Satellite photo of the Cape Peninsula

Chapman's Peak & Llandudno Beach

Monday was a holiday in South Africa so Ambereen had the day off. We decided to head towards Chapman's Peak as it's supposed to be a scenic drive. On the way we stopped to explore Llandudno beach. Some of the most incredible homes are situated on the hillside overlooking a small beach with soft sand and large boulders. Most of the beaches around here are relatively small which makes them seem cozy.

We picked up lunch to go (called take-away here) at a pub at the end of Hout Bay. We both got calamari burgers. Literally a slab of grilled squid on a bun. YUM! Ambereen also picked up a bottle of bubbly. We headed up Chapman's Peak Drive and pulled off at a picnic area with a view of Hout Bay and ate lunch before continuing along the drive.

The views remind me of PCH in California. Gorgeous!

Be careful when you pull over to look at the views though. There are some sketchy spots where one misstep could be the end of you! Loose gravel leading to a sheer, steep, long trip to the sea below.

Then we pulled off to catch a lovely sunset to finish the day.

Table Mountain

We've been occupied since Ambereen's parents arrived from Pakistan but we were able to break away for an afternoon to explore Table Mountain. This is not a mountain to take lightly as many people do. It must be the proximity to Cape Town which gives people a false sense of security. Although the mountain is covered in trails, there are only a few which one can take that doesn't require climbing equipment. It is difficult to get trail maps and the books are $30. Not much worthwhile in between. With that said we figured that it made sense to take the tram then explore the trails up top. The tram is R220 round trip and the car rotates 360 degrees as it climbs. It's very steep at the top and you can see people climbing the mountain on the way.

There are many trails up top so we took a route to Maclear's Beacon.

The highest point on Table Mountain is marked by a large cairn, built by Sir Thomas Maclear in 1865. But the cairn was not built to mark the height of Table Mountain, it was to assist in measuring the curvature of the earth.

There is a tremendous about of biodiversity at the top including water, moss, toads and feynbos. If it weren't for the views you would never know that you were at the top of a mountain. As is the case in all of the parks, once you get away from the areas that aren't hard to get to the crowds are sparse so it's much more peaceful. All these damn foreigners around!

Lion's Head

The weather finally cleared enough to make the hike up Lion's Head worthwhile. It's not a tough hike, it's actually a fairly short hike with just a few tough spots but the views up top are impressive. To give you an idea, here is a pic I took from the boat on the way back from Robben Island:

Devil's Peak is on the left, Table Mountain is the large feature in the middle and Lion's Head is on the right (Signal Hill is directly in front of Lion's Head in this photo).

This photo was taken from Ambereen's apartment:

It's an easy hike until you get near the top and you have a decision to make. Take the easy path on the left or the fun route straight up utilizing fixed holds.

Once you make it to the top you are rewarded with breath-taking views of Cape Town, Camp's Bay, Table Mountain and the sea.

All in all a pretty good day!

Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope is located right next to Cape Point. There is a really cool beach that you can hike to. In fact, we'll take a picnic there next time. There is a parking lot next to the beach and at the end of the parking lot a sign proclaiming the Cape of Good Hope. Tour buses would stop and people would pour out to have their pictures taken next to the sign then they would take off for the next spot. Most of them never saw the 6 ostriches feeding along the hiking trail less than 100 yards away. Fools. There were many Dassies too. They are like marmots. I nearly stepped on one who was eating lunch and paid absolutely no attention to me. The ostriches ended up near the top of the trail too. They look prehistoric and were really cool to watch.

Cape Point

Cape Point is a famous spot in the region. It's not where the Indian an Atlantic oceans meet however. That's 90 miles to the East, but that's another day. There is a nice walk up to the old lighthouse which turned out to be in a bad location due to fog so they had to build another one. There is a funicular which takes you to the old lighthouse but the hike isn't that difficult. Really cool views and sheer drop offs make this a cool place to take pics, although it doesn't really give you that feeling of how dramatic the views are.

Lord Nelson Inn

Ambereen's cousin owns a wonderful Inn in Simon's Town called Lord Nelson Inn. It looks like a great place to spend a weekend while exploring the Cape Point region.



What a surprise to meet Lord Nelson himself!



This is the luckiest cat around. He was found in the alley and was taken in. He has the run of the place and if you find yourself enjoying a pint at the pub don't be surprised if Lord Nelson jumps on your lap for a nap.