Our wine tour guide, Elle, warned us that the drive to Cape Point and back can take “over seven hours” to complete. We didn’t believe her entirely, but we still decided to get a relatively early start to the day so we wouldn’t feel rushed. We were happy to hit the road early Friday morning though because we had a perfect day for the picturesque drive (though it would probably still be pretty amazing if the weather didn’t cooperate). Our first stop was Muizenberg to marvel at the scenery and the famous colorful beach houses (we all thought they were more like beach huts than beach houses, but they were still beautiful!).
Great view of the Cape of Good Hope from Muizenberg!
Muizenberg’s famous beach houses.
After stretching our legs and checking out the views, we drove a little further down the road to Boulders Beach. This area is known for its penguins – it’s a protected breeding ground for the endangered African Penguin and we were able to walk up very close to the little guys in their natural habitat. The welcome sign describes the area accurately: “The easiest place in the world to make the acquaintance of an African Penguin.”
The penguins picked a breeding ground with a great view!
This picture doesn’t do it justice, but they look so awkward when "walking" on land. The penguin in the middle waddled from the dunes to the water like a toddler just taking his first steps…but then began swimming like a champ once he hit the ocean.
From here is was only a short drive to the entrance to Cape Point National Park, but we decided to stop for a quick bite to eat before continuing south. Unfortunately there weren’t many options around – we’d gotten to a pretty remote part of the peninsula! – so we ate ostrich at Cape Point Ostrich Farm located across the street from the park entrance. It was a bit strange to eat an ostrich burger while starting at pair of them just outside the window…but at least it was tasty!
It didn’t take long to get to the trailheads in the park after lunch. We decided on an hour and a half long hike to see the Cape of Good Hope. The trail was very well maintained (most of it was a boardwalk, actually) and the views were stunning – no wonder so many visitors to Cape Town make the trek down here!
Sarah taking in the views.
Cape Point.
We got another tourist to take a picture of the three of us. Can you tell how windy it was?!?
The ladies at Cape Point.
After a couple hours of taking pictures and trying to make sure we didn’t lose our sunglasses in the wind, we got back in the car and continued the drive around the peninsula. The final stop on our roadtrip was Chapman’s Peak, a great spot to overlook Hout Bay below. We stopped to take in the view then got back in the car to finish the drive.
Hout Bay from Chapman’s Peak.
Chapman’s Peak or Big Sur? We thought the views were very similar!
We still had a little time before needing to return the rental car so we stopped at The Bungalow for a drink and to watch the sun begin to set. We didn’t have a very comfortable seat though, so we moved on quickly. I dropped the ladies at The Blackheath Lodge (highly recommend this awesome spot) to settle in, then returned the car and walked back. We met up with a friend-of-a-friend for dinner before calling it a night – it was a great day, but a tiring one. We say goodbye to Dana tomorrow…can’t believe her time here has gone so quickly!