You may remember last year I said I was going off to South Africa to appear on a TV game
show for Discovery Channel.
[Intro Music]
I wasn’t allowed to film it or talk about it before it aired so I don’t really have too much to show you about the game show itself.
But, even so as exciting as that was, I’m not here today to talk about that, instead
I want to share with you the most magical part of my trip -if not entire year- which
was all thanks to my friends at the Cape of Good Hope Tours, who took me to discover the
beautiful wildlife and vibrant culture of Cape Town.
On this adventure was my friend Russell, who is plankton’s number one fan, Anthea, our
lovely and extremely knowledgeable guide and myself, a PhD student who wanted to see wildlife
and have a little break.
We kicked off early on the morning of a very mild Capetonian winter to go to Kirstenbosch
Botanical gardens.
“If ye seek his monument, look around” reads the epitaph of the founder, Harold Pearson.
And right he is.
The gardens not only boast biodiversity in its plants, but also in its birds [birds cawing]
and history.
Something that struck me from the moment I arrived in South Africa and which was constant
throughout my stay is how committed Cape Town is to protecting their natural environment,
and Kirstenbosch was no less by highlighting the risk of extinction the cycads face, and
how unique and important it is to protect the Fynbos.
After learning about botany, and cycads and birds, we made a stop on Muizenberg drive…
I'm at the top of Muizenberg road, on the Boyes
drive and this is False Bay, and it's not just a beautiful view, it is the perfect viewing
spot for what are called shark spotters, and their job is to spot sharks in the sea, to
sound a siren when they're there so that all the people who are surfing and swimming can
get quickly out of the water so there's no danger of humans being eaten by sharks, there's
no need to kill the sharks, they can coexist peacefully together.
Russell: "Do you have an eye-test before you can do this job?"
Shark-spotter: *nods* R: Hahaha, good!
And how many sharks have you spotted?
SS: Many R: About a hundred in your time?
SS: Maybe R: So how long have you been doing this job?
SS: 9 years R: 9 years!
Wow... that's incredible.
Have you ever been swimming and seen a shark in the water? and how do you deal with that?
are you just kind of calm, and just be like, "oh yeah, this is one of the things"?
SS: *inaudible* R: Okay.
Cool.
Thank you!
Following that we drove on to Kalk’s bay, a fishing port.
Whilst the interaction between the fishermen and the hagglers was fascinating, it wasn’t
only the people who were interested in the fish.
The most hilarious were the sea lions - they were too old to hunt and fend for themselves,
and instead they had learnt to depend on the locals for food, who were now obliged to gut
the fish in cages in an attempt to prevent the sea lions from helping themselves too
liberally.
*woman yells at seal*
Following this, we drove on towards a stop I was beyond excited about.
"We are now going to Boulder's beach [man chuckles] to see the African penguins!! and
I, as you can tell, am extremely excited about that."
"Right now I'm walking down Boulder's beach in Simon Town, which is the location of one
of the African penguin's largest colonies.
The African penguin is quite severely endangered, it's actually gone from 1.5 million species
(*I mean individuals) down to a population of only 2,200, and most of this is due to the fact
that their eggs get hunted on, they're ground-nesting birds so any kind of predator could wipe them
them out if they so desire, and things like oil spills, plastic, littering also affects their
population.
They used to be called the jackass penguins because they bray like donkeys but South American
penguins also bray like donkeys too, and they are the only African species so that's why
they've been renamed as the African penguin."
Stay tuned for a future episode all about African penguins, because there is a lot to
be said about these birds, how they communicate and their conservation.
After a very extensive and thorough three hours at Simon Town, we drove on to our final
destination of the day - Cape of Good Hope, the most South-Western point in Africa and
home to the most beautiful sunset I have ever witnessed.
As the sun slowly set, the ocean waves rolled by and hundreds of birds flew past towards
the night.
It was honestly, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
Finally, we managed to make a move on back home, but not without being held up by a family
of baboons...
For our second and final day discovering Cape Town we decided we were going to take it a
little easier.
We kicked off going to Table Mountain by cable car to enjoy the splendid views and meet the
local wildlife…
[FUTSAK interview] Me: "Meet Fuchik/Futsak the cockroach, how
is your day been today?"
Fuchik: "Well, it was okay.
I was hanging around on a rock, and then some people came and picked me up and they put
me on their hand and I'm just trying to get back to the rock, to be honest"
Me: "What is your favourite thing about Table mountain?"
F: "Well, I quite like the views, but I also really, I also really enjoy going into people's
sleeves!" [laughter]
As well as caring about the environment, Cape Town showed me time and time again that people
are always up for a good laugh "Thank you once again for visiting Table Mountain
and for flying Table Mountain airways.
Travel safe, be safe and enjoy life, and also once again, happy father's day to all the
Dads out there and to those of them who don't even know they're Dads!" [laughter] "Ladies
and gentlemen..."
From Table Mountain, we decided to drive through the city and explore the colourful Malay quarter
and then, by recommendation of our friend Salla we ended up at Mzoli’s for a township
party.
Russell: "I've heard that Mr. Mzoli has mouth-watering meat, so I'm super excited by this"
Inés: "I've heard the same and I'm just as excited!"
[Music]
and finally, to round everything off, we visited Constantia.
As well as its nature and good-natured humour, South Africa is also known for its wine.
We learnt all about Constantia’s cellar, how their wines are made and how to taste
wine and pair it with chocolate.
And of course, we made sure that Anthea left Groot Constantia with her favourite bottle
of wine to thank her for her company, her guidance and her wisdom.
Overall, Cape Town enthralled me - not only is it a beautiful corner of the world, its
people are diverse, good humoured and care deeply about the world they live in.
So thank you Cape Town, Mike and Anthea for making me feel so welcome, this is definitely
not an adventure I’m forgetting any time soon.
And as always, thank -you- so much for watching me and I’ll see you in the next one - bye!
[and thank you to my patreons on patron ;)]