It’s Christmas Eve in South Africa!! How did I celebrate? By working my butt off all day long on a lesson plan for my Malaysia class. However, like everyone around the world, when evening came, I put out snacks for a special visitor I was hoping to see. No, not cookies for Santa (bah humbug). Butternut squash, nectarines, and apple for the porcupines! I was as determined as a 6 year old waiting to see Santa to get a glimpse of these beauties on this special night! Brian called and I told him I’d call him back later- it’s porcupineo’clock! I have just been looking for them on the monitors, it never occurred to me to look out the side window in the living room! Perfect view of the porcuplatform, where I leave them their nightly snacks.
View of the porcuplatform from the window. At the top of that cement ramp is the orange stuff- porcusnacks!
I brought the laptop upstairs at 8:00 so I could sit right next to the window while I worked. Of course, looking up every 15 seconds doesn’t translate to much research on Hinduism getting done! It got closer and closer to the time when I saw them last- 8:30. It was getting darker and darker out and harder to see. I looked out the window for the 800th time in 30 minutes at 8:33pm and OH MY GOD THERE IT WAS!!!!!!! I swear, it was more exciting than seeing St. Nick himself!
I had my game plan all set. When I had put the food out at 6:30 (cuz I ain’t about to walk through no cobra infested weeds after dark!!), I left the gate unlocked and slid it closed just so nothing could get in (baboons were already in bed). The thing that had scared her off the other day was me making noise unlocking and sliding the gate. I grabbed the camera that was next to me and opened the patio door as quietly as I could. Stepped out on to the astroturf in the backyard. It was making a “crunch” “crunch” sound every time I made a step, so I took really big steps and tried to stay on my tip toes. Got to the gate. Slowly slid it open about 3″, just enough to get the lens through. And there she was!!!!! About 10 feet in front of me! How I didn’t squeal out loud, I’ll never know! It was too dark to not use flash, and I had already popped the flash open so that click wouldn’t scare her. I figured I had one shot at this because the flash would scare her off, so it better be good. Well, what do you know? I’m naming this porcupine Behati, because just like the famous model (and wife of Adam Levine), they’re both from Africa and can WORK A CAMERA!! Sweet little Behati (who isn’t so little), just sat there happily munching away while I snapped pic after pic! She even modeled for me, turning to show me her best side! Oh, but I was in love!! Unlike with the penguins though, I had no desire to hug her. 🙂
And now, I present to you, my sweet little Behati!! Who needs fat old cookie hog St. Nick to come on Christmas Eve when you have PORCUPINES!!!!!!
What I thought would be the first and only picture of Behati! But she’s not camera shy!
Behati, giving me a head on shot
She’s holding her food in her little porcupine hands! #swoon
Behati giving me her stunning left profile shot. I think it’s her best side. 🙂
She wanted a shot of her not stuffing her mouth!
Like any good model, she only ate a little food and then back off into the bush! Probably because I was going to try to shoot a video and made too much noise changing the setting.
Of course, I ran upstairs, called Brian (he’s on my priority list, just under porcupines!), and loaded the pictures. He’s probably deaf because I was screaming so loud as each one popped up!! Then, of course, I went into teacher mode and researched all about Behati. Here are the facts:
1. She’s a Cape Porcupine. Hystrix africaeaustralis
2. They are the biggest rodents in Africa, and the largest porcupines in the world! With their tail, about 3 feet long!
3. They are so cute they make you want to diiiiiiiiie!!!!
4. They scent mark their territory. I’ve smelled a little “skunky” odor out there a couple of times- I wonder if that’s because they’re marking the porcuplatform…
5. Did I mention they are THE COOLEST LOOKING LITTLE THINGS EVER!!!! EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
I told Brian that if we ever go on real safari, we’ll have to book a company that keeps a defibrillator on the vehicle. I’m this ga-ga over a porcupine in the backyard. Imagine me seeing a lion or rhino or zebra on the savanna. #dead
DAY 11
Merry Christmas, from the beautiful western cape of South Africa!! I am pleased to announce that I have slept decently two nights in a row with no meds. Huge relief! Woke up this morning and took out the trash (they pick up on Christmas Day!), washed my clothes, hung them out to dry, and went right to work on researching the religions of Malaysia for class. My goal was to have all 10 plans done before Brian got here. I’m on week 4, and it’s really slow going. There’s just SO MUCH research involved about things I don’t have much working knowledge of, and that, coupled with me trying to be a perfectionist with these lesson plans, makes for some looooooooooong days. But I’m quite pleased with what I have so far! I’m just getting realistic that I will probably finish 6 weeks instead of 10 by Jan 3. I need to slow down a bit and enjoy South Africa, because spring semester is going to be long and very busy! I’m not going to have much of a chance to even breathe when I get home…
I took a break around noon to prepare my Christmas dinner- South Africa style!! The menu includes:
Filet of Ostrich
Two types of Sweet Potatoes in Cinnamon Butter
Brussel Sprouts
French Baguette
Traditional South African Peppermint Caramel Dessert
Never had ostrich, no idea what to expect. It just sounded so…South African! So I bought it. 🙂 I did read a bit about it- that it’s really lean and dries out fast, so you can’t over cook it. Got it. Luckily there is a George Foreman Grill here. That thing is my LIFE at home! First, had to prep the veggies and get them in the oven.
Sweet potatoes on one side, with their cinnamon butter (those big brown chunks), brussel sprouts on the other.
Next, I took the ostrich out to season it and let it come to room temp. I really had no clue what the heck to season it with. There was a bottle of something called Monkey Gland Sauce in the frig. A quick check of the ingredients showed no sign of monkey glands or any other part thereof, so I figured what the heck. I threw a few spices from the cupboard on, slathered on some monkey gland sauce (upon further research, it’s a really popular bbq sauce in South Africa- except they call bbq “braai”- and I’m going to try to make some when I get home. Recipe is linked), and heated up the grill.
About US$8 for this package.
There were 3 good sized filets in there! Not bad for $8!
Dessert is always a big deal, and requires the most thought. Could I go out and get some chocolately what-not? Of course. The store was full of it. Actually, there was a lot of European type Christmas desserts at the store- fruitcakes and mince meat pies seemed to be pretty popular, as well as those little log shaped cakes (I forget what they’re called, start with a B). But I was in Europe for the past 2 Christmases- I wanted something South African! And then I saw this- peppermint (love it) and caramel (love it). Win-win! And seriously, how god awful could a combination of peppermint and caramel be??
It’s a traditional South African Christmas dessert. Says so right on the box. 🙂
It’s multi layered. Good news, because if one layer sucks I can just scrape it off!
While I was snapping pics of groceries, I brought out my go-to breakfast food. The homeowner had left a pack of these. Anything that says “Extra spicy” makes me run screaming in terror- I hate anything hot spicy. But I tried one my first day and it was amazing!! I played piano and was in beginner band (flute). I have played “Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns, One a Penny, Two a Penny, Hot Cross Buns” a zillion times, but I’ve never had one. It’s kind of like- I don’t know. Kind of like a soft non-gross fruitcake and kind of like raisin bread but more “spicy”-spicy being more fruity. I don’t know. All I know is that they are super yummy!
Cost more than 2 a penny, but worth it!
From prep time to ready to eat time was only about 35 minutes! I was really worried about over or under cooking the ostrich, but 6 minutes on the grill was absolutely perfect. Sat down at the table with a gorgeous view of False Bay and dug in. Oh. My. God. Ostrich, where have you been all my life!!! It is literally the most amazing meat I’ve ever had!! Even though it’s a bird, it’s more like beef than chicken. Like the most tender, melt in your mouth, flavorful meat EVER! I literally congratulated myself on this choice out loud! I did such an awesome job describing the taste of hot cross buns, let me try this…It’s like filet mignon, but even more light and tender and juicy. That “lightness” of taste has just a hint of a gamey taste to it- like absolute perfection. I don’t know- all I know is that you should run out to your nearest butcher and demand ostrich!
Christmas dinner with a view
The texture is just AMAZING!!
The veggies were delish! I saved a few of each type for Behati and friends for tonight. I figured they’d enjoy a few brussel sprouts! Man, I savored that ostrich to the very last bite. I’m so happy I have two other steaks in there for later! I was stuffed. Like seriously stuffed. This is the largest meal I’ve had since I’ve been here. But I’m never too full for dessert. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I thought it might be too sweet. It said the caramel was made from condensed milk, and that can be so syrupy sweet that it’s icky. Stuck my fork in- soft and fluffy! Took a bite. A spontaneous “OH MY GOD” echoed throughout the upstairs! This stuff is the BOMB! Not too sweet, just the right amount of peppermint to be festive but not overbearing. Oy. That stuff is DANGEROUS! I could eat the whole tub in one sitting!
All in all, I was quite pleased with myself. It’s literally the best meal I’ve had in a long time. Everything was perfect, easy to cook, and so very South African (at least I think so! That’s what it said on the box! 🙂 ). And the funny thing is that the adventure for tomorrow that I’ve had planned for a few days has something in common with today’s meal… Until tomorrow, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night (meaning sleeping 8 hours with no meds!)!!
Last night I got a Christmas treat! Behati brought Adam for a visit! Unfortunately, I didn’t prepare the gate beforehand, so I wasn’t able to get pictures. Hopefully they’ll both come back tonight. Today held a few surprises…starting with the wind picking back up again. My original adventure today after spending the past 2 days in the house was to go to a nearby ostrich farm. It’s pretty close, but I figured it would be super windy there too, so I nixed that plan. Plan B was the other activity that’s been on my list- the Two Oceans Aquarium at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. I had read on their website that they had added an Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) to their exhibit on December 21. The story about how they got it and the care they took to get it to its new temporary home (supposedly they release many of their animals after a period of time, which I have mixed feelings about), is quite amazing, and I would KILL to be the person who got to hand feed it! Mola molas are probably my most favoritest saltwater fish- they’re the largest bony fish in the world! I’ve only saw one once before, at the Atlanta Aquarium, so I was pretty excited!
Got my Uber and headed in to Cape Town. Guy dropped me off in front of some huge mall thing. My mall-o-phobia kicked in. There were people EVERYWHERE. Ugh. Walked through the mall, out the back, and followed the signs to the aquarium that was a couple of blocks away. The line was really long, but I got to bypass it because I bought my ticket online and saved 10% to boot! Once inside, it was crowded. REALLY crowded. With tons and tons of tourists. And they all had multiple children shorter than my armpit (my measuring stick for the presence of sufficient cognitive thinking skills- the only type of children I enjoy!). Kids were running around everywhere, banging on tanks, running in to me, shoving in front of me when I was standing in front of a tank to take a picture- all while their parents did nothing to reign in their little demons darlings. So far, within the past 5 minutes I had been subjected to three things that I can’t stand- mindless consumerism, tourists, and small children. I really shouldn’t be allowed in public places unsupervised…
Entrance
The aquarium was very kid friendly, I’ll say that. The tanks were clean, animals looked healthy. No complaints from me (those of you who know me, know that I was in the aquarium industry for about 25 years). It’s not the most spectacular aquarium in the world, but for the amount of space it’s pretty well planned out with some nice exhibits and a lot of educational material. And a few things I had never seen before, which is always exciting!
Nothing evil looking about this so-called Evileye Pufferfish (Amblyrhynchotes honckenii). Beautiful species, and there was a group of them living in a tank together, which is rare (they’ll usually kill each other).
Didn’t get this guy’s name, but very unusual looking
Beautiful species- again, didn’t get the name. It was just so crowded! #overwhelmed
Knysna Seahore (Hippocampus capensis). Only found in South Africa. Endangered. 🙁
Hagfish! I was so excited to see them in person! Very primitive, and highly interesting, fish.
Black musselcracker (Cymatoceps nasutus). I was really intrigued by these big guys! That “nose” is just too funny!
And I got to see something really rare- a common octopus doing something very uncommon- actually not hiding! It was great watching him swim to a crevice and presume the camouflaged position! #cephalogeek
There was a penguin exhibit, that was kinda stinky. I don’t know, it just didn’t feel right to me, but I must say the Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes moseleyi) were gorgeous!
This one was sitting on an EGG!!!!! Eeeeeeeek!!!!!!
And then I came to the very large “Predator Tank”. Inside of it was a big mesh holding pen. And inside of that was…..my Mola mola!!! Oh my god, but it was so amazing. I spent about 45 minutes total in the aquarium, 15 of it with this big, lovable, amazing creature! Taking pics behind glass is bad enough. Behind glass and through a mesh net- ugh. I’ve sent the aquarium a facebook message to see if they’re going to release it into the main tank soon. If so, I’ll go back and see it again.
It looked like this sand shark had barnacles on it, which seemed weird. On whales, yes. On sharks? Never heard of it. Then I saw a sign that it was a growth- basically a big old shark wart!
I would have spent more time in the aquarium, but I just couldn’t take the noise and people anymore. I decided to walk into The Watershed- a huge building that housed a lot of African craft shops- more like booths actually. There were some beautiful things, but the whole scene was just too touristy/froo-froo for me. I had been at the waterfront for a little over an hour (about the amount of time it took to get there), and I was over it. I felt I needed a “palette cleanser” after having to deal with all of that, so I decided what the heck…I’ll go to the ostrich farm!
Got an Uber with the FRIENDLIEST driver I’ve had so far. We talked the whole way about all kinds of things. He speaks English, Swahili, and 3 other native languages. Every time I leave the United States, I realize just how dumb I am. As we drove further and further into the middle of no where, I started getting concerned about getting an Uber back…
Reached the farm, said a warm goodbye, and headed off to explore ostriches! Went to the office to buy my ticket, and they said an English tour had just started so just go ahead and join them. There were a group of about 30 people under a tree, and the guide was explaining all about ostrich breeding. I came in about 10 minutes late, and missed a lot I fear. I hate missing things like that! The people on this tour were SO. DAMN. RUDE!!! There were 2 different couples who insisted on having a conversation among themselves in full voice. I moved closer to the guide so I could hear. I wanted to record it, but it was so windy I knew the video would just sound like “sssssssssssswwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”. 🙁 She asked if we wanted to stand on an egg to see how strong it was. Of course, being the Hermione of every tour group I’m ever in, my hand shot up.
I’m gonna get one of these for a scale. If it breaks, I’ll lay off the cookies for a while. 😉
The shell is only 2mm thick! Amazingly strong!
We went inside for a mini lecture (YAY!!!!). Of course, I was on the front row and asking questions. And of course, the jerk tourists were STILL talking like they were the only people in the room. The guide would look at them every once in a while, giving them “the eye”, but they didn’t care. Man, I was pissed. I wanted clean video for my students. Anyway, I learned a lot of things. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain! Ostriches have the 2nd strongest hide on earth. Bet you can’t guess the 1st….KANGAROO!! Isn’t that crazy!! And ostriches are the 2nd fastest animal on earth, behind the cheetah. She talked a lot about incubation of the eggs. And when she was done, we got to look in the incubation rooms.
Newly hatched baby!!!
The next area was the baby grow out area. And OH MY GAWWWWWWWWWWD!!!! Guess what? I almost d-i-e died! They were SO cute!! The grown ones scare the crap out of me. They’re big, dumb, and intimidating as hell. But these bay-bays!!!! I wanted to jump in and kiss them all! Unfortunately, we couldn’t touch them. The first pen were the 2 week old babies- they were as big as big chickens! Then there was a 3 week, 4 week, and 5 week pen. The 5 weekers were as big as turkeys! It was insane how fast they grow! And how beautiful and camouflaged their colors are when they’re young.
So fluffy and cuuute!!
Awwwww!
Tour was over. I went into the gift shop, because I knew I wanted one of the decorated eggs as a souvenir. At the waterfront, the eggs were 700 rand (about $55). Here, they were only 300 rand!! Less than half price. I knew I hated that froo-froo craft market… As I was looking at the eggs, the guide came up and asked me if I needed any help. We started talking and I thanked her for the tour. She apologized for the jerks, and said she could barely talk over them, so didn’t even tell us a lot of stuff. She then started to tell me a lot of other things about the farm and the birds in general. I was in heaven! I know she singled me out because I was paying attention and asking questions! It’s good to be the Hermione! 🙂 It was 2pm now, and I was STARVING- I hadn’t eaten since about 7am. Went to the resturant and had an AMAZING ostrich filet (they pronounce it fill-it) with these crazy good fried potatoes and cole slaw. Only $15 with a drink and tip, so I was pleased with that. First time eating out since I’ve been here (I hate eating alone). There was no wifi, so I kept myself busy reading tourist brochures of local activities. Nothing popped.
Ostrich is now my favorite meat, hands down.
Headed out to see the big birds- Bonnie, Connie, and Clyde (I know this because the tour guide told me in the “Mary Special Post Tour” 🙂 ). Dang. They are big. And scary. You could buy food to feed them from your hand. I watched other people do it and scream- they go after you pretty fast. Uh, yeah. I’ll pass. Took some pics of them, though. The males are bigger and have the black & white feather and red beaks. Females are smaller and brown.
Back to the gift shop to decide on an egg and stand. Then, I started searching for a wifi signal to get an Uber. I asked the staff. They told me 3 different areas to go stand to maybe get a signal. No luck. I asked someone else, and they said go to the gate. Walked all the way to the parking lot gate. No signal. Fucksticks. I’m in the middle of no where with no signal and no ride. Mary, circa 4 years ago would have had an epic curse-laden rant on hand for such an occasion. Mary, circa now, says “Fucksticks”, shrugs, and starts verbally hitchhiking. I approached 3 different people. “Hello. Are you a serial killer? No? Great! Any chance you’re heading to Simon’s Town?”. Well, I thought the serial killer part but left it out of the convo. A resounding “nope” from all of them. Mary, circa now, does not fear. Because I know these people are not going to shut the gates and throw me out in the street alone. I went back to the restaurant and explained my dilemma. They knew someone from Simon’s Town who would come get me, and they’d call them right now! WOO-HOO! See, Mary circa 4 years ago, things work out. No need to panic. 🙂
The absolute LOVELIEST woman walked up about 30 minutes later and said if I was waiting for a taxi! She was all smiles and light!! We got in the car and immediately hit it off. Talked about all kinds of things. Twice she told me I was a breath of fresh air! As mentioned earlier in this blog, I live for those compliments from locals!! I was sad when we pulled up to the house, sad to lose such good company. I said, “200 rand, right?”. She told me she didn’t even want to charge me, but her boss wouldn’t be pleased! If you are in Simon’s Town and need a ride, call Simon’s Town Shuttle.
Wow. What a day! Fed the porcupines and Behati showed up like clockwork at 8:30, but no Adam tonight. Next couple of days are going to be work filled, so don’t expect anything too exciting out of me. Oh! And here is the egg I got! I paid extra for this really cool carved stand that spoke to me instead of just getting the regular flat round one. Because my consumerism is based on experiences, not random, meaningless junk. And this egg will be an awesome addition to my travel display case at home- reminding me of a great experience!
DAY 13 and 14
Day 13, life couldn’t have been more boring. I worked 15 hours straight, and even the porcupines didn’t show up. 🙁 Winds are still blowing pretty strong. Day 14, almost a repeat of Day 13. Until I went into the kitchen around noon to get lunch…Did your windows rattle around 12pm Cape Town time?? No, it wasn’t an earthquake. It was me screaming. And I’m sure that no matter where you are in the world, you heard it. I went to put a dish in the sink, and this THING was in there. It was huge. It was disgusting. It was creepy as all hell. The fact that I didn’t drop the dish is truly a testament to my mad house sitting skillz. Because I let out a scream and jumped about a meter both up and backwards. After the initial shock wore off, I leaned in for a closer look. It reminded me of the super nasty mole crickets I’ve seen in the states- a really soft body. It looked like a cross between a giant cricket, a giant ant, and a giant nightmare. Slowly, the critter curiosity in me became stronger than the fear. I knew I had to get it out of the sink (way to big to wash down the drain). I was really concerned about it jumping, or killing me by spitting venom or some koo-koo uncivilized African thing, but it was SO big, and its hind legs really didn’t look strong enough to propel it very far. I seriously considered coming downstairs to google it before I got too close, but figured I was safe. So I got a tupperware and scooped it out. It didn’t make too much of a fuss.
Comparison of size to 1 Euro- about the size of a quarter. Just look at the head. Look at the coin. Do you see how big that thing is???
Well, its face is *kinda* cute(ish).
I snapped those couple of pics. My face was less than a foot from it when I was taking the pics, but I was so enthralled at this point, I didn’t care. When our photo shoot was over, I took it out in the backyard and let it loose. Then I came to google it. I googled “big cricket South Africa”. After seeing images of cricket games, I refined it to “big cricket insect South Africa”. And what came up was something that looked exactly like my critter, commonly known as a Parktown Prawn. And get a load of this…they are NASTY buggers (no pun intended)!!! They will HISS when threatened!!! Not only that, but they can jump A METER!!! And they usually will jump RIGHT AT/ON YOU!!!! And if that wasn’t bad enough, they will squirt out a horribly rancid smelling black liquid feces when agitated!!! WTDDF (what the double dutch fillintheblank)!!!! Had it done any ONE of those things, I would be blogging right now from either the hospital or a hotel. The only thing about my ID that bothered me was that I could really only find reports of it around Johannesburg. Apparently people there are scared to death of the things, and there are horror stories and videos all over the ‘net about them. Holy. Crap. Ola. I was so happy mine was docile! It’s abdomen was so soft looking and super fat, I figured it was a female full of eggs who probably came in (how???) to get water. The drought here is awful. I happily posted my find on the Entomology Facebook page. A few people agreed with my Parktown Prawn ID. But one lady said no, it was a Sia pallidus, which looks very similar to the species I had IDed it as, but is found in the Cape. That made better sense. Especially because these guys are burrowers, so no need for super strong, leap terrified Americans in a single bound, hind legs. Phew. Scorpions in the bathroom in Costa Rica (I killed that thing dead, dead, dead by drowning it in a puddle of bug spray). Giant crickets in the sink in South Africa. Oh, the adventures never end. At least it broke up the work day a bit! And qualifies as my only adventure in 2 days. I’m prepping for the beginning of the spring semester for online classes- they start January 9, so everything has to be ready by the time Brian gets here. Busy, busy, busy…
Day 15, I woke up from another good (non medicated) sleep. That’s like 3 in a row now. I’m finally back on a decent schedule of going to sleep around 10:30 and waking up around 6. I got out of bed and something seemed “off”. Something was “different”. I thought about it for a second. WAIT!! It doesn’t sound like I’m living in a wind tunnel!!! I threw open the shutters and sure enough, the bush outside was still!!! WOO-HOO!! After 3 straight days of incessant sssssssswwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh noise, it was silent! And after 2 straight days of being cooped up in the house working, I was ready to get the heck outta here! But I couldn’t go far, because alas, I do still have a ton of work to do and I have a day trip planned for tomorrow. So I decided to head down to see my penguins. After sitting for 2 days straight, I figured the walk would do me some good.
Got to the beach and man, it was crowded! Even the “locals” area before you get to the area where the penguins are. I walked through to the small boardwalk where I was last time, rounded a corner, and there they were! I said out loud (spontaneously talking out loud is becoming a serious habit), “OH! There they are! Hello, my babies!”. There were some people behind me who laughed. Oy. Inside your head voice, Mary. INSIDE your head…. But it’s such a rush when you first see them- even if you’ve seen them before.
See that scruffy on on the left? Not dressed as fancy as the two on the right, feathers all sticking out in disarray. Yeah, I’m that penguin.
We aren’t penguins, but we’re cool too! Not sure what they are, but there were a TON of them!
Took several shots, and continued toward the pay area of Boulders Beach. The homeowner had told me there is another boardwalk on the other side of that where you don’t have to pay. I quickly found it and headed toward Seaforth Beach. It was even more crowded in this area! Holy moly, everyone was at the beach! Understandable, because it was literally a perfect day. Sunny, about 78 degrees, and no wind. Boulders Beach is gorgeous. If there hadn’t been so many people, I probably would have paid to go down there. Kept walking down the boardwalk to Seaforth beach. There were several tables set up with vendors and various African handicrafts. Nothing popped though.
The awesome boardwalk between Boulders and Seaforth.
Gorgeous Boulders Beach.
Seaforth Beach
My plan had been to walk to here and turn around. But the day was so lovely, and I was so sick of work, that I just kept going toward town. I walked into several of the shops, but again nothing really popped. I’m not the “go into a shop and browse” kind of girl. I am definitely not the “go into a shop and buy something just to have something to do” girl.
Simon’s Town
I considered getting lunch, but the lure of a free sandwich at the house won out. Headed back. Stopped and peeked into a cemetery on the side of the road. Lots of graves from the early 1900s. I had been out for a couple of hours and it was pretty hot, so I walked back down to Seaforth beach and stopped in at a little juice window. Got a carrot/orange/pineapple juice with ginger for about $1.50- not bad. I knew I needed sustenance to make it back up the hill. Walked back along the boardwalk all the way to the golf course across from my ‘hood, then started up the hill. That hill is no joke. And it’s the very end of it that’s the worse. And at the end of that are four flights of stairs to get to the kitchen for water. I was SPENT. Looked at my walking app, and I had done 5.63 miles!! Dang! Promptly came into my room and napped for an hour. Got up and worked. Behati showed up at 8:45, but didn’t bring Adam. I tried to get a pic, but the wind picked up again and I didn’t have my ponytail holder in. Hair was everywhere and when I was trying to get it out of the way of the camera, I spooked her. But I did find another quill when I went out to feed!! Two big adventures scheduled for tomorrow!!
DAY 16, 17, 18
I’m behind. I know. It’s been a hectic few days. Happy New Year and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, here goes…
Day 16 is adventure day!! YAY!! And today was going to have not one, but TWO adventures in the Hout Bay area! But guess what? It ended up as three and the unexpected one was the best one of all…
Adventure #1: World of Birds
I was leery about this place. I even asked the homeowner. It’s billed as a sanctuary, but there were mixed reviews online. I’ll give my review after I give you a tour. Here’s one thing I knew for sure- it is a stop for the HOHO bus, which means flocks (pun intended) of tourists- my kryptonite! So I decided to be smart and beat the crowds. It opened at 9, and I intended to be there right when it opened, hoping lazy tourists were still in bed. Called for my Uber and had another wonderful, friendly driver from Zimbabwe. We talked the whole way. There was no traffic, and we got there at 8:35. I stood outside. A lady came out and said they opened at 9. I said I know, and was just waiting. At 8:50 I guess she felt sorry for me and let me in! First one in the door and not another person in site! #heaven
World of Birds is privately owned on about 10 acres with over 3000 (yes, 3 THOUSAND) birds! It’s the largest bird park in Africa. And I must say, the way this place is laid out made the OCD girl in my very happy. It’s impossible to miss anything if you just keep going in a straight line, basically. The aviaries are really big. Many of them you walk into and are just “in there” with the birds. Others, the birds are behind a barrier- but those are few. The aviaries generally house several species, and I was pretty pleased with how natural they were. There was a huge variety of birds here from all over the world. But I was only focused on the African species- since the chances of me seeing these birds in the wild is about slim to none. So that’s what I’ll show here. I took over 265 pictures today in a little over 2 hours- that’s how cool these birds were! Plus, I generally had to take multiple upon multiple shots. Birds aren’t statues! 🙂 And there weren’t just birds. There were tortoises. Meerkats that would literally run up to me, roll around on the ground, and make the sweetest little chattering noises!! All kinds of things!! So now, I present to you, my best shots of the day! It was so hard to narrow them down…
An idea of how large and lush the aviaries are.
Glossy Starling Lamprotornis nitens
Maribou Stork Leptoptilos crumeniferus
There were a TON of hornbills! They’re AMAZING!! I need more hornbills in my life. This is a Silvery Cheeked Hornbill.
This owl made me cry. It’s a Giant Eagle owl (Bubo lacteus). It knows things.
Looking into those eyes, I felt it could look into my soul. I’m not even being cheesy. It was emotional.
I chased this damned purple crested turaco ALL over the cage with the camera! He was having a grand old time tricking me into thinking he was going to be still before he flew to the opposite end! Spectacular bird.
Ok. So pros of World of Birds. Biggest pro hands down was that because I got there when it opened, I didn’t ever have another idiot tourist with their devil spawn precious children harassing looking at the birds in my vicinity. I was alone in Every. Single. Aviary!!!!! By the time I finished at 11am, there was a line out to the parking lot to get in. The aviaries kind of are arranged one after the other, so if you follow them all in order and you’re the first one in, you won’t see anyone else. Just me, talking to and interacting with the birds alone. That was a MAJOR pro. The birds also all looked very well taken care of. Some of the water ponds could stand a good cleaning, but they were all getting fresh food and seemed as happy as birds who aren’t wild can be. Ok- now the cons. I’m not convinced this is a rescue sanctuary. Maybe I’m wrong. There were just SO many species though, and from SO many parts of the world. It did feel a little more “zoo” and a little less “sanctuary” to me. Also, with the aviaries being so open and the birds so accessible, I worry about what a constant stream of tourists does to them. Normally, I let idiot tourists go about their business and just try to avoid them. But if I see them harassing an animal, I always speak up. I could see that happening a lot here. However, that’s just my opinion as I never had the displeasure of being next to a tourist the entire time. There was a lot of staff around feeding, so maybe after feeding time they’re keeping an eye on people who have that jerk tendency…
Adventure #2: BAY HARBOR MARKET- HOUT BAY
I don’t like to shop. Seriously. But I do like to buy things that have meaning from local people. And that’s what brought me to the Bay Harbor Market (well, that, and the fact that it was close to World of Birds so I was trying to get the most out of my Uber ride from Simon’s Town!). It’s only open on Friday evenings and the weekend, so I was already as prepared as I could be for a flood of people. Look, I am seriously the most socially awkward person on earth. I’m ridiculous. And I’m so tuned out to society at large, that I have zero spatial awareness of who is around me, because I don’t care about any of them. Literally, Brian and I can be walking down the street and he’ll say, “Did you see that 10 foot tall woman dressed like a rainbow glitter clown with a monkey on one shoulder and an anaconda on the other, riding a unicorn?!”. And I’ll say no. And mean it. It just doesn’t make it to my radar. If I’m not interested in the people around me, they don’t exist. Personality flaw on my part, or brilliant trait- you can decide (my vote is the latter). Anyway, here I was, stuck in hoards of white people. There were some cool things in the booths to look at, but nothing really popped. The aisles were kind of like a ladder- two main ones with little ones in between. OCD me was methodically making my way through by winding in and out of each rung. I walked down a main aisle and turned into a “rung” booth. There were purses on both sides of me. Someone was walking directly toward me, so I moved to the side a bit and kept walking. They moved the same direction and kept walking. They weren’t moving, so I looked up and said, “Excuse me” and moved to the other side. They did the same. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS ME!!!!! I was playing chicken with myself in a mirror. This is how unaware I am of people around me and how much I could care less about looking at them or making any kind of eye contact. I just want to blend in and be ignored. This story has a point…I swear.
There was a food area, and I walked through it but it all seemed like kinda fancy farmer’s market type food. Fancy pizzas and sandwiches and coffees and such. Nothing jumped out as being unusual and “African”. And there were just so many people. I couldn’t stand it another second, and had to get out of there. Walked out on to the sidewalk and thought there HAD to be something else right around here. Behind the market were some workshops that weren’t crowded and were pretty cool. I just don’t like taking pictures of other people’s art if I’m not buying it. Seems rude. I’m not rude. I’m just stand offish. 🙂 Went back on the sidewalk and saw this….
A hand painted sign that says Crafts and Nursery and a path up a hill without a white person in sight. I’m there!
ADVENTURE #3: XOMA AOB
Now THIS was something interesting!!! I’m not going to lie, I had a teeny bit of apprehension as I went up the hill. Because NO tourists were up here. I was entering a neighborhood. The path ended after a little ways, and dead ended into a street. I was in a straight up neighborhood at this point, and there wasn’t another sign. I stood there for a few seconds, getting my bearings and trying to figure out if it was prudent to continue walking through this neighborhood, when I heard someone behind me say “Hello, guest.”. I turned around and made perfect eye contact with two amazing blue grey eyes. Eyes that were framed by a massive set of awesome dreadlocks. Dreadlocks that were atop a light brown body that didn’t look like a color of “black” that I had seen. A light brown body that, and I swear to god I am not lying because I couldn’t make this up, was only dressed in an animal skin loin cloth. And I felt perfectly comfortable, at ease, and KNEW I was in the right place! Unlike the girl who was playing chicken with herself in the mirror at the market below…
I don’t even know how the conversation started. All I know is that it did. And I finally felt truly connected to Africa in this moment. He talked about the KhoiKhoi (pronounced Koi-Koi, like the fish) people, and how he is a descendant of them- although about 9 generations back Europeans settlers entered his bloodline. How they are the indigenous people of South Africa. How the Dutch came in and forced his people off the land. He wove a mesmerizing story that I felt I was becoming a part of. That I somehow understood as I compared it to what I know of our Native Americans. How they tried to assimilate them, steal them from their parents, force them into the white ways. How many ran and hid to escape. We talked about the impact is has on the descendants of the KhoiKhoi now, how they have been so ashamed of their culture, how speaking their language could have gotten them killed, but how many are now trying to reclaim that culture and are proud of it. How I shouldn’t call anyone in this neighborhood colored. Colored was a catch all label from the Europeans to erase people’s true identities. That he was KhoiKhoi, not colored. I stood there, with just a fence between us, for over an hour. Engaged. Connected. While dozens of chickens pecked through the plastic bag he held to get the vegetable scraps out through the holes. While every passerby greeted this man, sometimes saying things in their language that included clicking noises instead of words. I saw his baby grandson, his wife. He told me of how the city had tried to force him off of his land so they could take it for development. How he stood up for himself and fought back. How he ended up doing a land swap for the property he’s on now. How he is slowly building it up to what he wants it to be. How he is the herbalist for his people and grows the plants and knows the remedies his grandmother taught him. MY GOD THE ENTIRE THING WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! And I don’t even know how it started after, “Hello, guest.” I didn’t want to leave. But more and more people were coming out of the house wanting his attention, and I knew I should be going. We shook hands. His name is Xoma Abo. He gave me his phone number and said I could come back with Brian and he would show me more. When I got home, I googled his name. He is well known. There is a short documentary about him. I am so proud of the fact that I don’t belong in the tourist hordes. That I am more comfortable outside of them. Because outside of that facade of money and trinkets and entitlement is where people like Xoam Abo exist. And people like my friends Carlos and David in Belize. People that I connect with. People that I listen to. And that’s important, because I don’t connect or listen easily with most. I don’t have any pictures of him, but here are two videos I found online about him. WATCH AT LEAST THE SHORT ONE (the first one)!!! You’ll learn something awesome in 3 minutes. I promise.
This is the full 15 minute documentary. Well worth a watch.
On the drive back to Simon’s Town, the Uber driver took Chapman’s Peak road. The views are STUNNING!! BREATHTAKING!! I had already planned to come up here with Brian, so I’ll get good pics then. But for now, here’s a sneak peek!
Days 17 and 18, New Year’s Eve and Day, were nothing but work, work, work. And more work. I have one last adventure planned for tomorrow before Brian gets here, and then Brian will be here the next day!! Then, get ready, because it will be non stop adventures for a week straight!!!
This morning I drank my last Diet Dr. Pepper. That can only mean one thing. BRIAN WILL BE HERE TOMORROW!!! Today’s adventure was a special treat, because I did something I’ve never done before- I met up with a couple who is also housesitting in Cape Town! I found them on one of the facebook groups for housesitters, and asked if they wanted to go to the Cape Town Street Parade with me on January 2. It’s a HUGE event with a TON of people (60-100 thousand), and I wasn’t really sure I wanted to navigate that alone. They said yes, and we met up. What a lovely couple, and I really enjoyed spending the day with them!
I arrived a little earlier than our meeting time, because I wasn’t sure what the traffic situation would be like. This was my first time really “in” the city of Cape Town. It’s quite charming! I wandered around in the PanAfrican building- 3 stories of African crafts. There were a couple of other indoor craft markets in the area, and then I looked around Greenmarket Square, an outdoor craft market. They were all pretty touristy, but had some interesting things! The vendors all greet you as you walk by and tell you that you can touch things. They’re definitely sales people, but not as pushy as Mexico/Central America for sure. I was pretty mesmerized by the masks and carvings from all over Africa.
Just one of the many, many rooms of masks and carvings at the PanAfrican Market. Fascinating.
Some old church. I didn’t catch its name, but it really stood out!
Greensquare Market
Met Ian and Vanessa at our scheduled time (yay for prompt people!!), and started walking around town. We headed up to the Bo Kaap neighborhood, known for its super colorful houses. This neighborhood started off as a slave neighborhood for the Cape Malays (slaves brought here from Malaysia by the Dutch). Of course, now it’s being gentrified and the houses are being bought up by wealthy people, destroying the fabric and culture of the neighborhood.
So about this parade. It has about a zillion names. Kaapse Klopse (which means Cape Clubs). Tweede Nuwe Jaar Parade (which means Second New Year- it’s held on Jan 2). Coon Carnival (Called this under apartheid. NOT politically correct, but even my Uber driver who is from South Africa called it that. I’d never dare!). But it seems like the most recent term is Cape Town Street Parade. Traditionally, slaves were given Jan 2 off to celebrate, so the day holds a special meaning. Basically, there are a bunch of minstrel groups (about 60) that compete for prizes. The bands are dressed in colorful costumes, many members have their faces painted, it’s just a lot of fun!! The parade was supposed to start at 1pm. We waited. And waited. And waited. And went and had drinks. And waited. And waited. FINALLY we found a decent spot to stand and saw the first troupe come by- kind of. They actually stopped and kind of wandered around. Some of them sat down. Huh? We stood there for about 20 minutes, then that group finally passed and we crossed the street. The 2nd group wasn’t right behind the 1st. There was a huge gap. So we walked up the parade route toward the start area. Finally we got to a place where the 2nd troupe was and we could see. People set up huge tents all along the route, so it’s almost impossible to get a decent vantage point for pictures- or to even see! Then, this troupe did the same thing. Stopped, wandered, and sat. What the hell??? We waited and waited and waited. Then decided to walk up the route further. This continued like 4 times!! The parade had started at 1. By 5:30 we had seen six or seven troupes, and only because we were walking up the route! Had we stayed in our original place, we would have maybe seen 3! It was seriously ridiculous. When we could see a troupe, it was so much fun! I would have been super giddy if it had been like a normal parade with a flow. But all of the walking, trying to find a troupe, waiting for them to do something other than sit or wander, and trying to even find a space between the tents to see anything got a little frustrating. We ditched out at almost 6pm. I can’t imagine staying to see all 60! We’d be there for 2 days!! Here are some of the shots I got over heads and through tents! This parade really has potential to be amazing and super fun…
This was the 1st troupe coming up the street. Thought the sign for the museum in the back was pretty poignant.
Countdown to Brian (who is on a 7 hour layover in Zurich as I write this)…T-minus 16 hours!!!!!!!
DAY 20
It’s Brian day!!!!!! YAY!!!! Basically, I got up, did some work, and grabbed an Uber to go pick him up at 2:15. The Uber driver had an accent that was very different from any I’ve heard so far. I asked where he was from. Congo!!! WOW!! I was so excited and told him he was the first person I’ve met from there! He was excited about me being from Los Angeles. Go figure. 🙂 Lots of talk about safety in his country for foreigners vs. citizens. Talk about the direction the world is heading. This topic is on the minds of so many people I encounter.
Got to the airport, waited about 20 minutes, and finally saw my baby!!! He was about 36 hours out from leaving the house in LA. A connection in Zurich with a 7 hour layover and a connection in Johannesburg with a 2 hour layover. Poor thing. We found our rental car kiosk, got our car, and like the champ he is he maneuvered driving on the left side of the road with no problem.
Now, I had bought myself an AMAZING travel pillow that I used on my flights over, but couldn’t say anything because I had bought one for Brian for Christmas. I had asked Brian when he texted me from Zurich how he liked it. He said “long story- I’ll tell you in person”. I figured he had forgotten it or popped it (it’s inflatable) or something stupid (and I was pretty pissed!). Then, he told me the story. So, dear readers, instead of my adventure for Day 20, let’s hear Brian’s adventure…
So he gets to LAX. He uses his work backpack for his travel backpack. It’s his only carry on (he checked the bag full of DIET DR PEPPER!!!). Runs through the scanner, it goes down the chute for an extra check. No biggie. They put it up on the screen and say, “What is that? Is that a gun part?”. Brian didn’t say this part, but if I had to guess he got very deer in the headlights- because my man had inadvertently just brought a bolt carrier (I have no freaking idea what that is, but some gun part) through the TSA security check!!! See, Brian works in the movie props industry. And they do a LOT of work with guns- supplying them for movies and tv shows and such. And this part was in his backpack unbeknownst to him…. He answers that yes, indeed it is a gun part, and he had missed it when he was cleaning out his backpack. TSA agent’s response, “I’m going to need to call a supervisor.”
The mid level supervisor shows up, looks at it, and says, “We’re going to need someone higher up.” Uh oh. Next comes the head Grand Pooba TSA supervisor (remember, none of this is happening at a lightening pace, and Brian has a plane to catch!!). He wanted Brian to explain what was going on. Brian explained that he does guns for the movie industry, has parts, and forgot to remove it from his backpack when he was cleaning it out. Grand Pooba says, “We’re going to have to call this one in.” Brian is now surrounded by Grand Pooba, 2 airport police, and 1 LAPD officer!!! Brian explains his story, they all recognized what the part was, and that it was so benign that it could be bought by a kid with babysitting money over the counter. But, since it was a gun part, it wasn’t allowed in carry on. (Mary’s note: I can’t even take a Dr. Pepper through TSA, and Brian is shooting (pun intended) to get gun parts through!!). At this point, because it’s such a thing and they need to keep people moving through, they ROPE BRIAN OFF. So they’re all behind a rope, running his criminal record through the system. While they’re doing the interview, they ask Brian why he would have a part like that. He explains how they’re for the movies, and when shows like the Walking Dead have all of those guns, he converts them to blank firing weapons. Name drop on the Walking Dead! They all thought that was super cool. Cop performing the interview looks Brian in the eye, says he believes him, but needs to be able to explain to his boss why Brian has the part and what they should do from here. So now they call in the airport police sargent!! He looks at it, asks Brian the same questions and a zillion others down to what’s his dog’s middle name- and after explaining everything again and making Brian show them all his tattoos, they have to call in the HIGHEST level airport police guy to make a final decision!!!
Highest level airport police guy sits around and pow-wows with the growing pool of TSA and cops. Of course, all of the passengers going through security are staring at Brian like he’s a freaking terrorist or something. And remember- HE HAS A PLANE TO CATCH!!!! After their big meeting, they decide it’s fine but he can’t carry it on. It has to be checked. He couldn’t throw it away, because then they would have to file a report on it and that would take forever. Brian is about 40 minutes out from his flight at this point, and one of the officers said, “Ok- now you have to go back downstairs, check your bag, and come back through security.” Obviously that’s not all going to happen in 40 minutes, and because Brian is so damn charming (and probably because they all think he’s super awesome after name dropping the Walking Dead) and they don’t want him to miss his flight, they give him a police escort down to the Swiss Air check in counter and take him to the front of the line. While they’re walking down, the cop calls CSI to cancel them- they had called them to come and take pictures!! He checks his bag. Then, they escort him back upstairs and take him to the head of the security line to be rescreened. He shook hands with all the officers, offered them a tour of his prop warehouse if they ever wanted to come over, and was on his way. And that, my friends, is why Brian didn’t have his travel pillow with him! Never a dull moment with this boy, I swear!!
What was Brian’s first adventure in Africa?? Going to the grocery store!! Woo-hoo!! It’s a party a minute when you’re with me! We stopped off at Pick and Pay, then went over to Woolworth’s that was in the same mall. Got enough food to last us the rest of the trip. Got to the house, gave him the tour, and we had a braai (bbq)- grilling ostrich steaks that we bought on outside grill. We fed the porcupines at about 7pm, and Behati showed up to greet Brian promptly at 8:30. He wanted to hug her. If you think I’m a freak for animals, Brian beats me by a mile (kilometer?). So nice to have my man here and have a CAR!! Mega adventures all over the place commence tomorrow!!! Get ready for a barrage of awesomeness- we have some great things planned….
WOW WOW WOW!! What an amazing first full day with Brian!! Because I knew he’d be tired, I didn’t want to plan anything too far away, so we decided to go to Cape Point which is super close to Simon’s Town. We got there early, around 8:30am and entered the park. What’s so special about this place? Well, I thought it was just the Cape of Good Hope (the south western tip of Africa that was such a BIG DEAL in history when the Portuguese- namely De Gama- finally got all the way around it so Europe could reach the Indies without having to go through the Arab land routes). Careful. I teach history and could go on and on about this stuff all day! Anyway, we drive into the park and the landscape is GORGEOUS! Crazy cool rocks everywhere- with shapes and positions the likes I’ve never seen. And the fynbos is just amazing!! What is fynbos, you ask? It’s the native vegetation of the Western Cape- kind of like the rainforest of the Amazon. A ton of different plant species that are specially adapted for the conditions here. And the variety of plants is just amazing!! I would love to be here when everything is in bloom. We’re barely into the park when I see something big and black far off in the distance moving. IT WAS A WILD OSTRICH!! An ostrich. In the WILD! I was losing my mind. This thing looked just so out of place- as if it shouldn’t even be able to survive without someone taking care of it or something! It was just hard to reconcile in my mind that this bird was in the…wait for it….WILD!! And we saw more than that first one! We saw several males and a few females during our drive all through the park.
Did I mention that this ostrich was in the wild?! 🙂
Goofy bird!
We keep driving, and Brian spots a herd of antelope- in the WILD!! Oh my god- I’ve only seen things like this in a zoo!! Research shows they are Bontebok, and my but they are gorgeous! And get a load of this- they were hunted so extensively by colonists (read: damn Europeans!), that by 1931 only seventeen (yes, 17!) of them remained! The only thing that saved them is that unlike most antelope, they can’t jump. So they couldn’t jump out of the fences people created to protect them! Now, there are about 3,000 in the wild, but only in protected areas. Please take a moment and read this article. It really is a fascinating story! We were fortunate enough to see two small herds- each with about 6 animals.
Bontebok: Damaliscus pygargus pygargus
We pulled off and did a little hike. STUNNING views!! Beautiful fynbos!! And a bunch of cool lizards!
Black girdled lizard: Cordylus niger
Rock Agama: Agama atra
We take off down the open road again. When you were on the kind of “side roads” there were hardly any cars around, which was great! We were heading back toward the main road when something in the grass on the side caught my eye. I screamed “STOP! BACK UP!!”. And looky looky what we found! An angulate tortoise! I remembered that its species name was angulata from my visit to World of Birds. We jumped out and Brian picked him up so I could get a few pics. This guy was actually pretty fast on the ground! And simply stunning. After his photoshoot, we let him go and that’s when I saw the sign. 🙂
Homo sapiens (Brian) and Chersina angulata (Angulate Tortoise)
We continued on to a little visitor center (yes, all of this happened before we even got to the visitor center!!). There were some gorgeous trees surrounding it. They had a whale skeleton of a Southern Right Whale in the courtyard that was really cool, and several really interesting displays inside.
Me, with real whale vertebrae. They’re MASSIVE!!
Next stop- some tidal pools! You know I was in heaven!! There were TONS of limpets, several different species. A few tiny little fish. LOTS of anemones. And one pool, and just one pool in one little area, had some sea stars- a type I’ve never seen before! The ocean was just beautiful…
I freaking LOVE this shot of the tide pools!!
Mystery star- I can’t find any information about it.
Anemones!
Jumped back into the car and followed the signs to the Cape of Good Hope. As I mentioned earlier, this is the south western tip of Africa, and it was a MAJOR feat for the Europeans (Portuguese were first) to sail around it so they could reach the Indies. Vasco de Gama (you may remember him from such classes as History- Troy McClure) was the first to make it around and to the Indies. There’s a big cross here erected in his honor. (Dear world: Big whoop. Where’s the monument to the original people who this land belonged to?) Got to the Cape and there were a ton of people! Someone offered to take our picture which was very nice, then we headed out toward the tide pools! Not much in them, but a ton of protist sea weed, primarily kelp.
I am the queen of Kingdom Protista!
Next stop, the lighthouses of Cape Point. There were 2 choices. Walk up, up, UP the hill to the lighthouse, or take the funicular. I put the FUN in FUNicular, so we decided on that option!! It’s called the Flying Dutchman. And I learned that the famous ghost ship with the same name roams these waters during treacherous storms…how cool. I looked, but no Captain Jack Sparrow in sight. The view from the top was outrageous! There was ocean on both sides, and not one, but two lighthouses! The first lighthouse was built too high up and was covered in misty clouds most of the time, rendering it useless. So another was built further down the cliffs that we hiked to. My fear of heights set in, because the trail was narrow and the cliff was high and steep!
View of a stunning beach below the cliffs
Insane cliff!
View of the lower lighthouse from the trail. You couldn’t actually go to it.
View of the upper lighthouse from the lower lighthouse trail. We had just been at that light house.
It wasn’t just the fear of heights I had to face. My other fear was here as well. Baboons. But I learned that they really aren’t so bad, and no where near as scary as the macaques in Malaysia. That said, I wouldn’t go anywhere near them with food, but they seemed pretty well behaved.
This baboon is named Brian. He is jet lagged and wants to lie down.
This baboon is named Mary. She is telling Brian “Noooooooooo- you can’t lay down!!!”
After we left the lighthouse area, there was a troop of baboons on the road- many had babies!
Speaking of food, we ate our picnic lunch and then drove off the main road again and away from all of the cars, tour buses, and tourists. Here we saw more ostrich and bontebak. The road ended, but the map said something called “Venus Pools” was a little further up, so we hiked up there. WOW! Gorgeous! It is a natural rock tidal pool that is filled when the tide comes in. Brian laid down on a huge rock and said he could take a nap. I told him not on my watch. (See above baboon captions!). We stayed a little while. It was really gorgeous, relaxing, and peaceful, and only a few people around.
We drove on the rest of the roads we hadn’t been on yet, and left the park around 2:30. We spent a good 6 hours in Cape Point and really loved it! The views are out of this world, the landscape is just stunning, and there are ANIMALS!!!
I knew we couldn’t come home that early, because Brian would fall asleep. He really needed to stay up until at least 8:30. So I suggested we go check out the penguins. We parked the car at the bottom of the hill to the house, and walked the boardwalk all the way to Seaforth beach and back. Came home, cooked dinner, planned out our INSANE AWESOME adventure for tomorrow, did a little more planning of things for the rest of the week, fed the porcupines and filled the sun/sugar bird feeders, and went through all of our pictures to narrow them down. Brian’s sleeping next to me now while I write this. He’s such a damn trooper, and I love him so much…especially when we’re traveling the world together!! We do it so well. 🙂
