March 28, 2025
We rescheduled today’s homeschool session to tomorrow as we had plans to head south. Our first stop was Oswald’s for pastries and coffee. On entering the bakery, the owner let us know that all pastries were half price at the moment since the current batch had been over mixed. We were still quite happy with our cinnamon twisties. We noticed the coffee sign included a “Red Cappa” and learned it was a cappuccino made with Roobios tea— we’ll be back again to give that a try.
The drive to Cape Point Nature Reserve was about 90 minutes and just enough time for us to listen to Roald Dahl’s, “George’s Marvelous Medicine”. I grew up reading all of Dahl’s stories and Ollie has also grown into a fan as he asks for a Roald Dahl book each time we get into the car. The stories are growing on Lenny, but he is still more likely to request “Werewolves of London” so we can howl along.
On arriving to the reserve, we were greeted by a troop of baboons. There were signs all over the roadway warning of baboons which really built the suspense. The signs warned to keep your hands away and keep your doors locked and windows up. When we shared the warnings with the boys, Ollie said, “Its fine I would just punch it in the face.” He’s developing quite the (misplaced) sense of confidence on this trip. We also saw two zebra just standing in the fields which was a welcome surprise. We had been warned of ostrich in the park but sadly we didn’t see any.
The hike to the old lighthouse also brought on misplaced confidence, but this time from Lenny. “This hike looks easy peazy, lemon squeezy! I won’t even need a break.” The hike took us about 45 minutes and included multiple snack breaks. Len was excited to add another lighthouse to his tally, but at the top we learned he would actually be adding two. The first lighthouse was built too high on the rocks and was consistently blocked by passing clouds which caused a big shipwreck in the early 1900s. The new lighthouse was built much lower and closer to the water.
We took the ‘Lighthouse Keeper’s trail’ down to get a closer view of the new lighthouse. Before we headed to the second lighthouse, we saw a sign about the mythological character Adamastor. Ollie proceeded to pepper us with questions about Gods and Greek mythology for much of the remainder of the hike. Kyle and I knew nearly none of the answers so we promised to let him watch a video to learn more when we got home. The trail was nestled into the side of a cliff and offered incredible views of Simon’s Town. We saw multiple Black Zonure lizards and these were a highlight for Ollie. I found a lost bracelet on the trail and gave it to Ollie which proved to be a mistake as the boys fought over this for the remainder of the day. The trail was an out-and-back and offered views of the new lighthouse at one end. After the hour long trail walk, we were all ready for lunch so we decided to take the funicular down to the parking lot rather than hiking back to the car.
Before leaving the reserve, we felt obligated to snap a picture by the Cape of Good Hope sign. Just off the coast we saw a herd of seals which the kids were excited to add to their tally. We all pretended we were on safari during the drive out of the reserve, but sadly only saw a few more baboons which Ollie kept referring to as “bamboos”.
We then headed back north to Boulder’s Beach to check out the colony of African penguins. Thankfully there was a hotel nearby that served a quick lunch. It was then a short walk to the penguin nesting ground. We saw penguins along the walkway nestled into the wooded areas which was unexpected. This ended up being a superior viewing experience compared to the beach. The pathway was quiet, shaded and calm.
Len loved to drop his penguin knowledge learned from Octonauts, “Penguins eat fish and then get married!!” We paid the entrance fee to the national park and joined the other hundreds of tourists to catch a glimpse of the penguins on the beach. We enjoyed seeing a few jump into the water and swim around, but the beach was much too hectic to actually enjoy.
We bribed the kids with fruit mentos (their new favorite sweet) to add another stop to our road trip. We headed northwest to take the scenic way home– Chapman’s Peak Drive. The road had been closed for a bit and we were thrilled to see it back open. The views did not disappoint and we even saw a pod of dolphins chasing a yacht. By the scenic outlook, though, both boys (Ollie especially) had had enough and were keen to get home.
Ollie made an animal tally on the way home: zebra, bamboos (baboons), lizards, seals, penguins, butterflies, moths, dolphins. He also clarified that“birds do not count”.
Goodnight!
