The village of Hout Bay is situated along the Atlantic coastline of the Cape Peninsula. The word Hout means wood in Afrikaans and was named such because of the forest found here when the first explorers discovered the bay. Wood was harvested from the area for boat building and construction purposes. The headland on the left hand side is called The Sentinel because it loos over the bay and its village. Hout Bay started out as a fishing village all…
I haven't taken much photos over the last couple of weeks so I've very much run out of new stuff to show. So as I always do when this happens I revert to my stock and look for pics that I've never shown. I've found some Cape Town pics that will keep me busy for the next couple of days and hopefully by then I will have something new to show.Table Mountain seen on a clear day from the V&A…
Last week for Skywatch I showed you some shots of sunset from Signal Hill. This week I think I'll show you a couple more photos of the skies above Table Mountain and the Mother City, Cape Town.The right hand side of the flat section that forms Table Mountain. Right at the end of the flat section the upper cable car station is visible.Table Mountain at sunset as seen from the road to Signal Hill.For tons of awesome sky photos from…
One of my favorite spots in Cape Town is the Rhodes Memorial on the slopes of Table Mountain. The monument was erected in memory of Cecil John Rhodes (1853 - 1902). Rhodes was an English born South African businessman, mining magnate and politician. He was Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 and Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe and Zambia) was named after him. The memorial was built in the shape of a Greek temple. There are 49 steps (one for…
When the sun sets in Cape Town, many residents and visitors flock to the Atlantic Seaboard to see the sun disappearing behind the horizon of the Atlantic Ocean.A very popular spot to go and see the sun set is from Signal Hill There are normally a couple of tourist buses with hordes of tourists aiming their cameras westward. Looking east from Signal Hill you can see Table Mountain with Devil's Peak flanking it. The afternoon I went up to see…
Although the Table Mountain National Park is not a game reserve, it does have some game in the Cape of Good Hope section of the park. Land mammals include zebra, eland and baboon, while dolphins and whales are often spotted along the coastline. Many bird species can be found there as well, from the world's biggest bird, the ostrich, to sometimes antarctic birds making land here. But for all the scenery and everything else there is, its the little things…
At the tip of the Cape Peninsula, about 50km from Cape Town, you will find two of South Africa's best known points or capes.The first one is The Cape of Good Hope, the most South-Western point of the African continent. Just over 2km away is the second, and more spectacular point, Cape Point. Both the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point offer spectacular scenery. Indeed, the whole of the southernmost portion of the Cape Peninsula is a wild, rugged,…
Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is a popular tourist stop because of a colony of African Penguins which settled there in 1982. Boulders Beach forms part of the Table Mountain National Park.Although set in the midst of a residential area, it is one of the few sites where this endangered bird can be observed at close range, wandering freely in a protected natural environment.From just two…
Nestled on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town is the best known of South Africa's eight National Botanical Gardens. Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens cover five of South Africa's six different biomes. With minor exceptions, only indigenous plants are cultivated. The outdoor focus of the gardens concentrates on plants native to the Cape region, highlighted by the spectacular collections of proteas. Kirstenbosch is a very popular attraction with both locals as well as tourists. In summer there is usually…
To wrap up yesterday's post on Table Mountain, I decided to show you the sights on and from Table Mountain, just to give you a better idea why people go up the mountain. As posted yesterday, there is several trails that you can follow once you are on top of mountain. (In actual fact you don't only have to go up with the cable car, you can also hike up the mountain via one of many different trails). The trail…