If there is one thing you definitely should not miss during your visit to South Afrika its the Cape of Good Hope. It is that one thing that comes into everyones mind if you tell them about South Afrika.
There are rumors that it once was called the Cape of Storms due to its unpredictable weather and the rough sea. It was then re-named by John II of Portugal into Cape of Good Hope, because discovering it was a good omen that India is reachable.
We discovered it quite late during our stay and almost forgot to visit it. :) Same as the Tafelberg that will follow soon on my Blog. Tafelberg is not only the Mountain that lies in the middle of Cape Town, it is also the name of the Nationalpark that includes the Cape of Good Hope and the whole Peninsula.
Although we´ve been on that Peninsula before we haven´t made it down to the Cape until that day. We only visited the famous Penguins in Simons Town. On the way down to the cape there is lots of things to see and visit. Beautiful beaches, rough coastlines and an amazing flora and fauna. Since it is part of the Tablemountain Nationalpark you will have to pay an entrance fee to get to the most southern tip of the peninsula.
That peninsula was definitely one of my favourite parts of the greater Cape Town region. Such beautiful colours and awesome locations to stop and enjoy the beauty of that nature.
I would not recommend to swim in the ocean down here as there are lots of sharks. If you brave enough, you can swim in one of the few rock pools that are on the beaches. For us it was way to cold but it was already fall so it might be a nice refresh in summer.
As inviting as it looks in the pictures, it was very cold. Especially paired with the wind for which the whole region is known
The entrance to the Nationalpark comes quite late after about two thirds of the Peninsula which means you can easily fill a day exploring that beautiful region without even entering the Nationalpark.
You can do that but you will miss many more amazing spots with great views over the ocean and the rough coastline. We were lucky and it wasn´t that windy but if you go on a windy day prepare yourself for a rough day as the wind here can get absolutely annoying.
After entering the Nationalpark our first stop was the Cape of Good Hope or better Kaap die Goeie Hoop how it is spelled in afrikaans. The cape is the most south western part of the african mainland. The most southern part lays further east and is called Cape Agulhas.
The Cape of Good Hope itself is actually nothing really special but still very beautiful. From here you can go on a hike up to the New Cape Point Lighthouse, but this is a walk you need to be fit for. Since my girlfriend had trouble with her knee I did only a part of that walk. The views I had from up there were absolutely amazing.
Unfortunately we haven´t seen many animals apart from a few smaller lizards. We have seen the famous Baboons but we kept a safe distance to them as I did not trust the. As you can see on one of the photos it says that humans have changed their behaviour and they really onto human food. If they see food they come and take it. So be careful with your sandwich ;)
Since we could not walk to the Lighthouse we went back into the car and drove up to there. What we didn´t know was that you can not drive straight to the Lighthouse. There was still a pretty steep hill to climb to reach the top.
It wasn´t easy with a damaged knee but we finally made it and it was well worth it. Furthermore there is a small cable car that you can take. My girlfriend went down with it as downhill is even worse for a knee.
The Lighthouse and the endless views up there were beautiful. It was crazy to think that there is nothing but ocean until the Antarktika.
I think we were quite lucky as it wasn´t that busy and we could even take photos of the lighthouse without hundreds of people on it. As said the many steep steps and the way up here was really worth it but even on a sunny day like that the wind was annoying.
But the view...the view...simply breathtaking.
you will find my post on pinmapple as well
[//]:# (!pinmapple -34.35666 lat 18.47516 long Cape of Good Hope - The Tip of Africa d3scr)
