Saturday, September 1, 2012

3800 KM Road Trip in Soth Africa Part - 3

This is the last and final post in the series of posts that gives a glimpse into our vacation to South Africa.  As mentioned in the previous post, we had an amazing time jumping from the Worlds Highest Commercial Bungee Bridge.

After the jump it was time to move to a very beautiful and calm city called Knysna.

Knysna - One of the best tourist attraction in SA, having a large lagoon

This place was the home for our friend from the Go Self Driver Tours.  She came and met us at the hotel, it was good to finally meet her in person.  We then headed off to see the beautiful lagoon and the ocean around this city.  This city has two small mountains called Heads, these are separated only by a beautiful ocean.  One can go to the top of East Head by Car.  The driver is really beautiful and filled with scenic beauty.

We went to the top of the Eastern Head and saw the sunset.  It was magnificent and extremely beautiful.  The sky was filled with vivid colors.
Sunset in Knysna
Knysna City From the Eastern Head
Next morning, we were off to a place called Oudtshoorn.  This city is famous for having lots of Ostrich Farms and Congo Caves - One of the Africans 7 Wonders.  

On the way we got a glimpse of the "Saturday Open Market".  This market is an open market and is open only on Saturdays.  Farmers and Local artists get their produce and sell it in the open market.  There is a lot of variety and interesting things to buy in this market.  Local musicians even play at this market.  Its an experience worth having.  We were lucky enough to be there on a Saturday Morning.
Open Market
Local Musician playing at the Market
Oudtshoorn - World famous for having Ostrich farms and Congo Caves

This city is home for the world famous Congo Caves. Here is what WikiPedia has to say about Congo Caves:
 The principal cave is one of the country's finest, best known and most popular tourist caves and attracts many visitors. Although the extensive system of tunnels and chambers go on for over four kilometers, only about a quarter of this is open to visitors, who may proceed into the cave only in groups supervised by a guide. Tours are conducted at regular intervals on most days - there is a "Standard Tour" which takes an hour and an "Adventure Tour" which takes an hour and a half. The "Adventure Tour" consists of crawling through narrow passages and climbing up steep rock formations guided by small lights. The caves contain spectacular halls and grand limestone formations (on both tours) as well as some rather small passages on the Adventure Tour. The smallest passage that tourists will have to pass through on the Adventure Tour is just under 30cm high at the exit.
The Biggest Hall inside the Congo Cave
Narrow passage in the Adventure tour, One needs to crawl to pass through it
Next stop was to visit an Ostrich Farm.  I fell in love with them as soon as I saw their eyes :)
Ostrich with big black eyes!
At the farm you can feed them, hug them, stand on their eggs and even ride on them :).  Yes, we did all of the above.
Me riding on the Ostrich
Ostrich Egg is strong enough to withstand human weight!
Next day we drove to Hermanus.

Hermanus - Only town in the world, famous for land based whale watching

The southern right whale calls this town her home (at least for a few months).  Its might not be the biggest whale but, here's a comparison to give you an idea of how big it is, one fully grown Southern Right Whale is equal to 40 fully grown African Elephants!

Whales are not the only famous thing about this town.  This town is home to beautiful blue ocean and lots of birds.
Beautiful Sky and Ocean at Hermanus
 Next morning we went on a boat to get a closer look at the whale

Next destination, Cape Town.

Cape Town - Where Atlantic Ocean Meets the Indian Ocean

On the way to cape town we stopped at the Stoney Point at Betty's Bay.  This is home to Africa's Penguins - Its one of the biggest Penguin Colonies of Africa.  Penguins are beautiful birds, the way they walk is just adorable.


Cape Town and the road to Cape Town is filled with breath taking natural beauty.  The road along the coastline has Ocean on one side and mountains on the other.  Its just BEAUTIFUL!



We visited the V & A waterfront in the night.  It was lit up with beautiful lights 
Next morning, we visited the beautiful Simon's Town.  Its famous for its old architecture and is a Naval Base of South Africa.  Its surfers heaven, we even saw people getting a surfing lesson.
Old Clock Tower getting renovated
People getting a surfing lesson
We even got to see a Submarine!

A surfer doing Kite Surfing
Beautiful Blue and Turquoise water
The Noha's arch
Next morning we went to see the seal island.  Lot's of fat seals can be spotted here

From there we went to see the Cape Point.  Its beauty cannot be described in words.  You have to see it to believe it.
Calm blue water on one side and wavy turquoise water on the other
The old light house at the Cape Point

Coming back from the Cape point we saw the beautiful lighthouse
The Biggest metal lighthouse of Cape Town
Next morning the weather was perfect to visit the Table Mountain.  We booked the ticket online and went to see the view from the top of table mountain.

The cable car that takes us to he top  of table mountain revolves 360 degrees so that we can get a complete view of our journey.

The view from the table mountain
It was pretty windy and temperature at the top was 4 degrees C
Friendly Squirrel eating food right from my hand!
In the evening we visited Bo-Kap, its famous for a row of colorful houses
Next morning was our last morning in Cape Town.  We decided to visit the vineyards of Cape Town.  We went to Groot Constantina.  They are one of the oldest vineyard of Cape Town.  They have beautiful estate and really good restaurants.

We eat at Jonkershuis Restaurant, This is where I had the best pasta I ever had in my life (we are pure vegetarian)!  Totally recommended for every one.

That was the end our our memorable vacation to South Africa.  It was really and experience worth having.
Have some Fun!