South Africa and the Cape Peninsula

After a few days in Cape Town we were ready to explore.

For the next few days we had a rental car that we used to get down to the Cape of Good Hope and the Cape Peninsula where we saw African Penguins, baboons, and other African wildlife. We also made it all the way to Cape Agulhas, the Southern-most point in Africa.

We tried to go shark diving near Gansbaai - in an area known as "Shark Alley" and featured on many Discovery Channel "Shark Week" specials but we found it to be a bit of a technicolor yawn - literally. We spent the better part of the boat ride looking over the side of the boat.

On the way back to Cape Town we made a stop in Franschhoek and the surrounding wine county. We loved the scenery around the Beaumont Wineries, the hospitality at La Cabriere Country House, who booked us a table at the Grand Provence winery/restaurant where we had a nice meal for sure.

While we really enjoyed South Africa we only got to see the smallest portion of the country. We’d love to return. That said, the constant security reminders (guard dogs, armed security, electric fences!) put a damper on our stay - we never saw any signs of actual threats, only the protection against potential harm. This left us with the feeling that the population lives in unnecessary fear, though we know we weren’t around long enough to really understand the situation.