Cape Town
We pulled into Cape Town ready for a respite and two nights in the same bed.
I’m more of a city person than Ken is. He delegated the coordination of the city visit to me, understandably requesting that I find a place where we could park our vehicle off the public street with some security. I honestly tried.
Our home in Cape Town
Other than some early snafus getting access to the house, it was a perfect spot for us. Sea Point is a vibrant neighborhood where we could walk to get groceries, have dinner on our first night, and visit the seaside promenade. The parking spot at our place could have handled a tiny compact car at most, but we ended up having zero concerns about safety. We used Uber for all of our in-city transportation when we couldn’t walk; it was much easier than navigating the streets with the massive Land Cruiser and very inexpensive.
Our dinner on arrival night was just down the road at The Press, a very busy hub for the local Jewish community. The food was excellent.
Ken at Table Mountain
We had two main goals for the day: visit Table Mountain and explore the plants and birds at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. The cable car would start running at 8:30 a.m., so we prepurchased the regular tickets and arrived around 8:15 a.m. to find a sizable but manageable queue. By the time they moved us into the proper queue area for the cable car, the line had grown massive. We were at the top by about 9:15 a.m.
The views were, of course, amazing, but it was windy and very cold. I had a long-sleeved shirt on but still borrowed Ken’s rain jacket for extra protection from the wind. We got our hot drinks, walked the primary loop, and then returned to the bottom.
From there, we took another Uber to Kirstenbosch, where we traversed most of the garden. The plant life was a nice cross-section of the South African biomes; we would visit all but one of these biomes on our journey. Our primary focus was birds, and I had my target list. The sombre greenbul haunted us for quite a while - the birds called relentlessly from inside the canopy during our first half hour of wandering before we finally spotted one.
Southern Double-collared Sunbird
We were excited to find the beautiful southern double-collared sunbird. Like many birds that were new to us but common locally, once we saw one, we started seeing them everywhere.
Fun note: sunbirds and hummingbirds have very similar behavior and appearance but are not closely related. They are examples of convergent evolution. Sunbirds sip nectar with brush-tipped tubular tongues, while hummingbirds use grooved tongues that function as elastic micropumps.
Female Swee Waxbill
I almost stepped on this wee little female swee waxbill. She was feeding in the grass behind me as I backed up for a better photo angle; Ken alerted me just in time. She stayed put, posing for this perfect eye-level photo.
Cape Town’s Sea Point Promenade
We returned to Sea Point in the middle of the afternoon, giving me time for a solo walk to the Sea Point Promenade and along the waterfront. Of course, I found some more birds (African oystercatcher!), but mostly I just enjoyed seeing folks wandering through their neighborhood and enjoying the rocky beach.
On our final night, we joined a classmate from Ken’s wildlife-guiding course and her husband for an amazing prix fixe meal at Belly of the Beast. Ken and I added the “small portion” wine pairing that was also superb.
