We left the beautiful Cape Point and headed to the southern tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas, for our last destination before returning to Cape Town and the journey home.
We drove the scenic coastal route along what is called the “Whale Coast Route“, which mostly hugs the coastline of the Western Cape from Cape Town over to Cape Agulhas. This is another spectacular coastline drive that snakes in and out of bays with quaint seaside vacation communities for the well-off and is often tucked up against stunning mountains that in many places spring up right from the coastline. Oh yeah, and there are lots of Southern Right Whales that can be seen right offshore this time of year, including cows with their calves.
We made our way to a nice oceanside campsite called Die Dam that some of you may recall I camped at last year. Here, we sat on a grassy field right up against the rocky shoreline and watched African oystercatchers, whimbrels, little egrets, and a variety of other coastal birds come and go with the tides. We were also entertained by the energetic visual and auditory courtship displays of male Cape Weaver birds trying to seduce females into their freshly made grass palaces – quite the energy expendure these males undergo to pass on their precious genes! This place also provided us a really nice and secluded beach walk along the rocky shoreline.
We made our way over to the southern tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas. Recall that this is where the Atlantic and Indean Oceans meet, or “kiss”, as they say here. Fortunately, we had gorgeous weather for this occasion:
We did a little day hiking along the shore and through the uplands to get a better taste of the coastal fynbos floral kingdom that is protected by this Park. Did I say that Cape Agulhas was declared a national park in 1999 and currently encompasses roughly 81 square miles – so a rather small Park by comparison. Fortunately, there is a series of private nature reserves along the coast that, together with the Park, help to conserve the coastal fynbos ecosystem.
We ended our visit by going Full Monty on the accommodations. We had separate adjacent Chalets that were beautifully constructed and came with all the trimmings, including spectacular views of the shoreline and ocean. Not a bad way to finish off the trip, hey?
Our last hoorah before leaving the chalets and the Cape was a nice breakfast in our chalet: veggie omelet with banana bread:
Oh ya, and I managed to get Steve his 136th bird species at breakfast, the musical Cape Grassbird:
If you are still with me, let me say farewell from Africa, as this is the last destination in this year’s journey that’s worthy of a post. Thanks for sharing my overland journey this year, which completes the 3 year journey that I outlined at the beginning of this blog. Despite my original intentions, Nancy and I head back to southern Africa next year for year 4 of this overland journey in Africa, this time with family (Mark and Kirsten) and other friends. Our trip will take us back through Namibia, almost in reverse of this year’s journey, and then back to Botswana – our all-time favorite destination – and Zimbabwe, and then I’m not sure as I make my way back to Cape Town, but I am sure to find some new places to explore en route.
We head back to Cape Town tomorrow and spend a few days prepping the vehicle for storage before the long flight home. I hope you enjoyed this year’s overland journey, even if only virtually, I certainly did!
Cheers!
yay!! great trip! thanks for sharing! safe travels
Rick Romano