Day 3 of our Cape Town family vacation was probably the most eventful of the whole adventure. Because Jordan and I enjoyed the drive so much that we did the day before, we wanted to do it again and show our parents everything we saw. Luckily, it was on our way to Boulders Beach which is around an hour away from Cape Town. This, my friends, is where you find wild penguins.
I was a little disappointed when we first arrived there because there were a ton of people and we weren’t even able to step on the beach with these cute, little, tux-wearing creatures. Still, we took pictures and got to watch them waddle around in the sand.
We stopped for lunch at Monocle & Mermaid close to the beach which had some delicious, unique sandwiches. Then, made our way back down to another part of the beach.
This is where it gets good. We found an area that was less crowded and gated around the beach. As soon as we open the gate, one of those curious little guys comes waddling up towards us in the sand next to the sidewalk. Of course, I freak out and stop and take pictures. He posed for a moment and then moved into the bushes when he was done. We walked down a little further to find people playing in the water and lying out on the beach tanning and more penguins basking in the sun.
Now, there are signs in a few different areas asking people not to try to touch the penguins because they have razor sharp beaks. My mom was the rebel of the group. As soon as I see her lifting her arm to try to pet one, my brother, dad, and I all scream, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”, like it was slow motion. I still shake my head thinking about that.
After we took plenty of pictures, we checked under our car for any loose penguins, and headed to Cape Point.
Another thing we noticed on this drive is that there we signs about every half mile saying, “BABOONS ARE DANGEROUS AND WILD. KEEP DOORS LOCKED AND WINDOWS CLOSED“. After seeing about 8 of these I say, “Well we better see at least one baboon!”. I get my wish…
We climbed the steps to the top of Cape Point, made our way back down, then drove to the Cape of Good Hope. Beautiful. Just beautiful.
When we were driving back through the brush on our way out of the park, I started to get a little disappointed because we didn’t see any baboons. All of a sudden, Jordan has to slam on the breaks because Mama and Baby Baboon were crossing the road. At this moment, I’m taking pictures and my mom starts rolling down her window, which this is one thing the signs that are everywhere specifically say not to do. Again, we all scream, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”, and Mama Baboon turns around at this exact moment, and *snap*, I got the perfect picture. So, thanks Mom for breaking the rules.
As we drive a little further, we see about 10 more baboons just hanging out in the road, doing baboon things. This was my, “I can’t believe I’m actually in Africa”, moment. Pretty awesome.
