Marilyn's Odyssey: The Cape and the Rovos Train

We spent our last day in Cape Town exploring the cape. The drive along the coastline was spectacular with beautiful sandy beaches interspersed with rocky shorelines with crashing waves. The Chapman Peak drive is said to be one of the most scenic in the world and in places the roadway is cut out of the rocks.

Chapman Peak roadway

Beautiful shoreline with roadway along the cliffs

Traveling farther south we reached the Cape of Good Hope which is the most south westerly point of Africa. Having read about rounding the Cape in books for as long as I can recall it was rather emotional to actually stand here looking out to sea and thinking about the hundreds of ships that have perished in these unforgiving waters.

Our travel companions

Misty weather at the point

As we had left early in the morning we were the only people at the Cape which was quite special. As the tour buses started arriving we headed off to the Cape Point Lighthouse for some fantastic panoramic views. Accessed by the Flying Dutchman Funicular the Cape Point Lighthouse is also very popular with a large baboon population which have no fear of people. In fact Eric put down his backpack so I could take his picture and a baboon appeared out of nowhere and grabbed it. Luckily Eric has very quick reflexes and grabbed it back as it had his camera equipment in it. Lesson learned.

Cape in background. Backpack now in hand

Never trust a baboon

Cape of Good Hope from the lighthouse

Lighthouse sitting high above the Cape

Flying Dutchman Funicular

After our visit at the Cape w carried on along the coast to Simon's Town to visit Boulder 's which has become a thriving colony for the endangered African penguin. From two breeding pairs in1982 the colony has grown to 2200 in recent years. They cannot fly and nest in the sand.

They live in colonies but they mate for life

Penguins really do seem to strut

Going for a swim in search of food

Baby penguin covered in down

They all had very pink eyes

Our last stop of the day was at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens which were established in 1913 and span over 1000 acres. Our entertaining and knowledgeable guide Andrew took us through this garden which is acclaimed as one of the greatest botanical gardens of the world.

Queen protea

King protea

Single almond tree which is hundreds of years old

The canopy walkway

The gardens were an interesting mix of wild and manicured displays.

Everywhere we went was very proud of their association with Nelson Mandela whom they regard as their greatest humanitarian.

Returning to Cape Town we went out as a group to an African restaurant called Gold which was an African dinner theatre. We started the evening with drumming lessons which was really fun and interactive. Dinner was a fourteen course affair interspersed with dancing and singing and even some face painting at the table.

Eric ready to play

Some in our group ended up with bruised hands the next day.

Bet the kids won't believe even Grandpa got his face painted!

Arriving at the train station to board the Rovos Train which would take us to Pretoria we were welcomed with a red carpet and champagne. Once inside the well appointed waiting room there was a duet playing beautiful classical music and trays of canapés were being passed around. This is called the most luxurious train in the world and it was first class. The train was a step back in time with luxurious shiny wood, crystal and service above and beyond.

Arriving at the station

Turndown service complete with champagne and chocolate. The bottom of the bed had an electric blanket on it so the bed was prewar end.

Observation car complete with bar and afternoon tea at 1630

We had a coup,e stops on the train for short excursions. One was at Kimberly which is the original home of De Beers Diamonds where we toured a diamond mine which was really interesting. Our guide was great and we did learn a lot.

Diamond mine

That is a lot of diamonds!

It was very pleasant to sit in the observation car visiting with fellow passengers and watch the passing scenery which varied from wide open spaces, to vineyards,farms ,towns and sometimes large collections of shacks.