After our safari in Sabi Sands, we flew to Cape Town which is the second largest city in South Africa. It is the legislative capital of South Africa. As a tourist, Cape Town felt much safer than Johannesburg, and has an European feel to it. The layout of Cape Town somehow reminded me of Hong Kong with the harbour and mountain behind it, and the beach area on the other side of the mountain with the more affluent residential neighborhoods.
We stayed at the Cape Royale Hotel in Cape Town which is an all-suite hotel. We spent a relaxing few days visiting Table Mountain, wandering around the V&A Waterfront, and visiting the beach area. We also went to the wine country in Franschhoek in the heart of the Cape Winelands. On the way, we stopped at the Cheetah Outreach to visit some of their cheetahs. We also drove along the Garden Route to see the penguins at Boulder’s Beach and continued to Cape Point.
Lion’s Head is a mountain between Table Mountain ad Signal Hill.
Taking the cable car up to Table Mountain.
View of Cape Town from the summit of Table Mountain.
Lion’s Head on the left and Robben Island in the distance.
View of Camp’s Bay from Table Mountain.
Lunch at the Grand Cafe and Beach.
The Cheetah Outreach was set up to educate people about cheetahs as well as try to help prevent their extinction.
We are allowed into the cages to pat the cheetahs.
They purr like cats.
Cheetahs are the world’s fastest land animals and their stride or the length between each step is 6-7 meters!
Our visit to Babylonstoren, an old Cape Dutch farm with vineyards and orchards, near Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands. We had a delicious lunch at their restaurant, Babel.
After a nice stop in Simons Town, we arrived at the African penguin colony of Boulders Beach.
African Penguin
If their decline is not halted, the African penguin will become extinct within the next 15 years.
I love how they sunbathe on the rocks.
Passing a huge beach on our drive. You may not be able to see it in the photo, but the two dots near the rocks in the bottom center is actually two people walking towards the water.