ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Visit Cape Town, the Cape of Good Hope and the Southern Tip of Africa

Updated on April 29, 2012
Cape Town Flag
Cape Town Flag

Cape Town

Cape Town is an amazing place to visit and one of the greatest cities on Earth. With Table Mountain as a backdrop, the Atlantic Ocean at its feet and the Indian Ocean close by, Cape Town is perfectly placed at the Southern tip of Africa.

Add to this a temperate Mediterranean climate and incredible coastal scenery, superb vineyards and amazing wildlife and you have the perfect holiday or business destination. I was fortunate enough to visit on business recently and stayed near Simons Town further down the Cape of Good Hope.

It is great to visit the Southern Hemisphere when it is Autumn or Fall in the North and encounter Spring six months early! One unexpected drawback, however, was I started sneezing (Hay Fever in November!)

Lets begin with Capetown. A good start to appreciating this great city is down by the Victoria and Alfred (V&A) Waterfront. This is like Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth in the UK (for those of you who have been there) but around 10 times the size. It blends the renovated original port buildings with modern resturants, cafes and shopping malls. From here you can travel to Robben Island by boat and see where Nelson Mandela was imprisioned.

Aerial View of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the Background
Aerial View of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the Background

Table Mountain and Tablecloth

From the Waterfront you get a spectacular view of the rest of the city with Table Mountain as a dramatic backdrop.

The top of Table Mountain is often covered by a horizonal layer of cloud, known locally as the 'Table Cloth'. If you have time you can either walk to the top of the mountain or take the easy way up via the cable car.

Cape Town was also one of the host cities for the FIFA World Cup held in South Africa in 2010.

Mape of Cape Town and Surroundings

Map of Cape Town and Surroundings - click to enlarge this or any photos in this article
Map of Cape Town and Surroundings - click to enlarge this or any photos in this article

A Little Geography

Capetown lies on the Atlantic Ocean and Cape Point at the tip of the Cape of Good Hope is where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean.

This causes dramatic storms and high seas where the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean meet the cooler waters of the Atlantic.

False Bay, that lies to the Southeast of Cape Town is so called because those originally attempting to sail around the tip of Africa from the East assumed they had reached the Atlantic because the Bay is so large.

Simons Town, the home of the South African Navy and the Naval Base is located in False Bay.

Cape Town with Table Cloth over Table Mountain
Cape Town with Table Cloth over Table Mountain
Cape Town and Table Mountain
Cape Town and Table Mountain
Chapmans Peak Road View, Hout Bay Near Cape Town
Chapmans Peak Road View, Hout Bay Near Cape Town
Cape of Good Hope, View from Mountain Road
Cape of Good Hope, View from Mountain Road
Southern Right Whale Information Sign
Southern Right Whale Information Sign
African Penguins at Boulders Beach Cape of Good Hope, SA
African Penguins at Boulders Beach Cape of Good Hope, SA
Penguin warning sign at Boulders Beach South Africa
Penguin warning sign at Boulders Beach South Africa
Board Walk for Penguin Viewing at Boulders Beach South Africa
Board Walk for Penguin Viewing at Boulders Beach South Africa
View from the Boardwalk at Bolders Beach, South Africa
View from the Boardwalk at Bolders Beach, South Africa

Spectacular Scenery and Wildlife

The scenery around Cape Town is breathtaking. The whole of the Cape of Good Hope is mountainous. Spectacular mountain roads offer amazing views of both the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines.

I was really impressed by the Chapmans Peak Road along which you find place names from the UK such as Scarborough or Llandudno but where the scenery is much more spectacular than around the original UK towns.

From these coastal mountain roads you can often see marine life such as whales surfacing or schools of dolphins. You can also sometimes see shark watchers who scan the oceans with binoculars and call the local lifeguards in order to clear the beaches should a hungry shark be seen heading towards a tourist beach for lunch!

Baboon in the Room

Stopping places on these roads are also frequented by baboons. Unfortunately tourists are often tempted to feed them in exchange for a quick photograph. The result is many baboons have become 'humanised' and become dependant on humans for food. This makes them dangerous and aggressive and they will often attack humans picnicking or dining 'al fresco' in order to steal a lunch.

A business colleague of mine had a baboon in his room. The staff had found it while we were away working in the dockyard and they were cleaning the room. The problem was the staff liked to leave all the windows open during the day. I'm afraid we didn't let our coworker forget it and suggested that he was engaged in an extra-marital affair with the poor creature! (I won't mention his name as I wouldn't want his wife to find out!).

Penguins

The African Penguin, sometimes known as a Jackass Penguin, because of its donkey-like call, nests in only 3 places in mainland Africa. One of these is at Boulders Beach just outside Simons Town. The colony established itself in the 1980s, the first pair arriving in 1983, and until the penguins arrived it was and still is a popular tourist beach.

Why the penguins chose an area frequented by so many humans is something of a mystery although good local fish stocks could be one reason. There are currently around 2500 pairs although the numbers are currently in decline and the breed generally is an endangered species.

Back in the 1980s the newly arrived penguins became a nuisance, invading local gardens but they are now largely prevented from straying in land by a low fence and a boardwalk has been provided giving visitors an excellent view of the colony.

The beach is still open to the public and arguably it is about the only place in the world where penguins are so accessible you can easily swim with them. However there are warnings not to swim too close as they bite!

Dassies

The Dassie or Rock Hyrax is a peculiar creature. It is apparently the African elephant’s closest living relative and this close evolutionary relationship is deduced from similarities in the structure of the feet and teeth. Dassies are similar in appearance to a Guinea Pig but at around 2 feet long, much bigger. Like guinea pigs they are vegetarians and typically eat grass or leaves from trees.

As a lover of Guinea pigs I was keen to see one and was delighted to find that a family of Dassies have moved into the penguin colony at Boulders. My favorite, I called him Roger, typically sat sunbathing in a tree next to the boardwalk and happily posed for pictures.

Great Eating and Drinking

The Cape of Good Hope is full of really good unpretentious restaurants, bars and cafes. Seafood is an obvious speciality given the coastline and local fish stocks.

South African wine is mainly grown on the Western Cape and both reds and whites are superb and very reasonably priced. Restaurants are also very good value with a much smaller premium for ordering wine at the table than in Europe or the US.

If you don't fancy Cape Town prices then there are loads of reasonably priced superior guest houses that do a great bed and breakfast located all around the Cape of Good Hope.

There is also lots to see further afield. Why not head out East towards the wine growing country around Stellenbosh and visit the many vineyards? Spier have a kind of wine theme park with free entry and pay as you go for the various attractions such as wine tasting.

So what are you waiting for? Check out direct flights to Cape Town and find out for yourself what a fabulous destination it is!

African Penguin at Boulders Beach, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
African Penguin at Boulders Beach, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
Roger, the Dassie in a tree at the Boulders Beach among the Penguins
Roger, the Dassie in a tree at the Boulders Beach among the Penguins
Whale in False Bay, near Simons Town, South Africa.  You have to be quick to photograph them!
Whale in False Bay, near Simons Town, South Africa. You have to be quick to photograph them!
Fabulous rocky beach near Simons Town South Africa
Fabulous rocky beach near Simons Town South Africa
Beach with mountains near Simons Town South Africa
Beach with mountains near Simons Town South Africa

Dassie (Rock Hyrax) takes on a Baboon!

Cape Town

A
Simonstown:
Simon's Town, South Africa

get directions

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)