The Cape Peninsula (Afrikaans: Kaapse Skiereiland) of South Africa is a mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. On the northern end is Table Mountain, overlooking Table Bay and the City Bowl of Cape Town, South Africa. Millions years ago, the Peninsula was an island but it is now joined to the mainland by a sandy area known as Cape Flats. The Cape Peninsula is bounded to the north by Table Bay, to the west by the open Atlantic Ocean, and to the east by False Bay in the south and the Cape Flats in the north.
We knew we wanted to visit the Cape Peninsula but it didn't go as far as how we do it. In fact, our Cape Town itinerary was so free and easy that we only started looking up options to do this the night before. Well, lax came with a price because it was our last full day in Cape Town and weather was very undesirable. So we went ahead anyway. As mentioned previously, we didn't have international driving license with us, after considering the logistic of commuting with uber and cost with tour grup, we decided to book a private tour. We found some on viator, picked one and booked the evening before.
The tour starts from Bo-Kaap which we have visited so we asked for it to be skipped so we headed straight to Bantry Bay via Sea Point.
Bantry Bay (Passed by)
Resting at the foot of the Lion's Head mountain, Bantry Bay is one of Africa's most plush suburbs and environmental studies has also proven that this mountain side suburb is wind free. The mountain shields this suburb from the south eastern winds of Cape Town, giving Bantry Bay over 250 wind free days a year.
Clifton (Passed by)
Clifton has the most expensive real estate in all Africa. Other than its status as a millionaires village, Clifton also has some of the best public beaches near Cape Town.
Camps Bay Beach
Around 15 minuties outside of Cape Town's City Bowl is the Camp's Bay suburb. Camps Bay, or known as the Beverly Hills of Cape Town offers beautiful coast views. We had a stop at Maiden's Coves, a stop over area along the coast which offers some of the best views of this suburb.
Twelve Apostles (Passed by)
The twelve apostles are part of the Cape Peninsular mountain range with 12 distinct headlands. The guide/drive gave some commentary as we passed by this mountain range but view were unclear because of the weather.
Hout Bay (Passed by)
From Camps Bay, we went via Victoria Road, past Bakoven suburb to Hout Bay town. This town is known for its thriving fishing community. We got off here to hop on a boat for a 40 minute ride to Duiker Island (R110 per person). There was a seal outside of the ticketing office.
Duiker Island or Seal Island
Duiker island which is home to more than 5,000 Cape fur seals. Must be some miracle that my motion sickness wasn't too bad on this super bumpy boat ride, no thanks to the pouring rain and strong wind.
Chapman's Peak Drive
From Hout Bay harbour, the tour resumed towards Chapman's Peak Drive. Carved out of the Chapman's Peak mountains between 1915 and 1925 to link Hout Bay with the south peninsular towns. The drive is known as Chapies locally. The 9km long Chapman's Peak Drive meanders along gigantic and steep Chopman's Peak mountains that dramatically drops into the Atlantic ocean like an ice sheet. The Chapman's Peak drive also has about 152 curves so one gets different views with each turn.
Noordhoek Farm Village
At the southern end of the Chapman's Peak Drive, we had a toilet break at the Noordhoeak Farm Village. We packed our own lunch and coffee so we didn't get anything here. Many people took a coffee break here though.
Cape Point Ostrich Farm
Shortly before we entered into the Cape of Good Hope National Park, we passed by an ostrich farm. We got down to take a quick photo.
Cape Point Nature Reserve
Entrance fee: R400 per person
Cape Point Nature Reserve is a 7,700 hectares big park and a part of the Cape floral kingdom. With over 8,000 different plant species and 70% of them being endemic. It is one of the world's richest floral kingdom and an extraordinary biodiversity hotspot. Cape Point National Park is also home to Cape Point Lighthouse as well as the Cape of Good Hope.
Cape of Good Hope
The most south-western point of the African continent has reputation of rough waters, rugged coastline and wildlife. Despite not the most southern point, it was a landmark as an excellent navigational assistance point in the past. It was from here that sailors noted that their voyages had began to take a turn for east when they sailed from west to the far east. The first time I heard about this place was my history textbook from school days.
It stopped raining for a bit so we tried to hike up to a higher point. However, the winds were still strong so we turned back before reaching the summit.
Old Cape Point Lighthouse
Next stop was Cape Point. The driver/guide stopped at the car park and we walked up to the lighthouse. The 300m walk brought us to the 3rd oldest lighthouse in the country which makes for great views and photography. Launched in 1860, the Cape Point Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1919 as new evidence proved that sailors couldn't see it in cloudy conditions so a new light house at a lower elevation was constructed. A funicular is also available if preferred not to walk. This was also the break for lunch but we packed lunch and opted to eat in the car as it started to rain again.
Boulders Beach Penguin Colony
Entrance fee: R190 per person
Boulders is famous for its thriving colonu of African Penguins due to its location, nestled in a sheltered cove between Simon's Town and Cape Point. The most popular recreational spot is Boulders Beach but the penguins are best viewed from Foxy Beach, where 2 boardwalk routes take visitors to the birds. It was fun looking at the penguins.
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| Meet Rock Hyrax or 'dassie' |
Simon's Town
Named after a cape Dutch governor of the 17th century who found this town as a lee-shore in winter. The Victorian built town is home to some of the freshest seafood and fish restaurants in Cape town. This is also the same town that the South African Navy calls home.
Kalk Bay (Passed by)
Said to be voted as one of the 12 coolest places in the world to live in. This is South Africa's oldest holiday resort and is also attains a Eurocentric outlook. Some of the best restaurants in Cape Town are here. Art galleries, cafes, cuban cigar bars and small shops also dominates the main street. Residents of this quaint town also gets to enjoy seeing the southern right whales.
Muizenberg Beach
Muizenberg Beach is a well known surfing beach. They are also famous for their colouring changing huts like the ones in Mornington Peninsula or Brighton in Australia.
Side note: Need to curb the snacking habit!