MONDAY 11/19
Our last day in Cape Town!
CAPE POINT & THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE (http://www.capepoint.co.za/)
It was such a bummer knowing
that Monday was our last day in Cape Town. (Mondays are just kind of like that,
aren’t they?) My mom and I once again got into our trusty rental car and headed
out for an awesome day. We drove toward the Cape of Good Hope (“the most
south-western point of the African continent”) and we took time to stop at a
lookout before going into Table Mountain National Park. At this point in the
trip the name of the game was “taking time to smell the roses.” The time was passing
so quickly and we wanted to wrap up our time in Cape Town at a comfortable
pace. Plus we wanted to find baboons!
Once we got to the Cape of Good Hope Entrance Gate we
stopped in at the Buffelsfontein Visitor Centre. We reviewed the map and
decided to head for the lighthouse on Cape Point. We knew we could either take the
Flying Dutchman Funicular or walk to the top. We walked. It took a while but we
finally made it up to the lighthouse.
After paying our respects to both capes it was time to
search for baboons. We were sure we would have seen them by now. My mom asked a
parking attendant where we could find baboons and he told us to go to Buffels
Bay. We drove there next but we only saw people around. My mom asked a
police/security guard if he knew where the baboons were and he pointed us in
another direction. We pulled out of the parking lot and were headed back to the
main road when we saw several puffs of golden brown fur pop out of the bushes.
They saw us, we saw them, and my mom stopped the engine.
 |
| Eureka! |
There were about 12-15 baboons of various ages. The young
ones were the most excited to see the car and they didn’t hesitate hopping onto
the hood. They chased each other and tried to bite each other as they scrambled
up and over the car.
They moved so fast that it was nearly impossible to get a
decent picture of them. Their hands and feet immediately dirtied up the
windshield so taking pictures through it became pointless. By the time the
slower-moving adults came over I could only take pictures through the other car
windows. Thank heavens I did because in that instant I took my most favorite
photo of the entire trip:
This picture never fails to make me smile. I still can’t
believe I got it considering the chaos that was happening all around us.
Once
we were sure the baboons were off the car and out of danger we started back up
and headed out of the park.
When we got back to the B&B it was hard to bring
ourselves to pack. Luckily we still had five days left in our trip and we were going
to be on safari the next day!
TO BE CONTINUED!
That is an awesome photo!
ReplyDeleteVery cool!
ReplyDelete