Cape Town Week 3 Continued

Hout Bay is about 20kms from Cape Town but we had no choice but to risk it and hope we had enough fuel to get back, not a good feeling when your crawling along in rush hour traffic especially with the steep hills in SA!

We made it back with the fuel light permanently on for the last few miles, those who know me well will probably say no change there then!

We now had just five working days left to finish Rupert off before Just Done It were due to close down and there was a lot to do as can be seen if you look at the equipment list.

Before then we had to unpack everything we had shipped out from the UK and store it or hand it to Mike for fitting. Luckily we were able to use one of the spare bedrooms in the apartment which was quickly filling up with all sorts of paraphernalia.

To make matters worse, the apartment was booked up for the week before Xmas so we had to move ourselves out tomorrow to stay with the Nedens in Simonstown, the South African naval base about 40 kms North East of Cape Town. We would pop back over the next few days to sort out any queries but for now all we could do was to leave Rupert in Mike's capable hands.  

At least we could now relax a little and do a bit of sight seeing but first we still had a ground tent to buy! We had already bought a Hannibal 1.4M roof tent which was being fitted by JDI however in SA Hannibal don't supply ground tents so we had to source that separately ourselves. 

Why have two tents I can hear you say? Sue prefers a roof tent for the added security and higher perspective it gives plus a roof tent is much more convenient when on the road doing overnight camps however, for longer periods I feel a ground tent is much the better option as you have to keep taking a roof tent down to go out on game drives etc - secondly we already had a growing number of friends and relatives who were threatening to join us for part of the trip so we would need two tents anyway.

After a few days looking around the various suppliers we  decided to buy a 2.5M Campmore Dome Tent. We had used similar tents on various walking safaris so we knew they were good plus for a year we wanted one we could stand up in and which gave us enough space to put our bits n bobs in.

Geoff & Beth live between Simonstown and Fish Hoek in a nice bungalow on a piece of high ground so it gets pretty windy and sods law at this time of year the Cape is renowned for it's strong Southerly's so putting up a tent for the first time in their garden was a bit of an ordeal and provided Geoff and Beth with much amusement as they watched us re-familiarise ourselves with the black art of tent erecting.

Finally we got it up so the next job was to soak it all over and then inspect it for leaks around the seams (the weakest point on tents). Campmore supply a special stick of sealant with their tents which you rub on whilst its wet into any suspect areas, once dry you repeat the whole process. This needs to be done three times so it takes quite a bit of time to do it properly but its a necessary evil and worth it as African rain can be torrential. 

With the tent and other essentials out of the way we could finally afford to relax a little and give ourselves our first full day out just doing the tourist thing at Cape Point.

Cape Point nature reserve covers a large area at the most southerly point of Africa. We particularly wanted to see the African Jackass Penguins at Boulders on the way to Cape Point.

Boulders is a small nature reserve just outside Simonstown and  is renowned for its breeding colony of African (Jackass) penguin,  the regions only resident penguin.

Unfortunately as with lots of species Jackass penguins are decreasing in numbers, although you would never suspect this when you visit Boulders as they are all over the beach and scrub, even nesting under the wooden walkways.

It seemed very strange seeing a bird which you normally associate with cold places like the Arctic walking about in the hot African sun. Its a tragedy they are on the decline which is mainly due to mans encroachment into their habitat .

After Boulders we continued due South to Cape Point which covers the Cape of Good Hope and the surrounding inland areas. Contrary to popular belief the Cape of Good Hope is not the most Southerly point on the continent, that distinction belongs to Cape Aguillhas.

The nature reserve at Cape Point is a lovely place with lots of hidden bays and beaches, it has a variety of wildlife but it is the resident troops of Baboon, the most Southerly in Africa, which most people remember. Unfortunately, tourists feed them and they have become completely unafraid of humans and are exceptionally aggressive. They are very amusing to watch though as they check out each car, in fact almost the instant the owners walk away, even trying the door handles to see if any doors were unlocked! We saw them get into two cars by just opening the doors and went for the owners when they tried to chase them off.

We even fell victim when we stopped at a lovely hidden beach called Platboom. On arriving there was no one around and no baboons so we went to take some photo's of the beach and coast. As we were taking in the scenery we noticed some Baboons coming from the sea towards us, but we had no worries as they were a good way away plus we wanted to get some shots of them crossing the beach.

Then suddenly we saw the big Alpha male coming our way, first at a stroll then at a trot and as we backed up the stairs which lead down to the beach at almost a gallop! Unconcerned we moved into the car park and allowed him to come up the stairs, and with barely a glance he went straight to our hire car and started checking out the doors and windows. Then we suddenly realised our predicament, we were completely alone, no other vehicles in a secluded spot in the late afternoon, if we couldn't shift him then we could be there for a long time and the park gates were due to close in just over an hours time! 

Having experience of Baboons and seen how they had attacked the other tourists we decided to outwait him. Ten minutes passed but he wasn't budging and by now the rest of the troop had arrived so we busied ourselves taking photos.

Another ten minutes passed when thankfully a space wagon with a couple of African families arrived and as soon as he saw them pull up the big male baboon jumped off our car and strolled straight over to them. The men were sat in the front seats with the wives in the rear and a whole bunch of kids in the boot area all were chatting away as the got out so nobody noticed the baboon until it was too late. Before the men could warn their wives to shut their doors the baboon had shot around their side and jumped in the back of the car, problem was there were still four small children trapped in there with him! 

It was an extremely dangerous situation but luckily the kids didn't panic and even luckier the baboon instantly found a carrier bag full of food which he promptly dragged out the car and started to devour. The Africans complained bitterly about their lost picnic but at least no one was injured and we could at last now get back into our car....in appreciation we nicknamed the Baboon "Scouse".

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