The first few days of Africa were spent in a conference, so not much to report there, unless of course you want to hear the story about the tribal leader that interrupted our meetings making claims that we could have cured HIV/AIDS a long time ago and that we were trying to keep his people down and steal their riches. There you go. Non boring highlight of the week. One of the nights of the conference is always a fancy dinner, so this year it was off to Stellenbosch for dinner in a tent.
Dinner consisted of the craziest buffet I've ever taken part in, with all kinds of tagine dishes and crazy vegetables. Good stuff really, but too dark to photograph, so you'll just have to trust me. Following dinner we were treated to a traditional dance-off, proving that movies like "You Got Served" are nothing short of culturally accurate.
Everybody wins! Time to gather round the fire barrel.
One of the main features of Cape Town is Table Mountain. It's basically a big mesa, with a flat top you can walk around on. Because of it's proximity to the ocean, clouds gather at the top of it quite a lot. The guidebooks led us to believe that the locals call this the "tablecloth" of the mountain, but empirical studies proved inconclusive on the matter. Seeing the cloud cover spill off the top and evaporate is a cool effect, especially considering how low the mountain is and how close to the clouds you get.
After the conference was over, we had about 5 hours with some of our colleagues to explore Cape Point. The drive down was fantastic, and we freaked out when we saw a whale as we were driving along. Turns out we shouldn't have freaked so much, since whales are about as abundant as rats in Cape Town at this time of the year. More on that later.
Arriving at Cape Point.
Cape town has some of the most amazing flora. Much much more on that later.
This is Cape Point, which is one of the southernmost points in Africa. To the
left of here is the Cape of Good Hope, which I'm sure we all learned about in school. Couldn't find a good pic, though, so you'll just have to use your imagination or come to my apartment some time.
One of the professors I traveled with convinced us all to take a hike out to the farthest point they will let regular people go. It was seriously windy, to the point of feeling about a gust away from ending up in the drink. It's an amazing feeling once you are there. I almost felt like I was at the tip of the world. All I could see was ocean and cloud and this golden haze caused by the lowering sun hitting the mist. I've rarely been to a place where I've felt the grandeur of nature more than I have there. If you've got $2,500 or so laying around, there's no reason why you shouldn't go to Cape town.
Looking back up towards Simon's Town.
Remember those Zebras I saw before? Here's a few more.
OK, enough of that. Amazing plants tomorrow, I think.
Dinner consisted of the craziest buffet I've ever taken part in, with all kinds of tagine dishes and crazy vegetables. Good stuff really, but too dark to photograph, so you'll just have to trust me. Following dinner we were treated to a traditional dance-off, proving that movies like "You Got Served" are nothing short of culturally accurate.
Everybody wins! Time to gather round the fire barrel.
One of the main features of Cape Town is Table Mountain. It's basically a big mesa, with a flat top you can walk around on. Because of it's proximity to the ocean, clouds gather at the top of it quite a lot. The guidebooks led us to believe that the locals call this the "tablecloth" of the mountain, but empirical studies proved inconclusive on the matter. Seeing the cloud cover spill off the top and evaporate is a cool effect, especially considering how low the mountain is and how close to the clouds you get.
After the conference was over, we had about 5 hours with some of our colleagues to explore Cape Point. The drive down was fantastic, and we freaked out when we saw a whale as we were driving along. Turns out we shouldn't have freaked so much, since whales are about as abundant as rats in Cape Town at this time of the year. More on that later.
Arriving at Cape Point.
Cape town has some of the most amazing flora. Much much more on that later.
This is Cape Point, which is one of the southernmost points in Africa. To the left of here is the Cape of Good Hope, which I'm sure we all learned about in school. Couldn't find a good pic, though, so you'll just have to use your imagination or come to my apartment some time.
One of the professors I traveled with convinced us all to take a hike out to the farthest point they will let regular people go. It was seriously windy, to the point of feeling about a gust away from ending up in the drink. It's an amazing feeling once you are there. I almost felt like I was at the tip of the world. All I could see was ocean and cloud and this golden haze caused by the lowering sun hitting the mist. I've rarely been to a place where I've felt the grandeur of nature more than I have there. If you've got $2,500 or so laying around, there's no reason why you shouldn't go to Cape town.
Looking back up towards Simon's Town.
Remember those Zebras I saw before? Here's a few more.
OK, enough of that. Amazing plants tomorrow, I think.
3 comments:
Hi Nice story and photos. You got one of the first Southern Right Whales as the arrive back in our waters. If you don't mind I would like to publish your whale photo on my Simon's Town blog.
People with your skills and your camera are allowed to travel. People like me are not.
Johan -
The picture was taken in October of this past year, but if you still would like to use it, you are welcome to as long as you include a link back to this site.
Jaymoo -
Thanks dude.
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