Tags
birding, Braai, Cape of Good Hope, Capetown, Elgin Valley, False Bay, Glenfinnan Guest House, Hadada Ibis, Hottentot Mountains, South Africa, Table Bay, Vineyard Hotel, West Coast National Park
The southwest coast of South Africa presented a refreshing new vibe and ecosystem. Hugging the coastal range, rimmed by mountains that cradle fertile valleys, the interplay of Atlantic and Indian Ocean currents brews diverse weather, vegetation and bird populations in this region.
Again, we arrived late, after a long day of travel on incredibly bumpy roads. (You’ve not met a speed bump till you’ve gone over one of thousands on the road between Cape Town and Langebaan on the back seat of a 12-pack van!) Patrice and Sandra welcomed us to the Glenfinnan Guest House. Usually the Glenfinnan serves only breakfast, but we, being so late and so special, were treated to drinks and a South African style Braai before we turned in for the night.

Early AM birding and anteloping from deck

View of Saldanha Bay from the deck
After a sumptuous cooked-to-order breakfast, we spent a full day exploring West Coast National Park (WCNP), which was in the midst of prime flower and bird breeding season.
The WCNP surrounds a large saltwater marsh lagoon with extensive wetlands and coastlines that shelter marine invertebrates, seaweeds, and endemic coastal wading birds and seabirds. If you know where to look, you may also find mountain zebra, eland, hydrax, steenbok, ostrich, and bontebok. And I made a brief acquaintance with a Puff adder.
From the Park we traveled toward Capetown where we spent our final nights at the posh Vineyard Hotel, which is an historic building left over from the colonial days when it commanded a stately private vineyard.
During our stay in Capetown we completed a loop that encompassed both pincers of False Bay. Capetown is actually nestled between Table Mountain and Table Bay, just west of Cape Point, aka the Cape of Good Hope. Directly east of the Cape Point, across horseshoe-shaped False Bay, sits Cape Hangklip. False Bay got its name 300 years ago from sailors who confused the bay with Table Bay because Capes Point and Hangklip look so similar. Once pulled out of the current and into False Bay, it was a struggle to get back out to the ocean again and get around that pesky Cape of Good Hope.
The Cape of Good Hope derives its name from being the farthest south point along the African coast so that sailors headed for India could round the point and at last head eastward toward their destination. The weather and currents are famously horrible. But the view from the Cape is breathtaking. And on the walk to the top, my companions pointed out a pod of Bryde’s whales cavorting in the ocean.
The east side of False Bay lies in the shadow of the Hottentot Mountains, which bleed moisture from the clouds and dump abundant (or once abundant) rain into the Elgin Valley east of the mountains. The Elgin region is famous for deciduous fruit, flowers, and wine.
The grounds at the Vineyard Hotel were a birder’s delight. The food was good. It was a nice place. Very European. Not very African. (Except for the birds.)
And even some of the birds aren’t very African, like the ubiquitous Hadada Ibis, who behaves much like our Canadian Geese, overpopulating in areas where the living is easy, and making the most god-awful racket when they fly over that they were the first birds I recognized by sight and by sound.
All good things must come to an end. From the lovely grounds of the Vinyard Hotel, we headed again to the airport for a very long journey home. Thus the end of my African journals.
What a great post. You took me to South Africa with the photos and your rich descriptions in African journals.
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Thanks, Gerard. I’m glad I could send you off on a cheap trip!
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Sounds like much fun was had. My wife and I will have our African-journal opportunity in May, when we travel to Ghana. The trip from the mid-south part of the United States to West Africa is probably worthy of writing about itself.
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Oh my. That loooong flight. I had to leave from Boise, change planes in SLC, then to Atlanta, THEN to Joburg. It was LOONG.
I can’t wait to read about your trip to Ghana. How long will you be there and are you staying mostly in one place or traveling about?
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Accra, Legon and Aburi Mountains 4 days; Kumasi in the Ashanti Region 3 days; Elmina, Cape Coast and Gomoa in the Central region 3 days. Lots of activities planned. I expect to be exhausted physically, but rejuvenated emotionally and spiritually.
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I do hope you will find the energy to share your experiences and emotional journey with us.
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Another extraordinary waltz into a place I’ve never been.
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Linda,
I use your travel writing as a standard to strive for more succinct description of my adventures. Based on your south Africa posts, I now have more reasons to go see the natural wonders there. A few posts back, you mentioned the Dutch impact on settling the area. Michener’s book The Covenant is a great book on this subject. Also, where to get your book? I know some people who would be very interested besides myself in reading it!! Congrats, Linda!!!!
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Oh Sue, how kind. Yes, I try hard to keep my posts under 600 words, but that is difficult to do. A background in technical writing helps, but it is really impossible to stick with such restrictions all the time. AND, the thing about your blog is that you pack so much and such varied information into your posts. I think the breadth of your knowledge and the details you provide along with your narrative are what set you apart.
I believe I read The Covenant many years ago…like high school? Probably time to read it again.
My book is currently available on Amazon as a digital or paperback. (My Life With an Enigma; Unscrambling the paradoxes of an iron-willed romantic.) It is also available as a digital download in several different formats from https://books2read.com/LifeWithEnigma . I’m working on getting it into indie bookstores like Rediscovered, but haven’t quite cleared all those hurdles yet. Hopefully sometime in January I’ll have my ducks in a row in that regard.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday and I look forward to reading what sort of adventure you celebrate with.
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One of these days I’ll get there… As beautiful as all your pictures were, I especially liked the one of the view from your deck of Saldanha Bay. I’m a big fan of clouds and that one looks exactly like a blanket is being drawn over the bay. Amazing.
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The whole Capetown region seemed beautiful to me. But, I had the feeling that I had left the African continent already. Very Europeanized. But I was seeing it through the eyes of a native “Afrikaans” guide. He seemed to have a fine relationship with the “African” natives also, but I think Europeans have tried to remake much of this land in their own image of comfort. (Not sure if that makes sense…)
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Nice photos! And thanks to bring me through your blog to a place where I have never been!
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Thank you Robert. My pleasure. That’s the beauty of sharing photos, isn’t it.
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