September 22-24: Cape Point and Table Mountain National Park

After leaving the spectacular Tankwa Karoo, we head south to Cape Town and Table Mountain National Park.

Leaving Tankwa Karoo basin we travelled down through the Cape Fold Mountains, which are a series of mountain ranges that run along the southern and western coastlines of the Western Cape Province in South Africa and south and west of the Great Escarpment that rings all of southern Africa. The Roggeveld escarpment in the Tankwa is part of that Great Escarpment. Anyways, driving through the Cape Fold Mountains was truly spectacular. Steep, rocky mountains with lush valley bottoms reminiscent of places like Yosemite and Zion, or perhaps the Swiss Alps – just amazing rugged mountains. Here’s a few pictures but they don’t do justice to the visally striking landscape:

We traversed the busy highways and streets of Cape Town and made our way out to Table Mountain en route to Cape Point – this is the penninsular jutting out from the coastline at Cape Town, which sits at the neck. We took the western shore route that traverses the steep mountainside along the coast and past stunning seaside communities in the small bays and inlets. However, the most stunning part of the drive is kown as Chapman’s Peak drive, and this portion of the road hugs the cliff face and is even carved into the overhanging cliff in places. Here’s a few photos of this incredible drive:

We stayed three nights at one of the Park sites called Smitswinckle (Smits for short), which is a platform tented camp situated at the head of Table Mountain. Smits is a small tented camp with only 6 tents. Each tent comes with two beds, toilet and shower, and there is a share boma (kitchen with seating). Pretty sweet digs while we explored Cape Point for two full days. The camp is nested in a large grove of trees, which functions as a forest oasis for birds in the middle of the fynbos vegetation of the Cape. Here’s a few shots:

En route to Smits, we did the obligatory stop off at Boulder’s Beach to see the African Penguins – cool as usual:

We had some amazing hikes at Cape Point. The Spring wildflowers of the coastal fynbos were in their full glory and the steep cliffs and rugged coastline were as stunning as ever. We all made it out to the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Cape Point amidst the wind the occasional band of showers:

I have been out to Cape Point several times now – and each time I am awed by the beauty of the place – but this is the first time I have visited during the peak of Spring wildflowers in the coastal fynbos, which was phenomenal. Once again, I took too many photos to include in this post, so I am giving you a slideshow again. Note the colorful flowers of the fynbos in Spring, the surprising critters, and the amazing oceanside cliffs. Unfortunately, my slideshow maker can’t handle photos in both landscape and portrait mode, so the portrait photos are all cut off on the top and bottom, but you’ll still get the jist of it:

Cape Point slideshow (5 minutes)

And here’s a very short video with a hello to all of you on a special day for Nancy and I:

Cape point video (3 minutes)

OK, we are off to the southern tip of Africa – see you there!

From the Wildside: