Cape Town!

In June, Kelly, Crystal, and I joined Crystal's family for vacation in Cape Town, South Africa. It was really cold, foggy, and rainy (which often thwarted our plans) but we managed to a lot of Cape Town’s famous attractions. Here’s some of the places that we visited.

Castle of Good Hope

This castle was a fort before it was made into a castle and it is the oldest building in Cape Town.

Here we are with Crystal’s family in front of the castle.

Here I ring the bell that warns Cape Town that trouble is coming.

Ostrich Farm

We went out to an ostrich farm to see how they raise ostriches for meat and skins. It was breeding season and during breeding season the male’s skin turn bright red like this ostrich!

We also got to "ride" a real live ostrich!

Table Mountain

The giant Table Mountain provides a beautiful scenic backdrop for the city of Cape Town. Because of the fog, most days the mountain wasn’t visible. But fortunately one day it cleared up and we were able to go to the top of the mountain!

We got to ride these cable cars straight up the steep incline.

Here are some pictures of Cape Town from the top of the mountain.

Robben Island

Robben Island is the island where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held during the time of apartheid. We road a ferry out to the island and then toured the prison.

This is the quarry in which the prisoners mined limestone everyday. There was no real demand for them to mine the limestone; they just made the prisoners mine to keep them busy. In the back of the picture is the cave where they stored their tools. In the foreground is a picture of a pile of rocks; several years after the fall of apartheid the prisoners all reunited here and laid a stone in the pile to celebrate their freedom.

The tour was led by a political prisoner who told stories of his time in prison. Our guide was at Robben Island for 8 years for “terrorism.

Here are the things from Nelson Mandela’s cell and a picture of his cell in the maximum security prison. Waterfront
This is the Waterfront from which the ferry to Robben Island leaves (along with other boats.) Table Mountain is in the background. Here we are posing with South Africa’s famous political leaders.

Boulder Beach

At Boulder Beach we got to see penguins! Crazy to think that Africa has penguins! Here I am posing with a penguin.

Here are some pictures of us hiking around the boulders.

Here are some more pictures of penguins. Lazy penguins hang out on the beach. Check out the little baby penguin!

Cape of Good Hope

We drove out to the Cape of Good Hope and then hiked out to Cape Point. It was a tiring hike! We hiked down to this beach.

See, here I stand on the beach to prove it.

Here’s a fun picture of the water splashing breaking on the boulders behind us.

After we reached the point we were absolutely dead! Here Kelly flashes the victory thumbs up!

Here I pose with the sign. The cape is the most south-western point on the continent of Africa!

On our way out of the park we saw this family of baboons just posing for pictures.

Chapman’s Peak
We then took this scenic (a.k.a twisty and scary) route through the mountains to watch the sunset by Chapman’s Peak. Canal Walk
We also got a chance to go to the mall and see a movie. Look at how huge the mall is! Maybe it doesn’t look that big to you all, but I’m in Africa! So that’s my Cape Town vacation! Hope you enjoyed!