Saturday, March 28, 2009

Vacation: South Africa

For my most recent R&R I decided to go to South Africa, mostly Cape Town, thanks to good reviews from some guys who have been. What a perfect decision, I must say. And thanks to some special local insight it was the best R&R I've had yet!


Chris met me there from Baltimore so I wasn't lone ranger-ing it the whole time. I didn't glean much deep insight about life or learn anything especially significant about myself, it was just pure Rest and Relaxation. We spent most of the first week driving around the Western Province (go WP Sharks) seeing all the cool stuff that it has to offer. We even went a couple hundred kilometers up the west coast. After Chris went home I spent a day driving around wine country and then just lay around Ashanti Lodge hostel for a couple days soaking up the sun and enjoying the neighborhood.

This is part of the coastline near Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, which is claimed to be the "Southwestern" most point of Africa. It's funny, they say there's been a legal battle between the managements of the parks at the Cape of Good Hope and at Cape Agulas, which is actually the Southern most point of Africa where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet. They're arguing over the right of Good Hope to make its claim of southwestern most point. We never made it to Agulas because we heard it wasn't as pretty as Cape Point.

This is the coast in Paternoster (Our Father), about 200km north of Cape Town, around sunset. My South African connection in Sudan recommended this visit. Thanks for the suggestion!


Found this on the beach in Paternoster.









Yes, those are ostrich on the beach! Cape of Good Hope.






That's looking down from the very edge of the top of table mountain in Cape Town.
Clouds covered it when we visited but it was still really cool up there.

The new World Cup stadium they're building in Cape Town. This view is looking down from the top of Signal Hill.


This is on the side of R27 on the way up the western coast to Paternoster. There was a huge fire on the other side of that hill. I think it gives an interesting effect to the picture.
The Frenschhoek valley in wine country.








That's Cape Town and Table Mountain in the background. I'm standing on Robben Island, the prison where political dissenters like Nelson Mandela were taken during apartheid times.

So how did I like the trip? As if you couldn't tell, I was blown away. I am trying to figure out how to get back there as soon as possible!
Devil's Peak, Cape Town, South Africa