Adventures in South Africa: Cape Town

I just got back from my trip to South Africa yesterday in the late afternoon.  My mom and I went to Cape Town, Kruger National Park, Johannesburg, and Victoria Falls (in Zimbabwe) in a mere 10 days! It was a lot of traveling to say the least (our return trip took 2 whole days), but my vacation with my mom was the best college graduation present I could have ever imagined. The trip in general was one of my most memorable experiences, and I recommend South Africa to anyone in search of a travel destination. I would love to go back in the future.

The first stop on our trip was Cape Town.  I was happy to discover that this city, and South Africa in general, has amazing fruit.  For my first breakfast, I had a croissant and plenty of fruit.  The photo below only shows some of the fruit I ate – passion fruit, kiwis, grapes, and guava (which I don’t like).  I discovered what passion fruit and guava actually look like (passion fruit and guava at 12 o’clock on the plate, left and right respectively)

I soon found out how beautiful Cape Town is – it is right on the coast and is surrounded by mountains.

We commenced our journey on Table Bay where we went up Table Mountain.  We took a round cable car up which had a floor that turned full circle along the ride, so we could see the panoramic view.

The view from Table Mountain was spectacular.  It was fairly cold on Table Mountain (42 degrees Fahrenheit) not only because it is 1085 meters above sea level but also because June is winter in Cape Town.  My mom and I tried to take a few pictures of ourselves, but the wind was blowing our hairs every which way.

We then made our way south to Simon’s Town, where we visited the penguin colony. It was my first time seeing penguins in the wild, so this was awesome! Also, I tend to associate penguins with cold climates because I think of the movie March of the Penguins. Reality check: not all penguins live in Antarctica. The penguins were adorable. Apparently the locals call these penguins “jackasses” since they make donkey sounds. They really do sound like donkeys. They are also known as African penguins.

After the penguin colony, we ate lunch at Black Marlin Seafood Restaurant. The restaurant is very scenic, and we ate outside to enjoy the view.

To begin with, I had a fresh salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, and shredded carrots. It was very refreshing and a great start to the meal.

For my main dish, I had hake with prawns, calamari strips, and sautéed vegetables. The prawns had some sort of sweet garlic sauce which was fantastic, and the calamari strips were lightly fried, but amazing also. Overall I was very happy with this dish.

For dessert, I got vanilla ice cream with a yummy berry sauce.

After lunch, we went to Cape Point where we went up a funicular for yet another stunning view of the water.

On our ride to Cape of Good Hope, we saw a group of baboons which literally opened the car doors! I nearly had a heart attack. Curse you opposable thumbs! But luckily, the baboons did not enter the car. Apparently, the baboons go into unattended cars and take backpacks and other belongings in search of food. They are such devious and smart creatures. I unfortunately only managed to get a picture of the baboons while they were farther from the car and before they actually opened the doors.

After that scare, we saw an ostrich pass right by our car!

Cape Town is stunning!