Today was the last full day of our almost six week (two Intrepid tour) trip to Africa. Cape Town has been a great way to end our adventure, although the weather precluded visits to Robben Island (ferries not running) and Table Mountain (cableway closed, and clouds/winds mitigating hike).

The two Brazilians were staying a couple more days, but by today, the rest of our fellow travelers had flown back to their lives in Germany & Switzerland.

So Alan & I went back to the V&A Waterfront to visit the Robben Island Museum and Gateway (to check on boats, etc.). Here’s a sampling…

Then, we went back to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art again, this time buying tix and checking it out. The building itself is the most amazing part, having been literally carved out of giant concrete grain silos on the wharf.

Thanks to “Attractions” on Google Maps (which I use a lot!), we went to Intaka Island. (If we couldn’t got to Inhaca, let’s go to Intaka!) An oasis of nature surrounded by urban development, it was cool to find a bird sanctuary in the middle of “Century City.” (The price the developers paid to build on a wetlands area?) In any case, we were the only tourists there, did see a few birds, and took a nice walk.

The last pic of “Kloof Corner” is actually on Table Mountain, our next destination…

As mentioned, the weather was not on our side (nor the closed cable car operation), and the top of Table Mountain was covered by clouds. Nonetheless, we took a hike up to the base of the sheer rock faces for a view of the city (and some wild flowers)…

That variation on a stink bug (?) was the last pic I took on our last full day in Africa. The next day we flew from Cape Town to SFO with a long layover in London (not a fan of Heathrow!), and now I write from home in La Honda, happy and a wee bit jetlagged.

I’ll add another video clip post, and a wrap up post, but life is on to new (and old) adventures. Today is Halloween, but more scary is next Tuesday – Election Day 2024! Then, Thanksgiving (or not) & Christmas. Go Kamala…

And I’m already considering my resolutions for 2025!

Join me won’t you…

The “Cape Town” sign was a vestige of the night before. Next day, Alan, Gabe, & I set off on a walk-about. We went through the Natural History Museum, the Art Gallery, and walked through some gardens visiting other government buildings.

This first batch shows some statuary, park critters, and ends with an exterior view of the South Africa “Iziko” Natural Science Museum…

Diving into the Natural Sciences! The old, the new, rocks, bones, and the art of taxidermy…

Then, we went to the Iziko South African National Art Gallery. The eclecticism was enjoyable…!

This batch features some Cape Town architecture, another meaty lunch, shopping for African masks and other souvenirs in the Green Market Square. And I got a hair cut (which can include the menu at the end!). I liked the deco, but prefer the others. Note John, who sold me some stuff. And the masks I believe are genuinely old (perhaps not antique) and represent different countries (stylewise) around Africa…

For dinner, the last of us met at “Mama Africa” restaurant. Check out the tasting menu: pairing kudu & springbok with two local red wines, and other African items with two local white wines…

Here’s another batch of photographs from my fellow travelers shared on WhatsApp…

Only one day left in Africa…

Picking up from the last batch of video clips, this one starts with some elephant entertainment…

Tsitsikamma National Park…

Meekats…!

The road…

Live jazz…

Colie’s farewell speech at the Never@Home Hotel backyard…

A couple of outstanding singing groups performed in the Green Market Square…

We’ll continue with similar clips and more at the conclusion of this journey…

Intrepid “Garden Route” Tour over, I ventured forth after the last breakfast to the Bo-Kaap Neighborhood of Cape Town, famous for the festive colors of the buildings (in spite of the sad history of the people). You will note the Muslim heritage manifested in current politics…

From Bo-Kaap, I walked to the Green Market Square. This batch has a distinctive shopping theme, and while I came home empty-handed, I went back and went wild. Note the government building at the end…

From there, I went to the Fort of Good Hope. Not only was there a great museum crammed full of memorbilia – in a way I appreciate, but a great event was also taking place: Kuier at the Castle – a crafts fair and more!

Here’s more of the fun at the fort – including a drum circle class. There was another mini-museum about military stuff.

Later that day, we went to the Victoria & Albert Water Front, a tourist mecca with a mall, lots of shops & restaurants, several boat trip/harbor cruise options, helicopter rides, the ferry to Robben Island, a cruise ship port, seals, and other fun features…

The Waterfront also includes the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art – which was having a private party – which I successfully crashed and had a glass of champagne. The rest of this batch features other public art and at least one gallery in the area. We (Alan, along with Gabe & Ruth) stayed until dark, before Ubering back to the hotel…

More fun to come in Cape Town…

After meerkats and lots of driving, we arrived in Cape Town and checked into the Never@Home Hotel (which I strongly recommend for anyone visiting this cool city. Kloof Street is just above (or below), or an extension of, Long Street, a happenin’ row of restaurants, etc.

This batch features hotel & street art (deco), and a first walk around town. The last pic is of our driver, Shorty, taking a picture of Colie, our guide and tour leader…

Here’s Colie again, and our scenic drive to Boulders Beach and the penguins. Note the majestic & climbable mountains around Cape Town, the lighthouse on the Cape of Good Hope, and the huge beach at the False Bay…

African penguins are the main feature at Boulders Beach (and yes, there are many big rocks). This batch shows the whole visit. (Penguins after Meerkats! Who’s cuter?)

Views from the bus (not ideal) on the way back from Boulder Beach. Note the cable car station at Table Mountain. Sadly, it was closed the whole time we were there! But we did eventually do some walking.

And: Interesting lunch delivery, decapitated statues near a museum, a group pano, and the farewell words by Colie around the fire pit in back of the Never@Home…

Thus ended our second Intrepid tour in southern Africa. I write this at the airport three days later (so there’ll be more of Cape Town!), reflecting on meeting new people, seeing new things, and being in new (to me) part of our wide wonderful world…

After leaving Tsitsikamma, we drove to Oudtshoorn (famous for ostrichs), first stopping in Knysna,,,

We camped at a not-very-wild, but well-appointed (pool!) campground in town. Not long after setting up and settling in, we went to the Cango Caves (perhaps the main reason for this destination). Not only spectacular, but ancient…!

After our last night in a tent(!), we packed up early the next morning in order to have our “Meerkat Adventure” at dawn. This proved to be an outstanding experience, with an interesting and knowledgeable guide (long a student of meerkats, he prefers skunks!). We assembled in our folding chairs, waiting about 10 minutes for the family of meerkats (16 in total) to emerge from their warren. Once together outside, they eventually set off into the bush for a day of foraging, one always acting as sentry. Great conversation with our guide…

Much of the rest of the day was spent driving to Cape Town, but we did stop off at a rather fancy winery for lunch

Once again, I’ll end with some pix from others. The last one, taken by Laura, amazingly shows the comet: C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) that’s been around recently…

We’re off to our last destination on our second tour – Cape Town – and it is cool…!

So, if you’ve come this far, you know I throw up about 25 or so clips – randomly! Actually, they are loosely in chronological order, but likely need more context…

We’ve spent a lot of time on the road, so these first few reflect that. Then, in Lesotho, we were entertained, took a long hike (including some meditation walking), and took an even longer horseback ride. The horseback ride included a trip to some ancient bush cave paintings!

Arriving at the Malealea Lodge in Lesotho…

Horseback riding…

These guys were providing some entertainment at the waterfall…

Our horse guide explaining the bush cave paintings…

This next batch starts with a kayak paddle up the Cintsa River while staying at Buccaneers Lodge on the Wild Coast, and a surreptitious clip of a party near the beach.

Then there are a variety of animals in Addo Elephant National Park…

A lone Hyena…!

Buffalo – the most dangerous wild animal in Africa…!

More elephants…

This last clip shows the elusive and endangered Black Rhinoceros…!

Hopefully, you’ll follow up with part 5 in a few days…?

Finally got to see a leopard (the rarest of the big five). The reception at Tsitsikamma National Park was quite nice and well appointed. And so was our upgraded cabin (since possible rain ruled out camping again). Now, officially on the “Garden Route.” this area could also be called the “Wild Coast” and we did some great hiking along it…

Our first expedition on the morning of our first full free day was to hike to the waterfall – in spite of the warnings from our leader that the trail was “scrambled.” The trail WAS scrambled, but we managed to scramble over it all the way to the waterfall – so worth it…!

Still scrambling, but this next batch shows the waterfall. Unfortunately, I don’t have much of all the swimming we did – because I was swimming in the bracing water – and got blasted by the waterfall too!

On the way back we went into the bat cave – all the way into the bat cave, even seeing a bat. Then, completed a reverse scramble back to our digs, only to get ready for the next expedition…

The next expedition was the opposite way along the coast, up to a suspension bridge. Rather than being scrambled, this trail was a boardwalk, all the way up and back…

We’ve had a lot of good days, but this was one of the best…

The Garden Route continues in Oudtshoorn…

Wound up upgrading at the Buccaneer’s Lodge on the Cintsa River along what is known as the “Wild Coast” of South Africa. Why? Because of the rain that did come on our second night and which would’ve made for a nightmare camping.

However, our full day, while cloudy, was not rainy, and we were able to do a few activities, namely kayak/canoeing up the Cintsa River. This batch shows our digs and some paddling…

After a couple hours in the Cintsa estuary, we took a walk to a nearby beach town and encountered some tidepools amongst some interesting rock formations along the way…

Much more beachcombing!

After a nap, I continued in the opposite direction, making it back just in time for dinner…

While I prefer to use all original photos, sometimes, the ones that wind up in my library that come from our WhatsApp group are great.

Altho’ these relate to a previous post, voila…

Next day, arrived at the Addo Elephant National Park.

There was an excellent Interpretive Center with great displays…

Yes, there were elephants! And Red Harte Beests, Kudus, Hyenas, and more elephants…

We spent one night camping, and got up early to take a pre-dawn safari. In addition to the Kudus, Red Hartebeests, etcs., we also saw the elusive and endangered Black Rhinoceros, as well as birds, buffalo, zebras, a baby kudu, and a mongoose. Our guide & truck wrap up this batch…

Then, again, on our way out of the Addo Elephant National Park, we took some dirt roads and saw more animals. More of the same, and a very attractive jackal…

Here’s our tour leader and guide, Colie, who is of Lesotho, albeit a South African. (Also on the tour, our cook, Di is of the Lesotho as wll, and our driver, Shorty, is a Zulu.)

What’s next…?

After a damp day in Drakensberg, we crossed the border into Lesotho, the Mountain Kingdom. The landscape, which had been rather flat, dry, and scrubby, began to get more interesting with a bit more greenery and compelling rock formations. This batch also includes a potty stop and a our Lesotho border crossing, not to mention the guy sitting in his wheelbarrow…

The home stretch before arriving at the Malealea Lodge was a notoriously bumpy road, the “African massage” on steroids, but our driver, Shorty, took it slow. Unfortunately, the kids have learned to beg. This batch shows some spots at the lodge (note the bottle-lined walking maze), our camp site, the activities list (with maps), the majestic view, and the appearance of a full moon!

The next day, our group having made some choices for activities, first took a hike to catch some of the vistas in these wide open spaces. This batch starts with one of our two guides showing us the village where she lives. In addition to the geology, you can see some of the wild flowers, ruins, and a stone house…

After the hike, before lunch, a couple of us popped down to the handicraft shop adjacent to the primary school. Then there was lunch…

After lunch, we went on a horseback ride! I was worried about five hours on horse in the afternoon sun, but it was six hours and awesome! Some of the most challenging trails – up & down, slippery terrain, lots ‘o rocks!

We trail rode to a majestic waterfall and finally took a break…

The rest of the group went back to the lodge, but Ruth & I went on to see the bushmen cave paintings. It was rigorous, but beautiful, and the paintings were fascinating. Allegedly 7000 years old, there were many more than the bush paintings we had see before. While there were a few animals, but mostly humans were depicted. This batch also includes more shots of the landscape, and the beautiful cloud dappled sky…

After a very busy, strenuous day it was great to get back to dinner, the full moon. This batch also depicts the river and bridge we crossed in returning to South Africa the next day.

After an exciting thunderstorm, including a close bolt of lightening that knocked out the power for a spell, we slept well again in our huts. Early the next morning we off, out of Lesotho and off to the “wild coast“…