South Africa TravelBlogue (Part 4 - Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden and Boulders Beach Penguin Colony)

SUNDAY 11/18

KIRSTENBOSCH NATIONAL BOTANICAL GARDEN (http://www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch)

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (left) really reminded me of Jardim Botanico in Rio de Janeiro (right)

On Sunday morning my mom and I woke up to another day of stunning weather. This particular day was probably the warmest thus far. We drove to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden for a morning stroll amongst some very interesting native South African plants including the King Protea, the national flower.

We saw our very first “bush chicken” which has a very interesting blue face. 

We also had a good time watching two ducks and their four ducklings in the garden pond.

At one point the daddy duck chased off one of the bush chickens for getting too close. It was pretty funny.

Goodbye bush chicken

"My husband's so strong and handsome."

 

We intended to head to some museums next but when we got there we found out the museums are closed on Sundays. After consulting the map and a local passerby we headed over to the Castle of Good Hope.

CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE (http://www.castleofgoodhope.co.za/)

Since it was Sunday there were no tour guides on duty at this 17^th Century fort but it meant we got a discount on the admission price. We wandered around the property for a while and then decided it was time for lunch.

 

By this time it was only 1:30 pm so we decided to drive to Simons Town and see the penguins at Boulders Beach a day earlier than we had originally planned.

BOULDERS BEACH PENGUIN COLONY (http://www.capetown.travel/attractions/entry/Boulders_penguin_colony)

You might be very confused as I to why I keep talking about penguins. I mean, what are penguins doing in South Africa, anyway? Well strangely enough these penguins are native to South Africa. They are nicknamed “jackass penguins” because they kind of sound like donkeys when they squawk at each other. One hundred years ago these penguins were abundant (numbering in the millions) but today they are endangered and protected.

On our way to Simons Town we got into a bad traffic jam but we still made it to the Boulders Beach before they closed.

View of beach near Muizenberg courtesy of terrible traffic jam

After paying a small entrance fee we walked out to the boardwalk to view a small stretch of beach and a very energetic group of penguins. Some were in the water, some were on top of rocks and most were on the sand. When we arrived I kind of had a “this is it?” reaction because there had been so many more penguins at Betty’s Bay but this was the penguin colony that everyone talked about. This one was much much smaller and it seemed like there were more tourists than penguins. It was hard to get a good look.

We walked back to the ticketing kiosk and saw a stairway to another boardwalk (this one was deserted compared to the one we were just on). Once we got on that it was a lot better. We saw all kinds of man-made nests with numbers on them (imagine a giant plastic milk container partially buried in the ground with a small opening for the penguins) and a lot of penguins hanging out in the shade of the trees. At the end of this boardwalk was the much less-populated viewing deck. I noticed a one-legged penguin and watched him/her for a while. At one point it started hopping along to another area and completely knocked over another penguin that was basking in the sun. The other penguin just got back up and went back to what it was doing. Come to think of it I didn’t see any penguins get close to fighting. They are quite cute.

"Dude, I love being famous."

 

The scenic drive home was quite amazing even though the constant “rockslide warning” signs were a little unsettling. We later learned from someone at our B&B that the mountain road was constructed and ruined a few times until the South African engineers consulted Swiss engineers who had already dealt with constructing similar roads in the alps. Yeah for Swiss engineering!

View of The Sentinel

TO BE CONTINUED!