The Peninsula Tour 1.24.07

Here are some images as we leave our hotel on our way to Hout Bay, our first stop on the tour.



Lion's Head


Camp's Bay


Mountain Range, 12 Apostles

Poverty on the Cape

Even on the Peninsula tour and various points around the cape, you still see poverty.

Seals, Hout Bay- Peninsula Tour

From Hout Bay, we took a short boat ride to Duiker Island to view the seals. Musicians and local craftsman line the wharf greeting visitors with music and opportunities to buy goods, before and after the boat ride.

It was very windy and we got little more windblown and wet than we expected. A woman actually passed out and had to be taken away by ambulance.

After viewing the seals, we shopped along the wharf and this is where I bought my Tanzanite ring. No, it's no cheaper in Africa than in the US.

Hanny and Family- Peninsula Tour

We loved having Hanny on all 3 tours; she is a very bubbly, knowledgeable tour guide and she loves South Africa. Hanny really liked us too and felt comfortable introducing us to her family.

During our Peninsula tour, she took us to her brother's new restaurant, where her dad was helping out that day, so we got to meet them both and tell them what a wonderful tour guide Hanny is.

Before Hanny took us to our hotel, at the end of the day, we stopped by her daughter's home. Her daughter aspires to be an artist and is currently putting a show together. She had been at the beach this day and was concerned she looked bad. We thought she looked pretty.

Baboons Roam the Peninsula

Driving along the peninsula, you never know what you kind of animals you will encounter. We were approaching an intersection when we saw this roving family of baboons. See the 3 legged baboon? Man is not always so kind to them. Following the baboons was a "baboon watcher", who donates his time, protecting them from unkind humans. We gave him a few Rand for taking such good care of them.

The large baboon is the dad, and he moves his women and children along the road, always watching from the distance, like a herder. The baboons, were walking, playing, and drinking from water bottles tossed along the road.

You are not supposed to feed the baboons, but of course people do, so you have to stay in your car, with the windows up, or they will jump in. They have gotten quite aggressive and Hanny had one jump in her vehicle the week before. She said within seconds they were in her purse, because they smelled the food she had in there.

The Ostrich Farm- Peninsula Tour

Ostrich are big industry for leather goods and food in South Africa. Ostrich meat is the only fat free meat and they use Ostrich eggs for very unique souvenirs. They drain the contents of the eggs through a hole on the bottom, then paint or decoupage the eggs. I purchased an egg that contains a world map on it and Grandpa's egg has animals hand painted. We were told these eggs are so hard, you could stand on it and it would not break.

The giraffe is a metal sculpture leaned up against a building on the ostrich farm. I'm sure you will see one of these at Grandpa's house soon...he seemed to really like it. He walked a ways to get a closer look.

Lunch and Friends on The Peninsula Tour

The first two pictures are of Hanny's friend, who owns a curio shop. She is a gifted painter and Grandpa bought some lovely artwork from her. There were also sculptures, from local artists on the property. Granpda wanted to buy a sculpture, but everyone kept telling him it's too expensive to ship and there is no guarantee he will actually receive the goods.

Afterwards, we stopped at a beautiful countryside restaurant for lunch and sat in the open air underneath an umbrella. It was getting quite warm by this time. The restaurant owner and Hanny have heard of one another for years, through their daughters, but never officially met until today.

Cape Point-Peninsula Tour

Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope is the most Southern-Western Point on the continent of Africa. This is where Christopher Columbus and De Gama landed and there are crosses to mark the spot for each of these Explorers. To get to the top of Cape Point, we had to take a funicular, which is a mini-bus on a train track, then you walk 200 steps to the Light House which we opted not to do. Waiting for the funicluar were Taiwanese tourists, which were very happy to let us take their picture. Odd. The lighhouse is still operational to keep ships from crashing into the rocks.

The views are amazing from here...the water color makes you want to jump right in, but it is deceiving...the water is very cold.

Boulders Penguin Colony- Peninsula Tour

The Jackass Penguin Colony started in 1984, near Simon's Town, when 2 penguins magically appeared and today a colony has formed. It was very windy this day and the sand felt like glass hitting our exposed skin.