Africa: Cape Town

Part 3: From the Kenyan safari bush to the coastal city of Cape Town- Africa is really large and we did lots of travel. We got to where we were going and made great memories- what a lucky family!

V&A wharf and waterfront. I remembered visiting cape

Town, the V&A and Table Mountain while I was on Semester at Sea 25 years ago. The city has grown so much I barely recognized it. 

Shopping 

Lunching

Lots of Becker selfies 

Becker selfie in black and white 

Seals and penguins 

Table Mountain View from Robben Island

We took a ferry to Robben Island - where the members of the ANC (African National Congress) fought against apartheid including Nelson Mandela. We had a little political science and history lesson this leg of the trip. Some of our family learned about this for the first time- and our travel guide was a wealth of knowledge sharing the current laws. Fascinating how in 25 years so much has changed since I last visited there.

The prison 

Back to the V&A

Table Mountain - the most majestic views. We took the cable car up to the top- and thank goodness we had the fast pass bc the line was soooo long. 

Table Mountain Views

Dinner at the vineyard awarded best food in 2024

Sunsets!

The African Penguins!!!!   Or lovingly called Cape Penguins bc they only exist on the cape. We visited Boulder Beach to see the majority of the penguin population- the population is dwindling due to the fact they cannot find their food in the ocean… They are sooo cute. They mate for life and male and female take turns  incubating the egg.  🐧

Cape of Good Hope!! 🌍

Climbed to the top of the light house 💡

New Year’s Eve dinner … it was an easy night as we didn’t go down to the V&A to celebrate with the party people- O’Neill was worried about “being jumped” but we did see the fireworks from our hotel room. I was a little under the weather so I didn’t last very long and then O’Neill didn’t feel well. 🎩🪩🎆

Fireworks from our hotel overlooking the water at 12:00am for New Year’s!

We visited Babylonstoren Vineyard in Stellenbosch. It is a working vineyard and farm nestled in the sweetest mountain valley with little shops to purchase the farm’s wares. It is such a beautiful place I could stay there at that farm forever.  It had a museum, a place to make soaps, a meat shop, cheese shop, ice cream shop, bakery, olive oil shop, wine tasting room, deli… so much more. - such a treat! It is also owned by the 4th wealthiest person in South Africa. It was the most beautiful farm I’ve ever seen- spotless.

How to clip and cut the grapevines:

Different ways to grow grapevines:

The different sizes of wine bottles:

Vinegar distilling (some of the barrels are leaking):

Goats 🐐

Soap making shop 🧼🫧

Bread 🍞🥖

Cheese 🧀

Coffee ☕️

Olives 🫒

Orchards 🍋🍊🍈🍐🥭🍏

Ice cream and gelato 🍦🍨🍧

Edible flower garden 🌻🌸🌼

Lavender 💜

🐸🐸

Artichoke 💚

Succulent farm 🌵

🍇

We took a boat cruise to see the sunset in the Cape Town bay. We saw seals and penguins swimming against the backdrop of Table Mountain and the sunset.

⛵️⛰️🚠

This is us waiting on the on time bush plane from the Mugie to Nairobi.

“I touched the rain down in Africa” 💧☔️🌧️🌈

The hotel was amazing and very secure- checking for bombs with dogs and used mirrors to check under the car and we had to go through a metal detector and scan our luggage to enter the hotel. So much security!! Look at that wall!

We stopped at the salon to get some nail treatments and hair treatments after being in the wilderness for a week and all our hard travels. 

Even security to get into the mall.

Kenyan Air flying from Nairobi to Cape Town

Treats in the room and exploring the V&A

All good things must come to an end. Our travels from around the world is not for the weak- we traveled from Cape Town to Doha to Dallas- about 25 hours flight time. Out of the 9 flight we took in total- just DFW was the only airport that delayed us both ways. The best gift was the gift of the “pod” to lay down and hide away for sleeping. Qatar airlines was great for this long trip.

Doha airport was beautiful with the garden inside and amazing shopping and every high end boutique had its own cafe and flight lounge. So bougie.

You pack it; you haul it- thus the double pack was born (front and back). These kids are super travelers - if they can do this trip they can do anything on earth. 🎒🎒