Saturday, May 7, 2005

Dénouement: Cape Town

These photos click to larger versions.

Sunset sky as we fly to Cape Town. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Table Mountain as seen from our window.

One of the many moods of Table Mountain: enshrouded in clouds.

Seals on dock of the very busy waterfront, as seen from our window.

CAPE TOWN — After a rich, varied, and jam-packed, day in Kimberley, we once again boarded our plane which climbed southwest toward Cape Town, the final stop on our South African journey. We’ll never forget the sunset that evening. As if to remind us of the luscious fruits we’ve savored daily during our stay here, the sky seemed drizzled with passion fruit, papaya and apricot, folded into a strata of strawberry and blackberry purees. Since we were headed west, the glow seemed to last forever.

Cape Town is a delight, just as we remembered it. Below our window, harbor seals lolled and barked, jostling each other for space on the docks, safe from the sharks that allegedly enjoy seal morsels. Beyond the harbor, Table Mountain towered and transformed, from moment to moment, as cloud forms tumbled and draped over the flat “tabletop” summit. Steve took many photographs to capture on camera the shifting clouds and sunshine that illuminated the mountain’s rock in the changing light. The days are flying by. Yesterday we explored the waterfront and the African markets. Later we drove north to the Cape wine regions, enjoying not only tastes of South African wines, but also the seventeenth century Dutch architecture and craggy peaks near Stellenbosch.

This afternoon we made it to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern-most point of the African continent. We were blessed with moments of sunlight between the showers, and marveled at the energies of the merging Atlantic and Indian oceans, as well as at the spectacular view down over the rocky terrain as it appeared to cascade into the sea. Tomorrow we’ll head for the airport and the first leg of our journey home. Looks like we’d better start packing.

Steve & Judy

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