By Connie McKee and Alex Kypfer
Welcome to day four of the South Africa trip. This is Alex and Connie and we are very excited about the events of today. It’s an early call again this morning. We must be on the bus by 7:45AM, but it will be an exciting day going on the Peninsula tour which means we will see Cape of Good Hope, seals, and penguins. All of us are a bit bleary eyed as we get on the bus. The eight hour time difference is hard to get adjusted to especially since we have been seeing so much. Our tour guide greeted us and gives us the itenary for the day. We take off to cross Table Mountain and soon our bus stalls, we think to ourselves, this will be our glitch for the day. Fortunately the bus started back up and we were on our way. We crossed the mountain and arrive at Hout Bay where we boarded a boat to go to Duiker
Island which is a breeding colony for the caper fur seal.
Before leaving the dock we were able to watch a few seals and see a jelly fish and baby swimming close to the top of the water. After a 20 minute boat ride we arrive at the island and see hundreds of seals on rocks and feeding in the water. They seem to be having a great day where food seems to be plentiful and many of them are sunning themselves on the rocks.
Unfortunately when you have that large of a gathering of seals you have a terrible stench but it comes with the territory. A small price to pay to see such a wonderful experience of wildlife in their own environment. They are truly the dogs of the sea. We get back to the pier and head out to the Cape of Good Hope. This is the southwest furthest point in Africa and it is beautiful. It is also where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean combine.
When we get to the entrance of the park there is a long line of cars waiting to get into the park. We must wait our turn but as we are waiting we look over to the right of the bus and see some baboons hanging out in the trees. After about a 30 minute wait we are back on our way to the pointe. The water is the most beautiful shade of blue and the waves are crashing on the rocks with white foam creating a magnificent sight. We take a group picture by the sign showing the longitude and latitude. We board the bus again to take a quick trip up the hill to go see the lighthouse. When we get there several people walk up the hill while the rest of us take the funicular up the hill to the lighthouse view. Alex and a few other head up even more stairs to see the lighthouse. We go back to the bottom of the hill and most of us buy some souvenirs. Back on the bus for a 30 minute drive to Boulder Beach to see the penguins.
As the bus makes it way out of the park we see a few eland head butting and a bit further down the road traffic has slowed to almost a stop because a baboon was in the middle of the road. The rest of the troop were moving into the bushes next to the road. He obviously had the right of way. We soon arrived at Boulder Beach where we ate at a quaint seafood restaurant for a late lunch. Then to the penguins. They were so cute. There is nothing like seeing the little tuxedos guys waddle around and there were hundreds of them. Fun fact, because they have been shrinking in number South Africa has a law that you cannot get closer
than 3 meters to them. These penguins are also called jackass penguins because of the donkey like braying sounds they make. They mate for life. Many of the penguins were sharing incubation duties. Anyone could spend lots of time watching the penguins but alas we had to head back to the bus for the trip back to Little Scotia. We arrived back at the hotel a bit tired but with the fulfilled feeling of having a great day. We are looking forward to tomorrow.
