Today was a lovely Saturday. Thoroughly exhausting, because as usual
they tired us out with hours of bussing and hiking. But it was also a
day filled with quite arguably the most stunning views in the world. And
the most unexpected assortment of wildlife encounters.
I'm tired
and really don't have interesting things to say, so I'll keep the text
short and make this post more about the pictures, but it was definitely
weird picturing the globe and where I was on it today. Literally that
tiny point that sticks out the bottom of southwest Africa. The Cape of
Good Hope...where Vasco da Gama or whoever it was who first rounded it
and named it...the thing in the word bank on a 5th grade history test
(which was of course completely based on the European perspective. Yay
easier trade routes. Not oh yay new continent filled with wonderful and
amazing things!). Anyway, it was exhilarating and mind-blowing. I loved
every minute of it.
We left at 8am and got back at 6:30pm.
So...long day filled with lots of laughs, adventures, and as I said,
good views and wildlife. Highlights included: penguins,
antelopes, weird-looking wombat things called hyraxes (if Google images
serves me correctly), ostriches, zebras and baboons...all just casually
chillin in nature. Well, the antelopes, ostriches, and hyraxes were all
just chillin. The zebras were calmly walking across the road in front of
our bus. Without a care in the world. No big deal. The penguins were
basking in the hot sun on the sandy beach and rocks and posing for
photos. And the baboons were running around climbing on bus roofs,
getting way too uncomfortably close to everyone, etc. Baboons are
dangerous. They bite. They are aggressive. And let's just face it, they
are pretty darn ugly.
View-wise: the two oceans - Atlantic and
Indian meet. Antarctica is off in the distance to the south... you can't
actually see it but I took a picture just to pretend.
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| Boulders Bay |
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| World's Largest Colony of African Penguins, Boulders Bay |
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| Zebra Xing |
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| Zebras! |
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| Cabo de Buena Esperanza (and yes, we hiked all the way over to the very tip, with a lengthy detour on that sandy patch of beach below.) |
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| Again, from a slightly higher altitude on our hike... |
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| We made it to the top! |
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| Casual...baboon running around the parking lot. |
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| Ostriches! (I felt like they were staring me down with hatred...I ate an ostrich burger on Tuesday. It was delicious.) |
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| The hike down to the beach was worth it. Look at those waves. Look at that ocean. Also, Antarctica is definitely in the backdrop. |
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| Other side of the Cape. Sunset over two oceans. Now that's a once in a lifetime experience! |
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| Ahhhhhhhhhh ocean!!!!!!!! |
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| One of many failed attempts at getting Marie to take a jumping picture. |
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| From the very tip. It is taking my breath away just to look at the pictures again. I can't even begin to tell you what it felt like in person. |
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