South Africa

Friday, February 11, 2011

Murbarak has left Cairo and has stepped down from the Presidency after eighteen days of democracy demonstrations by the people of Egypt.  Egypt is free! Egypt is FREE!

Twenty-one years ago today Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Yesterday I looked at over 400 photographs to come up with Blog photos for one more day of South Africa.  It was a freezing cold day in Houston and this was a nice way to spend the day.  However, I will need two days to finish with South Africa.

At Mossel Bay, one of the oldest towns in South Africa, we stayed at the Point Hotel where we had great ocean views and the lulling sounds of the waves at night.  Where mountains meet the ocean at Cape St Blaize Peninsular, Western Cape, it is quite spectacular with the natural rock pools.  

The black hole in the rocks (under the lighthouse) is the Cape St Blaize Cave where evidence shows the area was inhabited by Middle Stone Age people.  However, nowadays there are more Dassies than people there.  (see below)

There were no Dassies to be seen as they hide amongst the rocks, they were very well hidden.  Then a hotel staff member came and put food down for them and they came running from everywhere.  Maybe fifty or so Dassies came scurrying from all over the rocks but I am only showcasing two of them.

At Cape L'Agulhas the southernmost point in Africa is the divide of Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean.  No folks it is not the Cape of Good Hope which I will show later.

We stayed at this delightful old (but well modernized) lodge at Boulders Beach (Simon's Town) to see the South African penguin once known as Jackass Penguins because of the braying sound they make.  The name had to be changed because South America has Jackass Penguins and they are a different species (and named before the South African penguin).

And here it is, the Cape of Good Hope, the most South-Western point of the African continent.

Here is a view of the Cape of Good Hope from the lookout point.

We are a long way from everywhere ..... Paris, Berlin, Sydney, New York, and Rio de Janeiro ..... all favorite places of mine.  On this post Jerusalem is the only place I have not been.

We spot a mother whale with her calf and they played here for a long long time.

Staying with the mother and baby theme .... we saw the Cape Apes all around the Cape. 

The beauty never stops and with wild flowers in bloom it made for a lovely drive.

I saw the Slangkop Lighthouse from the airplane as we flew out from Cape Town.  Cape Town looked beautiful from the air, almost as spectacular as Rio de Janeiro ... but not quite :)

This Blog page would have been way too long if I had included the gardens.  Tomorrow I will highlight the flora of South Africa from our visit to Kirstenbosch Gardens.