South Africa Day 10 - Table Mountain, Being Tourists and Teaching roller derby

We've only got a couple of days left of our holiday so we're up again this morning to head up to the top of Table Mountain. It's a short drive along the many mountain roads that link up the various areas of Cape Town, and we park up and join the back of the queue for tickets to the cable car. 

Erica and Steve set off a bit earlier than us and are enjoying a coffee at the top, as it was still in the clouds when they arrived, which is always a risk for anywhere up high with a view. The queue moves quite quickly though, and we're soon bundling into the large cable car to take us to the top. Once we're on the move, we discover the car itself rotates so that everyone on board gets a 360 view of the ascent. 

We get to the station at the top and go to find the others, grabbing a quick coffee ourselves on the way. It's quite windy but the clouds are clearing and the sun is bright in the sky. We set off around a short trail route which circles the area of the mountain top around the cable car station. On the way around, there is an assortment of large boulders which are perfect vantage points for taking pictures of the stunning view, and also posing in front of the impressive landscape of the horizon and the city below. There's wildlife up here too, with dassies darting in and out of the shade of the rocks and birds soaring overhead in the early afternoon sunshine. 

Further around the trail, there's an echoing canyon which is the source of much amusement for 5a few minutes. We continue along the pathway and arrive at a junction of sorts, where we can either head back to the station or explore a further part of the mountain. It's much more off the beaten track here, and there's a part of the route where we need to climb down a steep section with the help of a rope and iron fixings in the rock. It's also much quieter here, and it's great to be able to explore in a more peaceful environment. The sky has cleared now to a beautiful blue, and we traverse the uneven paths in the afternoon sun, marvelling at the fascinating rock structures and breathtaking scenery. We realise we're heading further into unknown territory and decide to trace our route back to the main path before it gets too late. 

We head back to the cable car and make the journey back down to the base, where we pick up our cars and hear to a nearby branch of Cape Town fish market for dinner. We start with a seafood plank, then I continue the seafood theme with more calamari for my main. It's unfortunately not quite as fresh as our lunch yesterday, but refuel us nonetheless, and we enjoy yet another beautiful sunset behind the mountains and over the bay. 

Craig and I are off to train with Cape Town Roller Derby tonight, so we say our goodbyes to Erica and Steve and head on our way to their venue. A couple of confused frowns at the satnav later, and we've found the sports hall and the familiar sight of colourful leggings and roller skates. It's a refereeing focused session, so after some quick pointers on technique for minimum skills with the whole league, we settle down to listen to Craig's wisdom and guidance on good reffing practice and relevant training. It's great to meet some of the skaters afterwards, and see how the sport has taken off worldwide. We have a quick beer and head back over the mountain range once again to our cosy Noordhoek cottage. It's gone midnight by the time we get home, and tomorrow is our last day before we return to the UK, so we head to bed for another peaceful night's sleep under South African sky.

South Africa Day 5 - Monkeyland, Mugg & Bean and a Massive Tree

We rise fairly early on a bright sunny morning, pack up our belongings and head out od the tranquil Antlers lodge grounds to see some of the sights on this part of the garden route. First up we head to Storms River bridge and grab a quick coffee. I have a red cappuccino from Mugg & Bean which is different but super tasty. I've had Rooibos before, but never as a cappuccino, and it goes very nicely with a giant date and walnut muffin. 

Next up is the Big Tree, which is what you'd expect to be honest. It's a big tree. The Knysna elephants used to roam wild here until poachers and logging drove them away and depleted their numbers. The trail through the woods to the site of the tree is along a pretty strip of decking, and when there aren't too many other tourists around it has quite the magical forest vibe. 

We leave the shade of the woodland and head on to Bloukraans Bridge, where there are scores of young travelers waiting to throw themselves into the canyon attached only to a piece of elastic around their ankles. OK, so it's actually a sturdy harness and the bungee company have a 100% safety record, but it's still a very long way down to be dangling upside down on a bouncy cord. We watch a few people sail through the air and hang around before heading up the road to our next adventure. 

Our next adventure happens to be Monkeyland, and I'm so excited I'm bouncing up and down in the car chanting "monkey, monkey, monkey" like a small child. We enter through a double gate and eagerly await the next tour with our guide, Felicia. First up we meet the 2 gibbons, who are playing together and munching on some apples.

Milling around our feet are the expressive vervet monkeys with their grey coats, and darting in and out of the trees around us are the smaller, golden coloured squirrel monkeys. Further up in the trees are spider monkeys, howlers with their distinctive and noisy call, and some bearded sakis which are a rare sight as they're so shy. 

Further along we see some black and white lemurs resting on various branches in the early afternoon sun, and then a group of ring tailed lemurs on a feeding plinth, their distinctive tails immortalised by the character Julien in the 2005 Dreamworks animation "Madagascar". Whilst we were told to stay at least 3 meters away from the monkeys so as not to disrupt their natural habitat, it's not always that easy, as they are obviously very accustomed to human visitors and seem totally at ease posing for pictures, lounging around in the sunshine and wandering between us as they please. So much of their behaviour is distinctly reminiscent of human interaction, it's amazing to see how each animal shows individual personality traits within a group dynamic. 

We continue to wander through the woodland taking pictures and spotting creatures up in the trees and on the ground, narrowly avoiding some falling droppings from a swinging monkey overhead. At the end of our tour, there are a couple of large cages for some special monkeys who are too old, injured or otherwise not suitable for roaming free throughout the forest grounds. There are owl monkeys who are nocturnal and would disturb the roosting birds, and tiny marmosets who are too small to set free into the vast woodland area without potentially getting lost forever. 

We reluctantly say our goodbyes and set off for Plettenberg Bay for a spot of lunch, but not before passing a group of boisterous baboons on the lane. Baboons roam wild in South Africa which is why they're out site the monkeyland boundaries. They can be quite vicious and there are signs along many of the highways advising motorists not to feed them. These guys seem content playing with each other though, which gives us an opportunity to lower the windows and snap a few pics, before driving slowly are carefully around them back to the main road. 

We head to the lookout, a little restaurant right on the waterfront that's full of locals. There aren't many big signposts and it's off the main strip down some narrow winding roads, so I'm glad we had some local knowledge from the South African half of our group to take us here. We share some oysters and amazingly tasty king prawns to start, then I enjoy a fantastic wrought iron bowl of mussels washed down with sparkling water and mopped up with a crusty roll and butter, as we watch the kite surfers in catching the coastal winds offshore.

Full of tasty crustaceans, we head back out on the road towards Oudtshoorn where we'll stay the night. It gets dark really quickly this far South in the world, and the sunset casts a golden glow as we drive into the silhouetted mountain region. We arrive at our guesthouse and are shown to our rooms, which are basic but comfortable enough. Erica and Steve are in a room adjoined to the main house where the owners live, and Craig and I are in a shared house which has a very friendly backpacker feel to it. We settle in and head out to dinner, to a restaurant recommended by our hosts. Oudtshoorn is Ostrich farming district, so it seems only right that we all order ostrich! We're certainly not disappointed, each of us thoroughly enjoying the tasty and healthy meat. We finish up with some desserts, and head back to settle for the night as we've got a long drive to get to Cape Town the next day, and we want to fit in some more adventures along the way!