Cape Point / Cape of Good Hope
John and I took another trip down to the Western Cape of South Africa in March 2015.
On one of our days we visited Boulders Beach near Simon’s Town and The Cape Peninsula.
You can read about our time with the penguins at Boulders Beach HERE.
Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope are part of Table Mountain National Park.
Cape Point is located at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula.
This is where you will find the Cape Point Lighthouse.
Actually, this is the old lighthouse.
It was decommissioned after Portuguese liner, the Lusitania, crashed under its guidance.
The Old Cape Point Lighthouse stands 87 meters above its replacement and offers amazing views of the Atlantic and the Cape Peninsula.
You can take the Flying Dutchman funicular to the top for a small fee, but we decided to walk.
It isn’t a difficult walk and there are several places to stop along the way to enjoy the view.
The old iron lighthouse was built in 1857 and shone from 1860 until 1919.
From the top you can see how far you are from other popular cities in the world.
Our next stop was the Cape of Good Hope.
It is an easy 9 minute drive from the lighthouse and if you’re lucky, you’ll see a few baboons along the way.
The last time we visited the Cape of Good Hope in 2011, the fog rolled in and we weren’t able to see much of anything.
That wasn’t the case this time.
And we were thrilled!
We saw some people way up high on the rocks:
So we followed the path to get there.
I hiked it in sandals so don’t let the climb intimidate you. It’s just high.
And the views from up there are magnificent!
Look closely at the photo above and you can see the New and Old Cape Point Lighthouses in the distance.
We stayed up there for awhile just trying to soak it all in.
This is another one of those surreal moments in my life when I find myself shaking my head in disbelief.
Here we are hanging out at the tip of that funky chunk of land that sticks out from the continent of Africa.
Times like this I put my camera away so I can fully experience the moment.
The sounds.
The smells.
The energy.
We hiked back down and enjoyed the powerful waves crashing against the rocks before driving back to Stellenbosch.
We had such a beautiful afternoon exploring the Cape Peninsula.
When your travels take you to Cape Town, be sure to take a drive to the Cape Peninsula and visit Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope.
Click HERE for more on South Africa.
