Western Cape, Jan/Feb 2016 - Cape Peninsula

We spent 4 days with our friends Colin and Elsa in Cape Town, it was lovely to see them again.

It was lovely to cool off in their pool!

We visited Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens and the Cape Point Nature Reserve.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather - there was little or no wind and many days were clear all day.

Kommetjie

We ended up staying for a week at Imhoff campsite, near Kommetjie, as the weather was so perfect. It was only a short walk to the beach.

We visited the Slangkop Lighthouse just outside Kommetjie.

Kommetjie, looking north towards Hout Bay.

Cape Point Nature Reserve

As we have a SAN Parks Wild Card it was free to get into Cape Point (otherwise it's R125 pp) so we went there twice.

Driving through the Reserve past the Buffelsfontein Visitor’s Centre with the Cape Point lighthouse in the distance.

The visitor centre at Cape Point. You can take the funicular to the lighthouse (R58 return, R48 single) or walk up. We walked.

From the lighthouse looking north.

The Cape of Good Hope from the lighthouse.

By the time we drove to the Cape of Good Hope the clouds had drifted in and there were several coaches arriving. This is the most south-westerly point of South Africa.

On our way back we stopped at the Buffelsfontein Visitor’s Centre, which had lots of interesting exhibits and information.

This tree shows the strength of the prevailing south-easterly wind.

On our second visit to the Park we went to some of the bays and beaches on the east and west side of the peninsula. We saw several animals - springbok, eland, blesbok, red hartebeest and several tortoises near the roads.

An old lime kiln near Black Rocks.

Bordjiesrif and the Vasco Da Gama Cross.

A couple of blesbok down near the shore.

A tortoise which had just crossed the road - we saw several of them.

Table Mountain

Another perfect day - no wind and very little cloud so we decided to go to Table Mountain. We took the cable car to the top (R125 single and R240 return) and then walked to MacLear's Beacon with superb views to north and south.

Lion's Rock, Robben Island, Signal Hill and Cape Town.

The West Coast. Hout Bay on the right and Kommetjie and the lighthouse in the distance.

Looking south towards Cape Point.

MacLear’s Beacon - the highest point on Table Mountain.

Enjoying the view!

Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens.

We last visited Kirstenbosch in March 2011 and, once again thoroughly enjoyed the day (R55 pp). It was another sunny day with very little wind so we got to the Gardens just after they opened at 8am as we wanted to walk the Silvertree Trail/Contour Path which meanders through the trees on the hillside above the gardens.

February is after the main flowering season but there were still some flowers to be seen.

A Cape Sugarbird feeding on protea flowers.

From the Contour Path we had some lovely views looking out over the gardens towards Muizenburg and the coast.

We were glad of some shade along the Path.

Back in the gardens we wandered around along shady pathways.

We crossed a few streams - all but one were dry.

Flowers amongst the ferns.

The Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway (the Boomslang) is a new curved steel and timber bridge that winds and dips its way through and over the trees of the Arboretum.

1. Richmond to Cape Peninsula via Golden Gate National Park, Karoo National Park, and the Sutherland Observatory.

2. Cape Peninsula. Kommetjie, Cape Point Nature Reserve, Table Mountain and Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens.

3. Cape Winelands. Tulbagh, Stellenbosch and Worcester.

4. Cape Peninsula to Richmond via Matjiesfontein, Sutherland, the Karoo, Melton Wold and Gariep Dam.

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A couple of very young guinea-fowl.