Jan went on the bus with the rest of the group for a drive to the Cape of Good Hope, the Penguins at Boulder's Beach, the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens, and a drive along the beautiful Garden Route. I opted to stay at the hotel and take it easy, and watch the bustle at Greenmarket Square from our third floor hotel room vantage overlooking the market.
The Cape of Good Hope is thought of as the point along the southern coast of South Africa, just east of Cape Town, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. The actual spot, depending on how you determine the imaginary line, is closer to Cape Aguulhas, some 200 kilometers east of Good Hope.
A boardwalk along Boulder's Beach affords excellent views of the tiny penguins that nest there. These are similar to the little penguins we saw in New Zealand, no more than a foot or ten inches in height. They go out to sea each day to eat and return to their burrows in the evening, but they were hanging out all day on land now as this is their molting season when they don't eat or go out to sea.
Baboons are a hoot! These baboons were playing on a car on the group's drive along the Garden Route. A younger one was playing with the antenna when it became apparent that he was up to mischief... sure enough, he pulled back the antenna and let it go so that it zinged the older baboon sitting on top of the car... then the young one hightailed it while the older one was clearly miffed.
The guide then told them about a friend who has a weekend get-away cabin where he has to park his car and make his way down to the cabin. But the baboons were always messing with his car. So, knowing that baboons are afraid of snakes, the guy thought he would outwit the baboons and put a rubber snake on the dash of the car when he was there once, and another on the panel under the rear window. A friend came to visit him later on the weekend and explained that there was a problem with his car. Seems the baboons were up on a cliff above the car throwing rocks down at the snakes!
The Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens are a sight to behold, housing countless varieties of plants, flowers, and trees. Nelson Mandela planted a pepper-bark plant there... the pepper-bark plant has medicinal value and is considered to be a tree of healing...
This species of the Bird of Paradise was developed here over the course of 20 years and was named in honor of Mandela...
Reuben, General Akpufni, and his wife, Ellen, came to our hotel for a late tea and our first meeting...
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