World Penguin Day

Where better than Boulder's Beach in South Africa on World Penguin Day? Nowhere if you want to see the African penguin, also known as the jackass penguin and black-footed penguin. It is confined to southern African waters and is known as the "jackass" penguin for its donkey-like bray. Adults weigh on average 2.2–3.5 kg (4.9–7.7 lb) and are 60–70 cm (24–28 in) tall. It has distinctive pink patches of skin above the eyes and a black facial mask; the body upper parts are black and sharply delineated from the white underparts, which are spotted and marked with a black band. The pink gland above their eyes helps them to cope with changing temperatures. When the temperature gets hotter, the body of the African penguin sends more blood to these glands to be cooled by the air surrounding it. This then causes the gland to turn a darker shade of pink.

 This is what is hiding behind that fence: a nesting penguin.

 You looking at me?

 Catching some rays on the sand. The juveniles are brownish fur balls.

 Me and my shadow.

 Everyone in the pool!

 Everyone out of the pool!

 View across the bay to Fish Hoek.

 Kayakers in the kelp heading towards the penguins.

 Adult sitting over the chick, keeping it cool.

 Some use the shelters provided by the park for their nests.

 Teenage years are hard!

Little penguin and big boulders!

Peace my friends!

Not All Doom and Gloom in SA

Whilst at cookery school, Kirsty heard about Morgenster Wine and Olive Estate in Somerset West. Somehow, our driving route to Fish Hoek passed fairly close to Morgenster, so we just had to stop by for an olive oil tasting at 10 in the morning. Founded in 1711, Morgenster is considered one of the top olive oil producers in the world.

View from our table.

All of the oils were delicious, especially the white truffle and lemon infused oils!

After the tasting, we stopped next door at the Vergelegen Vineyard for a stroll through the magnificent grounds. Founded in 1700, the vineyards and buildings have since been restored and it competes with the top 100 wines of the world. The historic buildings are a thing of beauty.

The big house and octagonal garden. Sharry's kind of garden!

 Nice walkway colors!

 Huge camphor trees, planted around 1700!

Random dude added for perspective on tree size.

 Thatched roof from local reeds.

Nice!

Vrede my friends!

Contrasts

I am struck by the contrasts of beauty and ugliness here in South Africa:

This is Brenton-on-Sea, a beautiful beach area that one is safe to enjoy, but only during the day, and only if one is with others. At other places we are instructed to please enjoy the beautiful cliff walks into town, but don't go after dark, don't go alone, and don't take valuables with you. Same in the towns and cities. Don't take an evening stroll around your neighborhood, don't take the train, don't drive through areas with townships, don't stop on the freeway as it is a high crime area (by airport). Don't stop at traffic lights in certain areas, drive through the red light if clear. Keep your windows rolled up and doors locked. These admonitions are from the tourist literature and the government! People lock themselves in their homes with their alarms and razor wire. Sad really.

 Electric fences are common in Cape Town.

 Razor wire and barbed wire is everywhere. It is odd the house that doesn't have it or spikes.

And everyone has an armed guard security service sign. We frequently see the ADT guards driving around in their vans with their flak jackets on. The armed guards adding money to ATM machines have machine gun toting guards stationed around the machines as they are filled.

We are in Fish Hoek now. It is supposedly one of the safer areas in the Cape Town region. Less razor wire, so that is good.

On a more uplifting note, here are two pictures:

Kirsty holding up a rock in Tsitsikamma National Park.

Locals fishing at Brenton-on-Sea.

Peace my friends!

A Couple of Observations

A couple of things about South Africa so far: first is that there are many, many people on the roads, in the roads, standing or sitting beside the roads. Some are walking, some are standing there holding out a 10 or 20 rand note to try and get a ride, some are just sitting. Very few of the poor folks have cars, and must rely on bakkies (a van usually, or truck), or hitchhiking to get around. Bakkies are very inexpensive transport and are often seen crammed full of people, hurtling down the road. They serve specific routes and are often seen stopped wherever they please, letting people get on in a jiffy, before slamming the door and speeding off to the next stop. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so dangerous.

Black African, Colored, White and Asian or Indian folks here. Terms used by the government in their census which shows Black Africans at 79%, Colored and Whites at 9% each, and Asian or Indian at 2.5%. Almost all of the service industry and menial jobs are done by blacks. Wages are very low here, some as low as 80 cents an hour. That is .80 Rand. 15 Rand is a US dollar. Yikes!

Speaking of service… In a restaurant or cafe, it can often take a bit of time to get served, get your food, or your bill. Even when there are very few customers. And we aren’t in any particular hurry to get served or to leave. Some times one has to go looking for the staff to pay up. You might find them all standing together talking, or looking at their phones. Or just standing there. At first it seemed like the idea of customer service was a very new concept that hadn’t been around more than a week or two. Now, we see that that is how it is for the large majority of places we have been. And it is not that they are rude or dismissive (like some French waiters!), but I think they just don’t give a crap. But in a polite way. And that’s okay too. 

And so it goes...

Peace my friends!

Tsitsikamma National Park

We went to the Storm's River section of Tsitsikamma National Park for a bit of a wander. The park covers about 50 miles along the coast and is near the Bloukrans Bridge which is known for being the highest bungee jump in the world (709ft). Needless to say, we steered clear of that nonsense. I love the colors of the rocks here!

 Baboons on the rocks!

 The vegetation comes right down to the shoreline.

So lush!

 Kirsty on one of the bridges.

 At the start of the trail to the bridges.

Peace my friends!