Having a Whale of a Time

I have been home just over a week now, processing the many photos I took while in Africa. And it seemed a good idea to end my blog with a couple of posts of the holiday I had with Frances in South Africa over the last two weeks of my stay there.

The first week of the holiday was spent on the Cape Coast in a town called Gansbai - justly famous as a place from which to watch the migration of the Southern Right Whale. Although it is well worth taking a trip in a boat to watch the whales at sea, you can get almost as close to them sitting on the rocks that overlook the bay. These are magnificent creatures - not quite as acrobatic as the humpbacked whales we saw in Australia, but still a spectacular sight when they do breech.

As well as the whales, many people come to Gansbai to see the great white sharks - dressing in a wetsuit and standing in a cage to watch the sharks as they are lured to the side of the boat by a simulated seal. We saw quite a few boats on our trip to see the whales, and I have to admit that the image of the people waiting to see the sharks reminded me of sardines in a tin.

As well as the larger animals, the sea around the Cape coast is also home to the local penguin. Known as the Jackass penguin, it gets its name from the call of the male. It was a joy to see these birds as the waddled around their colonies. On the rocks nearby there were also colonies of various species of cormorant.
 
On our walks along the shore we also saw another unusual sight - a wedding by the sea. We had gone to see some neolithic cave dwellings, and suddenly came across an arbour in the middle of the sand. we soon realized what was happening, and were able to watch the wedding after we had finished exploring the caves.

But it is not only the sea that is fascinating in this part of Africa. Just inland there is an area called the fynbos - a limestone habitat of great variety and beauty. In the centre of this area is the town of Elim. This is a Moravian settlement, famous for its thatchers. Much of the land was settled by former slaves after they had been emancipated, and their descendants have maintained the old buildings with their simple lines. Certainly this is a site worth visiting - even if the route from Gansbai takes you over some gravel roads.

We did not see much of Cape Town, as we were anxious to spend as much time as possible on the coast. When Fran first arrives, we thought she had brought the Welsh weather with her, but on our way back to catch the plane to Johannesburgh the clouds had lifted - the Table Cloth had not quite left the Table Mountain, but the views from Signal Hill were lovely, and a suitable end to this part of the holiday.