South Africa 2025: Sept 18 Official first day of our tour

This morning, we got up and had breakfast and loaded in a minivan and headed out for a tour of Cape Town and surrounding area. We’ve met our group which consists of a couple from Wales and a lady from Pittsburgh. They are awesome people and fun to visit with. First, we went to the Bo-Kapp area in Cape Town where the buildings are painted many different colors. It is a quaint little neighbourhood with lots of history. Our tout guide took us to the town square to the bidding tree sight. This is where the Dutch came to Cape Town and bid on slaves. The cruel historical stories are so unbelievable. Then we toured on to Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern point of the African continent. It is still very surreal to think that I’m in Africa. Some of the coolest things today was the wildlife we saw along the way. First we encountered several baboons just wandering through the grass and on the road and all over the place,it was so cool. The local say that these animals are a nuisance as they know how to break into the houses get into fridges destroy your house so on and so on, but from a tourist view point, they were amazing to watch. Then we travel along and spotted wild ostriches just standing near the beach pecking the ground. As we were getting pictures taken, we looked over and saw a bunch of sea lions sunning on the rocks just off the shore. It was unbelievable. We also spotted so many kinds of birds today that I’ve never seen before. Next, we ventured over to the Cape point lighthouse and climbed up the stairs to the top with an amazing view of the beach and the water below. After spending time at the two points, we headed back to Simons town where we had lunch overlooking the harbor. After lunch, we walked along a pathway down to Boulder Beach and watch the penguins swimming, playing in the sand and just sunning on rocks. There were so many and it was so fun to see. From Boulder Beach, we drove along the coastline to KirstenBosch national botanical Gardens. We walked for about an hour and a half through the gardens learning about all the different kinds of vegetation flowers, and plants native to South Africa.We also spotted 2 owls in the trees. Truly warmed my heart. By now it’s the end of the day and we’ve ventured back to the hotel got cleaned up and went out for a nice supper in the harbor. I’m settled in for the night and getting some rest as last night was a long night.