Cape Town, South Africa.

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. Historically, it was a crucial point for sailors navigating the southern tip of Africa on their way to India and the East. Now a part of Table Mountain National Park, the Cape of Good Hope shares the rocky coastline with Cape Point.

From the rocky shoreline near Cape Point, I captured a view of three mountain peaks in the park. Kanonkop (“Canon Hill”) is in the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park, South Africa. It’s a popular hiking destination, with trails leading up to the summit. The trails offer stunning panoramic coastline views. It was historically used as a signaling station. A cannon was fired from the summit to alert the nearby town of Simon’s Town about the arrival of ships in False Bay.

The tall peak behind Kanonkop is Paulsberg. Trails in Table Mountain National Park connect the three peaks. Hiking to the top of Paulsberg offers even more expansive vistas than Kanonkop, allowing for even more breathtaking views of the surrounding landscape.

Behind Paulsberg in the photos is Judas Peak. According to Google, a hike to Judas Peak includes a passage through Fynbos, a unique plant kingdom and shrubland in South Africa’s Western and Eastern Cape provinces. “Fynbos” comes from the Dutch word for “fine-leaved plants.”

Cape fur seals inhabit the cool waters of the South Atlantic and South Indian Oceans, primarily along the coasts of Southern Africa, Namibia, and South Africa. The seals form large breeding colonies on remote islands and rocky coastlines.

There is a large colony of cape cormorants on the rocky coast. Google tells me they are a marine species, typically found in coastal waters and seldom venturing inland. Their diet consists of pelagic schooling fish like anchovies, pilchards, and sand eels.

They are excellent divers, capable of diving to depths of over 30 meters (98 feet) to catch prey. Unfortunately, a population decline is attributed to factors such as overfishing of their prey, competition for food resources, and disease outbreaks.

This nesting site is typical of the species which breeds in large, densely packed colonies on rocky islands, cliffs, or shipwrecks.

On our first day of bird sightings, we saw our first Egyptian Goose, a distinctive bird species native to Africa. We would see several more over the days of our African Journey. They are easily recognizable with their reddish-brown plumage, black wingtips, and a prominent white wing patch clearly visible in flight.

Near the Goose, a pair of Hadeda Ibis foraged for food, unconcerned by our presence. According to Google, they use their long, curved bills to probe the soil for food, primarily feeding on earthworms, insects, snails, and other invertebrates.

The African Ostrich Is the largest living bird species on Earth. Google tells me they are massive birds, standing up to 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and weighing up to 350 pounds (159 kg). Their long legs allow them to run up to 43 miles per hour (69 kg), making them the fastest two-legged animal.

Driving along the shore, we came upon this quartet of ostriches spending their day at the beach. We didn’t see any ostriches cooling off in the shallow water behind them, though. Google notes that ostriches living in coastal areas have been seen wading into shallow tidal water to cool off on hot days. This behavior resembles how they might use a watering hole or puddle inland.

We rode the Flying Dutchman cable car to get closer to the Cape Point Lighthouse. It’s the current lighthouse on Cape Point, commissioned in 1919, and is one of the most powerful lighthouses in South Africa. It stands 781 feet (238 m) above sea level and is visible from up to 40 miles (64 km).

The funicular doesn’t deprive you of a short climb to the lighthouse. We considered ourselves not deprived and opted to look at the lighthouse from below. For more energetic visitors, the lighthouse is open to the public.

From our high viewpoint, we could see trails leading to the point. Examining the image in Lightroom closely, I noticed that the trail was busy with hikers on the day we visited. I also noticed something in the photo about a quarter of the way down from the peak. It appears to be another lighthouse. Here’s a closer crop focusing on the lighthouse.

Google told me that this was the first lighthouse built on Cape Point, but due to the surrounding terrain, it was deemed too low and ineffective. It was decommissioned in 1919 when the new lighthouse was completed.

Google tells me that the bontebok is known for their rich, chocolate-brown coat, distinctive white face blaze, white belly and rump, and black-tipped tail. Both males and females have lyre-shaped horns, though the males’ are larger and heavier. This doe and her calf were unconcerned by our presence, an advantage of a telephoto lens. A bontebok can run up to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) to escape predators if needed.

I am concluding this post with a story of conservation success. Bontebok antelopes have made a remarkable recovery from the brink of extinction. In the early 20th century, excessive hunting reduced their numbers to only 17 individuals. Their numbers have rebounded significantly thanks to dedicated conservation efforts, including establishing Bontebok National Park. Today, the bontebok population is estimated to be around 3,500 individuals.

In upcoming Travel Tuesday posts, we will ride another cable car to the top of Table Mountain and visit a botanical garden in Cape Town. My Flickr album contains many more photos of our trip to Table Mountain National Park, and you can view these photos in 2K HD here. Thanks to Dries De Wet for his assistance in documenting our South African Journey for this blog.

John Steiner