Where 2 Oceans Meet

Cape of Storms, Cape of Good Hope, the Cape. All names given to the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.

Cape of Storms because it can sometimes be a dangerous place to sail around, causing many shipwrecks. Cape of Good Hope because the sailors who made it into Table Bay were glad to be alive! These days it is just called the Cape by people who live there.

The great explorer Sir Francis Drake said of it, “The fairest Cape we ever saw in the whole circumference of the earth” when he passed through in 1580. (more info found here)

If you journey to South Africa's southwest coast, take the time to explore the Cape Peninsula and you won't be disappointed! I went there as part of my safari to South Africa back in 2013 and had a full day tour from Cape Town.

My small tour bus, fitting about 12 people, picked me up at my accommodation in Cape Town early in the morning. I stayed at a nice guesthouse in the city that had a great view of Table Mountain out my window...

We headed south down the Peninsula. We stopped to take a short cruise to Duiker (Seal) Island to check out the Cape fur seals lazing in the sun...

Our next stop was Boulders Beach, which has a nice walkway that skirts the waters of False Bay...

and is where you can see tons of cute little African penguins walking along the beach...

We boarded the bus and continued south to the Cape of Good Hope, the most south-westerly point of the African continent...

and a place where you can see ostriches...

and baboons, who are so used to people that sometimes they come really close, like this one who jumped on top of our vehicle!

We then entered Cape Point in the Table Mountain National Park, the place where two oceans merge...which I found it isn't always the case. Even though the Atlantic and Indian oceans sometime join near Cape Point, they sometimes join further east at Cape Agulhas instead. It just depends on the season...(more info here)

When you go inside the building there is a place to eat and a mini-museum telling the history of the Cape, including about the many shipwrecks, like the infamous Flying Dutchman, a Dutch vessel that sunk while trying to navigate the choppy waters of the Cape in the 1600s, and allegedly can still be seen from time to time sailing the waters as a ghost ship...

The National Park is a great place to visit. There are paths leading all over...

and you can walk to the top of the lighthouse to see amazing views of the ocean...

watch out for baboons, they can sometimes be a little too friendly! There are even signs warning you about them...

Our last stop of the day was the World Heritage Site of Kirstenbosch, the National Botanical Gardens founded in 1913...

the gardens host many different types of flowers and plants, and is worth a visit if you find yourself in the area.

there is even a wishing well were you can throw a coin in, regardless of type, and make a wish...

the paths wind through the rich flora and offer a great view of another side of Table Mountain in the distance...

Don't forget to check out the gift shop on your way out, where you can find all sorts of treasures, including these giant painted ostrich eggs!

We then boarded the bus once more and made our way back to Cape Town in the evening.

I hope you have enjoyed exploring some of the Cape Peninsula, and if you would like more information on how you can enjoy your own Cape adventure, you can check out the following website:

https://www.springbokatlas.com/destination/south-africa/cape-town/day-tours/full-day-cape-peninsula-tour/

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