flashback: Table Mountain and Cape of Good Hope

From what we were told when we arrived in Cape Town, Table Mountain usually has a blanket of clouds resting on the top, so we were lucky to wake up our second day to a clear day.

We hit the road, with every other tourist in the area, and headed for the tram to take us to the top.  The line wound around and around and we waited for quite awhile to get on the tram, but the wait was very worth it.

A few really fun {or so I think} facts about Table Mountain:

Table Mountain is approximately 260-million years old. By comparison, the Andes are about 250-million years old, the Rockies are about 60-million, the Himalayas are 40-million and the Alps are 32-million years old.

Prehistoric people first left evidence of their lives on Table Mountain more than 600,000 years ago.

Dassies’ soles are kept moist by special glands. They are able to climb smooth cliffs using their feet as suction pads. Wow.

If this is an agema lizard, and it is a male, his head will turn blue during mating season.

The Cape has the highest known concentration of plant species – 1,300 per 10,000km squared.

Whales above and penguins below.

On the way to see the penguins my parents were telling me about an earlier trip to see them and how much fun it was to watch them play and swim.  The anticipation was hyped to the max.

Guess what?  It was molting season when I saw the penguins.

Interesting?

If you consider standing around interesting, then yes.  No playing or swimming to be seen.  Just standing around shedding feathers.  You'd think they could do that while swimming and playing, but I guess they need to concentrate.

Dinner was lovely though.  First introduction to couscous.

Then we were off to the Cape of Good Hope.
Not to be confused as the most southern point of Africa as most think.

Windy?

I don't know if I've ever felt wind that strong without being in a storm.

South Africa boasts the third-highest level of biodiversity in the world, and is the only country to contain an entire floral kingdom. The Cape Floral Kingdom is one of the country’s eight World Heritage sites.

{facts about Table Mountain and The Cape.}