Cape Town

Back to urban life

As a welcome back to a larger city, we were almost tricked into giving our debit card to a stranger. We parked on the street while figuring out where we should park for our hostel. A man in a reflective vest came to tell us that we needed to pay for parking using our credit card at the machine just up the street. It didn’t feel quite right and Tico refused to go with him as we were going to move the car anyway. Moments later there was another couple in the hostel reception cancelling their card as they had been robbed by the same guy that offered to ‘help’ us with parking.

 

Those last days before arriving to Cape Town felt a bit like a race. We had to return our rental car, but there was still so much to see. Shortly after dropping off the car, we realized we wanted/needed to rent another. We wandered around the city looking for someone that had a car, by everyone was sold out. It turns out parliament was about to start and there was a mining conference so everything was booked. After visiting at least 5 different places, we found a car. Although we couldn’t reserve it, the man assured us he’d have a car for us the next day.

 

We went back to our hostel, District Six Backpackers, to get settled in and realized it was the cheapest option for a reason. The communal kitchen didn’t have running water and the only sinks were in the rooms, not even near the toilet. The reception was a bar, which isn’t overly uncommon, but it also had slot machines and indoor smoking. Regardless, we took advantage of the internet and tried to work out a plan of how to get to Namibia. We also found a different place to stay the following night.

 

The next day we went for breakfast before collecting the car. We’d talked to the man that morning, but I missed his call as we were walking there. It turned out that he’d given our promised car to someone else, but we could wait 2 hours for the next one. So we went to the V&A Waterfront to kill time. Once we got the car we made a mad dash for the beaches to see what they were like. We stuck our toes in the Atlantic Ocean at Clifton Beach and couldn’t believe how cold it was. There was a reason no one was in the water!

 

We continued wandering around before reaching Table Mountain. We wanted to hike up around sunset despite the warnings from the workers that this was a bad idea. On our way up we passed someone coming down and asked his opinion on things and he also said we shouldn’t go the whole way, but could keep going a bit more. We continued on until we reached the edge of the gorge and were slapped in the face by wind. We decided to do the responsible thing and worked our way down. Although we were disappointed that we didn’t make it to the top, we still got an amazing view. With the advantage of having a car, we went to Signal Point to watch the sunset before calling it a night.

Cape Peninsula

 

 

The alarm went off early the next morning as we wanted to make it to Cape Point before the tour buses arrived. We stopped at St. James, Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town on the way down as we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Then we were off to the tip of the peninsula. We stopped at Cape Point and hiked up to the lighthouse where, as we have many times before, ran into baboons. Many tourists were getting up close and personal and we watched one baboon steal an entire pizza off someone.

 

There was a short hike along the coast from Cape Point to Cape of Good Hope that we decided to do. We passed ostriches and lots of lizards all the while enjoying the gorgeous view of the coastline. By the time we left the parking lot was filled to the brim and we were glad to be getting out of there.

 

 

Our last stop was Boulder’s  Beach so we could get close to the penguins. We’d stopped on the way down and saw a few, but this was completely different. Instead of taking the boardwalk to get an aerial view, we opted for a walk along the beach and around several boulders. What we saw was definitely worth it. We found ourselves in the middle of their colony. It’s breeding season so many were paired off, some were hovering over eggs, others were working on making said eggs while several just cuddled in the sun. We got in the water and tried really hard to swim with them, but they swam away from us. It was interesting that our presence didn’t bother them on land, but they were very skittish in the water. We had to return the rental car that evening so we headed back to town.

 

Check out more photos of Cape Peninsula here

Cape Town

We took the next day to relax and regroup as well as come up with a game plan to get out of South Africa. Our deadline was in 4 days and we had options, but nothing definite. A travel agent that felt bad for us meet us that evening and walked us through options as well as told us highlights to see in Namibia and Botswana.

 

The next day we moved locations to stay with Mike from Couchsurfing. He dropped us off at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens so we could wander around. The gardens have trees that have been around for hundreds of years and did a great job displaying plants from around the country. After learning more about things we’d seen in different places, we met back up with Mike for drinks and dinner. He is well versed on race and political issues so we had good conversations about what his childhood was like as well as where he feels like the country is now.

 

Our last day in South Africa was spent running errands and seeing Robben Island. We took a tour of the island and the guide of the prison was an ex-political prisoner. It was nice to have a firsthand account, which added to the experience. We saw Nelson Mandela’s cell as well as heard about what life was like before release. He told us about how the prisoners changed the minds of the guards and how Mandela always encouraged everyone to study.

 

That evening was the State of the Nation Address, similar to the State of the Union in the US. We’d heard opinions about their president, Jacob Zuma, from several people and we wanted to see what was happening around Parliament. So we found a group of the opposition party as well as the incumbent party as they sang, danced and chanted in the streets. There were riot police everywhere, but as it turns out the action was inside Parliament. A fist fight broke out during his speech and the riot police had to go inside.

 

 

Cape Town was a good last stop for us. It contrasted the rural areas we’d been in before, but had a beautiful location between the ocean and the mountains. And after a month of exploring, it was time to say goodbye to South Africa and move on to Namibia.

 

Want to see more photos of Cape Town? Check out our gallery here.

 

Helpful tips:

• Be careful at ATMs and try to only use ones located inside buildings as scams are widespread.  As a sign put it, don’t trust anyone trying to help you.
• It is significantly cheaper to rent a car to see the peninsula and surrounding sights if you’re able to get at least 1 more person.
• Taxi (minibuses) are the most economical way to move around the city, but be aware of your belongings while onboard especially when they’re overpacked.