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Ok, I still have to write the travel report of our trip to Cape point and Boulders Beach.
So here we go.

November 23.11.06 Trip to Cape Point and Boulders Beach / Part 1

It was a wonderful and sunny day, so we decided to have an early leave from Camps Bay as we wanted to make the best of our day down at the Cape of Good Hope.
We have been there before and wanted to give Cape Point itself a miss this time, as it was too crowded the last time.
Instead we decided to take our time driving every loop and enjoying landscape and vegetation.
The drive down from Camps Bay was a pleasure. It is such a beautiful stretch of road along the sea. We were already looking out for Dolphins or Whales, but no luck.
As we nearly reached the Parks entrance it came to our mind that we forgot to buy something to drink. It was quite a hot that day and we needed something. The idea of going to Cape Point just to buy some water annoyed me . But that should not spoil our day.
We had our very first stop right after entering the park.
After spending more than 3 weeks in Kruger, it felt a bit strange to be able to alight from the car everywhere you want.
Our first sightings were Lizards and some birds and yes this great landscape.


;

November 23.11.06 Trip to Cape Point and Boulders Beach / Part 2

We had a lovely drive. And finally reached Buffelsfontein Visitor Centre.

What a great place. It has a very informative and beautiful Information area.
A small Café , where we were able to by something to eat and some water ( what a relief we did not have to drive to Cape Point anymore ) .
Moreover we had a really delicious coffee.
We were surprised to find this Visitor Centre and wondered if it was newly build or how it possibly could escape us the last time we had been around (November 2004).
You can have walks around the Centre ,as the built some wooden walkways.

There are great views onto the sea and we even discovered some Ostriches with chicks.


Inside the visitor centre is an auditorium and two rooms where you can find all kinds of information about the Cape and it’s vegetation, animals, landscape, storms etc.
;
(I thought this is a great way to show visitors all the different flowers with their names)

You can even buy seeds here.

There is a kind of patio with a map of the Cape

And a pond with fishes and frogs.

And many , many of these gorgeous flowers.
;
A really lovely place.

The Visitor centre was nearly empty while we have been there.
It really is a lovely place.
Thankfully all the busses just passed by.

The tour busses wether big or small are a real nuisance.
It seems as if all the speed limits just do not apply for them
They are heading for the Cape Point or the Cape of Good Hope and nothing in between seems to exist for them.

The loops are great and every one of them is worth a detour.
As you said arks most of the times we had them to ourselfs and enjoyed them very much.

November 23.11.06 Trip to Cape Point and Boulders Beach/ Part 3

We very slowly made our way to the southern direction.
Our travelling speed seems to irritate the other drivers, but we did not mind and stopped here and there to have a closer look at these lovely bays and the beaches.

We saw Ibis

But we were especially keen to see some Waterbirds .
Here is one of the beautiful Oystercatchers


I can not recall the names of each single bay and beach….


It was great to just have a stroll along the beach.

To have a look whats in the small pools on the rocks

What happened in the waves.

And along the shore.

This little fellow was extremely hard to photograph, as he was frantically running around.

November 23.11.06 Trip to Cape Point and Boulders Beach / Part 4

As we are coming closer to the Cape of Good Hope the roads even got busier.
There we saw our first mammals, Bonteboks.
We stopped on the side of the road , had a closer look with the binoculars and all the others just rushed by. Not even wondering what we were looking at.
;

It was hard to find a parking space at the Cape of Good Hope. But finally I managed to find a quite place to have a look at the birds and the sea.
;

And of course this is the pic they all come for ,and of course although I already took a photo a few years ago, I could not resist.


On the way back we met this Ostrich couple.
A kind of strange sight seeing them with the ocean in the background.
We are used to observe them in Kruger, Kgalagadi or the Karoo and not here.


It was so lovely to see all the hills covered in flowers .
;

There were hundreds or even thousands of them.


And with this great view and the visit of a little Lizard we left the Park.



We had a great day, the landscape is stunning, the flowers gorgeous. We even saw Ostriches, Bonteboks, all kind of birds and Lizards. Unfortunately we have not been lucky with Whale sightings. But we enjoyed it nevertheless.

Our next stop on the way back to Cape Town will be Boulders Beach to visit our beloved Penguins.

November 23.11.06 Trip to Cape Point and Boulders Beach / Part 5

Finally we made it to Simons Town.
We spend far more time at the Cape than expected .
Arriving we could already see that it was going to be packed as the car park was overflowing.
Thanx to our Wild Card we were inside in no time
.


And there were crowds at Boulders Beach. We decided to take the right wooden walkway which was obviously unnoted by most of the visitors. Most of them took the left walkway. But that gave us the chance to avoid the crowds at least a little bit and gave us a good view of the Penguins.



We just love them it is so funny to observe these cute animals.

;
;
( the one in the background tried to bury his neighbouring couple )



But then we had to say goodbye.
We still had to drive back to Camps Bay and it was getting later and later.
It was a perfect day to end an even better holiday.

Now we are looking forward to our next stay in South Africa (which is not too long ). And are already counting the days.

Katy