Around the World- Cape Town South Africa
As we wrapped up Cape Town we flew out to the African bush for safari-ing. More on that as we do it, or after we do it, it’s the most vacation-like time we have while we’re out.
Cape Town, we arrived after a long night and day of flying. We had already arranged from our hotel to have a driver pick us up. I’m going to talk about safety in South Africa. Let me preface this with, this is my experience, not someone else. There are likely many people that have felt unsafe here, but I have not. We take common sense precautions (and continue to take, as I am writing this now from rural Africa). These are good ideas most anytime you travel to a place you don’t know.
1. Know where you’re going, even if you have to hire a driver in advance
2. Lock your doors- hotel, car, cabin, hut, wherever
3. Don’t be flashy, try to blend (leave sparkly diamonds at home)
4. Avoid carrying a purse, find clothes that have decent (fastening) pockets
5. It’s not a bad idea to keep enough cash in your bra for a taxi ride to your hotel
6. Guys, put your wallet in your front pocket or one that closes with a zipper, snap, button, etc
7. Always know how you’re getting “home”. We taught our kids this too as new drivers. You may not know how to get where you’re going, but always know your way home.
8. Don’t make the news. Seal Team Six doesn’t care if you’re stupid, don’t plan on seeing them.
As our time in Cape Town was pretty short, we didn’t make a big list of things to do. I cannot praise enough those big red double-decker tour busses that take you around town, point out the sights and give you the history (in the language of your choice). These are a great option if you’re time is limited. In Cape Town the bus also takes you partway up Table Mountain so you can (try to) get on the cable car and go to the top. The weather was blue skies, sunny and fairly warm. And windy. Very windy. Chicago’s got nothing on Cape Town.
Table Mountain- I live in Colorado. I love living there and I love the mountains. So, seeing Table Mountain outside my window felt like home for a minute. We never were able to go all the way to the top, it got too windy, sustained winds at or above 50mph and a gentle cable car becomes an amusement park thrill ride.
Boulders Beach- We hired a driver for half a day and headed out early, with the intent of beating the tour busses to the touristy places worth seeing. The cost was pretty reasonable, around $50/hour for nice, safe car, tour guide driver, going wherever we wanted to go. And that was to see penguins. And penguins we saw.
Cape of Good Hope. A very pretty area that made the winds of Cape Town seem like a soft summer breeze. And despite our common understanding, this is NOT where the Atlantic Ocean meets with the Indian Ocean. It’s close, but still another jaunt to the east.
The Waterfront in town was a very nice place. It was a mixture of outdoor mall, indoor mall and a social hub. AND they had a Lush store. A nice little slice of heaven. When we packed for this trip we had to be careful of what we packed, everything needed to have a reason, and likely more than one. So to sneak into one of my favorite stores and get my hands on a sample size of my favorite lime and seat salt exfoliator, was ahhh. Lots of restaurants and shops and an outdoor television that usually played sports, had a bit f stadium seating where a few hundred people could (and did) watch rugby matches, cheering for the home team. The picture below is of a sidewalk frame for posing. On the side are instructions, something like: Stand in the frame with the mountain to your back, and hand your camera to a stranger that stands on the big yellow X and takes your photo. Very cleaver indeed! We need one in Colorado Springs that perfectly frames Garden of the Gods and another that frames Pikes Peak.
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