To Cape Town

We crossed the Orange River into South Africa on the 3rd February and made our way to the town of Stellenbosch, which is in the heart of the wine producing region. It would have been rude not to sample the products, so after we all dressed in jumpsuits bought in Tanzania we headed off on a wine tour. We tasted, whites, reds and champagnes (or Cape Classics as they are called here, as they are not made in the region of Champagne) not to mention a lot of homemade cheeses. An enjoyable day was had by all and quite a lot of vino purchased, especially as the quality stuff was coming in around 3.50 pounds a bottle.
The truck continued heading south and soon we were on the coast at Bettys Bay, home to a colony of the ever so cute African Penguins. We watched them for an hour before going towards our most southerly destination. Cape Agulhas is the most southern point of Africa and the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. It was emotional for the group being here as it meant the end was in sight. Everyone celebrated reaching this point with champagne and cakes.
After spending our final night camping at Cape Agulhas the truck departed for the couple of hours ride into Cape Town. As we all checked in to the hostel, the overland journey was officially over. Despite being free to all go our separate ways or even go home, some very good friendships had been formed and as a group we all stayed together for another few days. I ended up spending a week in Cape Town and I could have easily stayed longer. It’s a beautiful city.
Table Mountain is stunning, with views out to sea. I took the cable car up there and along with 5 friends, for some reason we thought it would be more fun to abseil down it. I abseiled from the very top down 100metres (that’s very long in abseiling terms and needs a special rope, normal abseil ropes quickly disintegrate due to the continual friction, they also need special metal grips as the standard figure of 8 ones cannot hold the pressure from the rope).I had to climb over the rock ridge and literally throw myself backward on the top of a mountain. Scary is an understatement! I am waiting for the photos to be sent to me but even looking at the photos is scary!
I did less scary pursuits in Cape Town too, I visited the Museum with was hosting the BBC Wildlife Photography of the Year, the National Gallery, the planetarium, the Slave Lodge, the Old Fort, not to mention the Waterfront which is where these statues of South Africa’s 4 Nobel Peace Prize winners are. (Mini quiz – do you know who they are?) I also visited Robben Island which is the prison out to sea in which Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were kept. Whilst I was in Cape Town, Thursday 11th February, was the 20th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela and I visited a couple of Mandela exhibitions of his life. Coincidently that day was also the state opening of parliament and I watched loads of police and camera crews set up shop in the city park, which is where the entrance of the parliament building is.
Whilst the overland adventure was over, I was not quite ready to come home, so along with 4 other friends I had made on the truck, we decided to hire a camper van and make our way up the coast of South Africa …