Simonstown – we’re in South Africa!
Having got to the airport in loads of time, we then had a bit of a scare as our flight was announced as being an hour late – and our transfer time in Frankfurt was only 1 hour 20 minutes. But we were collected off the plane by a vis jacketed assistant and taken along back ways through the airport and briefly on our own private bus until we ended up pretty much at the front of the boarding queue for our Cape Town flight! Anyway, a relentless 11:45 flight through the night segued us into Friday…
…where we landed at 8:20, got in our car rental by 9:15, and reached our accommodation by 10:00. So this left us with the rest of the day to go exploring. Pottered along the penguin colony party at boulders Beach, taking in the solid rank smell of the thousands of penguins. Didn’t see any of the striped mice we read can often be spotted among the penguins. We also tried for otters in a couple of different places along the east coast, but no luck apart from a couple of Southern Right Whales swimming quite close to the shore near Fish Hoek. Good devilled chicken livers in Simons Town at the Lighthouse cafe. Good burger at Imhoff Farm in the evening, but generally a low key arrival in Africa.
We’ve arrived in South Africa to spend 4 days on the Cape looking for the Cape Clawless Otter that has eluded us on two other African adventures. But that’s just a prelude: then we fly off to Namibia, for 12 days of dedicated mammal watching around the country, including 3 nights in the amazing Etosha National Park. Tomorrow our otter hunt starts in earnest! Our hosts, Janet and Charles, have offered to take us for a walk along the beach where they “often” spot otters. Fingers crossed!
Penguin
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