The Cape of Good Hope

While visiting Cape Town, we decided to take a half-day road trip down the Cape Peninsula, which stretches for about 35 miles to the south of Cape Town and is the unofficial boundary between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Our new friend Alex had a car, so the four of us hit the road for a scenic drive.

The trip down the Cape Peninsula is a short but rewarding journey. It's full of variety - gorgeous ocean and mountain views, the history of the Cape of Good Hope, and endangered penguins. The entire peninsula is home to the unique Cape Floral Kingdom of plants (which we briefly noted in our Cape Town post). It's definitely worth the ride if you have some extra time while in Cape Town.

The Cape Peninsula is a string of mountains, beaches, towns, and a national park.

The four of us at a scenic viewpoint partway down the cape.

Some of the only beautiful sunny weather we had in Cape Town! It wouldn't last....

The very narrow Chapman's Peak Drive.

Penguins at Boulders Beach.

You can get really close to the penguins, although you're on a boardwalk.

There are over 2,000 endangered African penguins (also know as the Jackass penguin for their donkey-like braying) in the colony.

Penguins swimming.

To protect the endangered penguins, the South African government incorporated the site into Table Mountain National Park.

We made it! It was a little bit wet. And windy.

Not exactly the Southernmost point in Africa, and not exactly where the Indian and Atlantic always meet... but kinda!

It was a bit of a hike up to the top of the Cape Point cliff.

Looking out towards the Indian Ocean.

It was chilly and really windy up top!

The view of the Cape of Good Hope from the top of Cape Point. The first time a European ship made it around this point was 1488.

There were ostriches running around Cape Peninsula national park.

Baby ostriches!