, there is quite a lot going on, we manage to find one of the last parking spaces at the beach / promenade and enjoy the great weather.

There are a lot of surfers on the water.

After walking along the beach for a while, we go to Primi restaurant on the promenade for lunch.

We consider what else we can do with the rest of the day and decide to visit Boulders Beach and the resident penguins in Simon's Town.

When we were here in 2005, everything was still very small and idyllic, but now there is a large Visitor Center where the entrance fee of about 8€ per adult and 4€ per child is to be paid.

The name 'Penguins at Boulders Beach' is somewhat misleading here, as the Visitor Center with the boardwalk and viewing platforms is not located at Boulders Beach, but at Foxy Beach.

Today, we only visit Foxy Beach, as Boulders Beach is a bit further away and not directly accessible through the center.

Right at the beginning of the dunes, we are greeted by a lot of penguins. So cute!

A penguin mother just returned from fishing and feeds her two 'screaming' babies by regurgitating the fish and stuffing it into their mouths....

Yuck... very appetizing

At the end of the long pier, where penguins rest on the sand on both sides in the sun, we reach the small bay with an enormous noise level.

Here, the penguins swim in the water, waddle along the beach, and further up we see at least 100 penguins lying in the sand in the sun, some of them brooding on an egg and with young chicks

Another group of penguins is swimming towards the beach

Penguins at Foxy Beach

We spend about half an hour on the beach watching the penguins splash around.

To the left and right of the wooden walkway, the penguins are lying in the sand and sleeping, some young chicks are squeaking excitedly for their parents and running around restlessly

We walk back along the boardwalk to the visitor center and follow the other path to the other side of the bay, where there is another viewing platform.

As we look for penguins in the thicket, we hear rustling above us in the tree.

We see a kind of big, fat, furry 'something' nibbling on the branches and about to fall at any moment.

It seems to be a rock hyrax - also called 'Rock Dassie' - according to the locals.

Even though the thin branches bend under the weight of the dassie, the little animal manages to climb quickly onto thicker branches and avoid falling.

A bit further up in the branches, it continues to eat, totally unimpressed by us

A bit further, we discover another dassie directly above our son, who has just made himself comfortable on a bench, in the tree

Don´t fall down now...

I wonder what it looked like here before, we can only guess, as a lot has been renovated.

We move into the apartment and enjoy the view from the balcony of the Waterfront and the ocean. Unfortunately, it´s too cold to sit outside, but the great view can also be enjoyed through the large windows!

And what´s really cool:

there´s a gas fireplace

Goodnight Cape Town - we are looking forward to tomorrow!