April 12-13, 2026
The first thing we noticed about Cape Town was its impressive geology. The flat-topped mountain in the photo is Table Mountain, and it’s within the city limits. (It’s said that if it’s over 2,000 feet it’s a mountain, and Table Mountain comes in at about 3,500 feet.)
In addition to interesting mountains, Cape Town has beautiful beaches.
On Sunday, we visited penguins. These are Boulders’ Penguins, and they’re the only penguins on the African continent. (Or so we were told. We didn’t check all the beaches.) This photo is of a waddle of penguins. (That’s what they call a group of penguins, and yes, we had to look it up,)
Sunday evening we went to an ‘African Drumming & Dinner’ and we had a delightful time. Dottie wore a bead necklace made by Zulu craftsmen.
We began the evening with a drumming lesson. Each of the 200 or so dinner guests was given a drum like the one in the photo, and we were taught simple rhythms. We were first taught to play three beats, pause, play another three beats, and then stop, Of the 200 people, there were always two fools who didn’t think to stop. Mal didn’t find out who the other one was.
Dinner was twelve courses of African foods. The left photo shows sweet potato croquettes, spinach patties and meat samosas. The right photo is lamb curry, shrimp, eggplant couscous, and sesame coleslaw.
During dinner we watched very energetic African dancers, and our hosts did face paintings.
On Monday, we went to Seal Island and a wine and chocolate pairing at the Groot Constantia Estate. We boarded a boat in Hout Bay, and travelled to Seal Island. The captain brought us to within about 10 feet of the rocks. This didn’t bother us – the water was warm and it wasn’t our boat. The seals were lounging and enjoying the sun. One apparently wanted a little more attention so he came back to the dock.
At the Groot Constantia Estate, which we were told means Big Constantia, we paired five wines with chocolates, in the tasting room in the photo. We started with a rose wine and white chocolate and proceeded to more robust wines and darker chocolates. The photo of the chocolate samples shows the kinds of wines the winery paired with the chocolates. Yes, we’re bringing home a bar of each of the chocolates.
Next stop, Namibia,
Dottie and Mal
The city is known for its harbour, its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for landmarks such as Table Mountain and Cape Point. It has been named the best city in the world, and world’s best city for travelers, numerous times.
The metropolitan area has a long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, which includes a northern section in the West Beach region, as well as the False Bay area in the south. The Table Mountain National Park is within the city boundaries and there are several other nature reserves and marine-protected areas within and adjacent to the city. These include Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, which contains 5 of South Africa’s 6 biomes, and displays many plants native to the Cape region.