Cape Town-Table Mountain

We went to Table Mountain on our second last day. Picture on the left shows names of the other mountains beside it. I think the most scenic was the 12 apsotles' mountain range. The trip from the hotel took about 30 mins (?) its pretty lucky we could get to the peak during winter because most of the time it gets cloudy and thy have to close it to visitors.
Its very cold here, even at the base of the mountain. i had to use gloves and a hat and i had about 3 layers of clothes on. If the peak is not too cloudy, you can get a beautiful view of all of Cape town, including Robben island. The ride up the mountain is pretty steep, so if ur kinda scared of heights like me, u wouldn't want to look straight down at the mountain. I focused looking at the town and sea instead. Most of the time when i take the cable car, i always have this thought at the back of my head that the line would snap and the car would fall down and crash (yikes!!!).


You can see that i look pretty miserable there. How to take a picture in the friggin' cold?? haha, anyway above is a picture of Lion's Head with Robben Island in the distance.





Smoking is strictly prohibited here as they are worried about the bush fires. A year before i went there some people who were drunk threw cigarettes and there was quite a big bush fire (i was told) resulting in this black landscape of bushes. The vegetation should be back to normal by now.






At the peak, there is a small cottage where you can have a snack and buy souvenirs. There are also one or two trails where you can walk around the entire peak. There is also a monument (?) at the center where you can see a map of Africa, and how far South Africa is from other major cities around the world. We spent about 30-40minutes here as it got very foggy.






This is the view of Cape Town from Table Mountain. I have to say, the views here are spectacular. i could spend 2-3 hours at the peak just taking photos from here.

Cape Town- Robben Island

Another must do while in South Africa is to visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for about 20 years. This island is extremely popular with tourists, and we had to wait for half an hour to buy the tickets. The journey to the island lasts for half an hour, and the sea was not that rough. I took an anti nausea pill, but it just made me sleepy. But keep it in your backpack just in case you need it. while you're on your way to the ship, sometimes you can see seals at the harbour. They will mind their own business and sometimes will just lie in the sun. I managed to catch one seal pooping, and just to let you guys know, their poop is watery green in color! You can also get an amazing view of Cape Town from the ship:







Once you reach the island, you will have to walk to the prison. it doesn't take long, about 10-20 minutes. The guide himself was a former prisoner, and we all listened to the history of the island from one of the common rooms in the prison. I don't remember much of the history, but he did say that some of the prison guards used to torture the prisoners, and some were sympathetic towards the prisoners. All of these prisoners were either black or colored (mixed marriage between blacks and whites). Most of them were imprisoned because they opposed the apartheid rule at the time. and they had such a bad life. I think they couldn't even write letters to their families, let alone see them. When i listened to the tour guide, i felt sad that him and the others were treated that way. but in the end he said that he did not have angry feelings towards the guards as it doesn't do him any good. he still keeps in contact with some of them, and they have told him they felt remorseful for what they did to them.



After that, he brought us out to the prison compound to show us pictures of the political prisoners (left), and the middle picture showed them at work in the compound. i forgot what they were doing, but they were shackled all the time. After that, we were shown the dining room, the bathroom and also Nelson Mandela's prison cell:

Its hard to take a good picture of the cell because everyone was jostling to see it. They were only given one blanket in the winter, and they had to wear shorts, so you can imagine how cold it is. There is no bed, just a pad so they can sleep on the floor.
There was also a tour of the entire island by bus. The island was self sufficient. There were houses for the guards, a church, tennis court, and even a leper graveyard. we were also taken to the quarry where the prisoners worked during the daytime. After the end of the apartheid, nelson mandela and gang went back to island for a visit. At the quarry site, there will be a pile of stones left by the prisoners, a symbol for them that they will never be imprisoned here again.

Cape Town-Aquila Safari

We took a whole day to finish this tour. This safari is the nearest to Cape Town. I think the drive there took 1-2 hours. It is a small park, with the Big 5 animals present. We used a jeep to drive around the park. Its kinda hard to go up the jeep cos the steps are so high....and it was frigging cold that day.





I'll give u a hint: these are not stones. They are actually rhino dung. These were not smelly at all, probably cos its just digested grass. Its about as big as a shot putt ball. I'm amazed the dung beetle can roll this thing for miles.








What i liked about the safari was that we did get extremely close to these animals, something i never imagined i could have experienced. They were pretty relaxed, although the guide did tell us to be careful around the rhinos as they have attacked the jeeps a few times before.
Other animals which were around were the springobok, cape buffalo (extremely huge and dangerous), lions, zebra, hippos and giraffe. The game reserve is still in the midst of expanding its animals, so i hope it would be more fun for the next visitors .


Isnt' the male lion above beautiful? i love lions, but if you asked me to choose between lions and tigers, i would say both are equal.

But i think my favourite picture of all would be this:








A really close encounter with a cheetah. I was very nervous going near it, even though it was domesticated since young, cos it kept making throaty noises . My only regret was that i didn't touch or stroke it because i was scared it would bite my hand :( If i have more cash in the future, i would like to go to Kruger national park, for a week or 2, and just stay in the wild and observe all the animals. the best time to go would be winter as there would be less bushes around and easier to spot the animals. but no way am i going to camp out in the park, i'll settle for a lodge room. I don't want to be bush meat for the lions and hyenas!!

Cape Town- winelands

We took a tour to the 2 of the 3 winelands, namely Stellenbosch and Paarl Valley. The road trip was scenic, and the tours were good. I got a bit drunk from drinking too much red wine, hence i became quite sleepy on the way back. The farms here are owned by the whites, and their employees stay around the farm areas. For more info on these areas, read Wikipedia.


Nice view en route to vineyards


Somewhere along the highway, we saw these settlements. These are homes belonging to Africans who migrated to South Africa because of its good economy. there is a lot of tension among South African blacks with them, because they view these people as outsiders and taking jobs meant for them. There are tours to this settlement, and from what i heard, is good. the tour guide was telling us that these settlements have their own law, and a lot of fights, and sometimes murder happens here, and that even the police don't really dare to come here. If i'm not mistaken, there are about a million people living here.


Fairview Vineyard:

This was our first stop for the day......and above is the entrance to the farm

My first wine of the day....by the end of the tour i would have consumed 3-4 glasses. Somehow, i prefer red wine to white wine.

The scenery from the farm is fantastic, and they also have a goat castle, as u can see from the right. the ram looks pretty happy looking out from the window. I can't imagine our
malaysian goats having a castle of their own and living like this, it would be hilarious!


















Paarl Vineyard:

This was where we were taught about the process behind wine making.....there were loads of barrels for storing wine in their underground cellar. The owners also had two lazy dogs, who were just sunning themselves at the grounds:

Lazy dog no 1. Doesn't he look like a big fur of carpet? Doggie was so happy sunbathing he didn't mind visitors petting him.














Blaauwklippen vineyard: It was the last pitstop for the day. One unusual thing about this farm was that they had a number of original horsecarriages in good condition.

Journey to Cape Town

I went to Cape Town in August 2006 during one of my short school breaks. My brother couldn't come because he was studying. The reason we went there was because he initially chose it, and the flights there were cheap. We went by MAS, its a 14 hour flight i think. We stopped at Johannesburg for 2 hours, then continued to Cape town.



The pillars are engraved with the 'Big 5' animals of South Africa

The weather was cool thoughout south africa as it was winter there. The highest temperature was 18c, and it can go to as low as 6C at night. Cape town airport does not have aerobridges, so we had to be ferried to the terminal by bus.

This is the South African Airways.


It was raining when we arrived at the Cape. We stayed at a hotel called St George's Mall in the city center. its a 3 star hotel, and very cosy. The good thing about going in winter is that hotel rates are cheap. Breakfast here is GOOD. i loved the pork sausages and omelletes that they make. Unfortunately i can't find the pics anywhere. The staff here are also nice. We had a room with a very nice view of Table Mountain:

Table mountain on a good day

The first thing my mom wanted to do was to visit the fruit marked just across the street. We went, and we the only non-Africans there, and the Afircans are huge, and they were looking at us like we were aliens. They were okay though, and didn't press us to buy their stuff. We also walked through the city center, and there are lots of things to see. Walking during the day is safe, but during the night, no sane tourist walks throught the city center as there will be street children who may rob people. We usually took a taxi if we wanted to go somewhere at night. Walking at the streets during the weekends is also quite dangerous as the city is deserted and again, street children will be around. There are some city police around, but their numbers are too few to patrol everywhere.