For our second morning at Protea Fire + Ice Hotel in Cape Town, we enjoyed a delicious, full breakfast.
In addition to a lovely spread of breads, fresh fruit, other enticing side dishes and entrees, a skilled chef prepared eggs to eggs to order at Hustle & Flow Restaurant. She was a culinary artist, making this breakfast a step above the norm, particularly for a meal included with our stay.
Most of our group was rushing for an early departure on Gate 1's optional Peninsula and Penguins Tour, but Julie and I had other plans.
Our similar excursion would meet a mile away at the City Sightseeing Tours office on Long Street an hour and a half later. As to exactly how these exact tours compared, I suppose that would require doing them both. I can for a fact say that we thoroughly enjoyed our tour led by our humorous guide Brahm ("Like the composer but without the s.").
All those who went on Gate 1's optional Peninsula and Penguins tour said they enjoyed their day. The Gate 1 itinerary mentions a stop at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens at the end of the day, but I didn't follow up on that.
The previous day at the Diamond Museum, a couple from our group had told us that they did a similar trip through Viator upon arriving two days before the Gate 1 Tour began. They had very much enjoyed it. Viator's tour description mentions a few additional stops, including some places we'd alredy been and an ostrich farm that we passed near the entrance of the national park where we spent much of our time on our Peninsula Tour.
Our tour included a lot of time to explore on our own or join in a group hike rather than making more stops. We loved that.
As promised in the flyer, Brahm proved to be an "enthusiastic, knowledgeable English-speaking guide for a unique and memorable day." I don't doubt he is now a local resident, though he originally hails from Liverpool.
How do I know he's from Liverpool?
His Liverpool accent was decidedly different from South African we heard daily, but Brahm made his origin very clear at the outset in a more obvious way.
Brahm asked if anyone was a Manchester City fan. The prior evening, I had caught a glimpse on TV of a soccer game between teams in light blue and red jerseys, so it gave me a hint as to where Brahm was heading.
One man raised his hand as a Manchester City fan/ Brahm became exuberant, because Liverpool had beaten Manchester City in that game.
Brahm took off his top shirt to reveal a Liverpool jersey, saying he would be wearing that red shirt all day.
As we drove along, twice he told everyone to get their cameras ready for something really amazing. Both times it turned out to be homes where Liverpool flags hung.
His patter remained entertaining throughout the day. He was often funny. He frequently pointed out small features or animals in the distance that we would have missed were it not for his keen sighting capability, undoubtedly honed by repeated experience on this day trip.
Much of the road to the Cape hugged the beautiful coastline. At one point while looking for dolphins Brahm instead found a whale spout. I can't say that I saw distinguishable signs of the whale, but Julie did a few times.
We saw several animals on the drive, including ostriches when we passed the aforementioned ostrich farm, but we didn't see any baboons as hoped.
Brahm said baboons were more likely to be spotted on garbage collection days.
With no trashcans containing food scraps on the streets on this day, they skipped a trip to town on the day we visited.
As we approached the park gate, Brahm was surprised by a traffic jam. He spoke to someone and relayed that the reason for the slowdown was a power outage. This event, which in South Africa is called "load shedding," shuts down electricity in different zones periodically to avoid a system overload or complete blackout.
This lack of sufficient power is an ongoing problem for South Africa. There simply is not enough capacity. Several times at our hotel the lights went out and when they came back on a minute or two later, it took time for the computers to reset to allow conducting business dependent on the machines. I assume backup generators at the hotel made those quick re-starts possible.
When we went to the snack bar/restaurant at the park about an hour and a half later, load shedding resulted in the pizza oven and other elements of the restaurant shutting down during the peak lunchtime rush. Julie and I decided to get ice cream bars and a bag of chips instead of meals, so we weren't delayed long. This being South Africa, I think the total for our snacks came to about $6.
Before that lunch break, however, we had the challenge of hiking to the top of a hill where the Old Lighthouse for the Cape of Good Hope remains.
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The Old Lighthouse was first illuminated in 1860. The peak on which it is perched turned out to be too high. Ships often could not see it shining beneath a thick blanket of low clouds. This simply would not work on what the explorer Bartolomeu Dias once called "the Cape of Storms."
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Brahm said that if anyone wanted to join him on a mostly downhill hike to Cape Point's beach, then we must get to the Old Lighthouse and back down by a certain time.
It was a nice hike. Not difficult with no time clock but somewhat strenuous during the uphill half with a timer running. The views were stunning and well worth the hike.
We made it down by the mandatory time, so we qualified for the second hike.
Nonetheless, Julie opted out, because she still felt a bit jetlagged and worried about getting a bit dizzy on the cliffside sections of the trail.
The views continued to be gorgeous.
Occasionally, Brahm would point out animals in the distance, including ostriches, zebras and a few types of South African antelopes.
On the trail, we found some lizards.
The climb down to the beach at the end of the hike was the most challenging part, with some drops of a couple of feet or more and occasionally requiring holding the jagged rocks for stability.
While we hiked down, the bus had driven out of the park and was at the bottom of the hill to meet us.
About half of our group, including Julie, were enjoying the beach when the rest of us arrived from the extra hike.
Here is a link to a video Julie took of Seals on the Rocks at Cape of Good Hope.
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| Seals on the Rocks. |
Our excursion still had a major attraction ahead: the Boulder Bay Penguin Colony in Simon's Town.
ETC.
