Today we started the morning with an early morning hike up Lion’s Head, a towering peak that we’ve admired from our guesthouse now for almost two weeks. The lion of Lion’s Head sits in the middle of Cape Town and you can hike a spiraling trail up its neck and mane to the top if its head for stunning views of Table Mountain to one side, the Clifton beaches and Camps Bay in another direction, and downtown Cape Town on the other side. The lion itself stretches into another area of the city called Sea Point, which is where we plan to watch the sunset tomorrow night.

The hike was uphill pretty much the entire time and culminated with a rocky scramble before finally reaching the flat peak. We hung out at the top and watched clouds roll over the lower parts of the mountain before descending into the mist ourselves.

After the hike we packed our day packs, met Rosie, and headed to a local market in a square downtown to forage for lunch. We took a mini road trip in the afternoon to head south, which culminated in a visit to the Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern-most point of Africa!

Along the way we drove over mountain passes to visit Simon’s Town, a cute beachside town with lots of Cape Dutch architecture, and Boulder’s Beach, home to the African Penguin!

The drive down the coast to the Cape of Good Hope was stunning, and took us through the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. We passed baboons snacking on the side of the road, wild eland, and wild springbok hanging out on the ocean. We spent some time tide-pooling along the rocky coast and found starfish, sea anemones, some really gross, rope-looking seaweed, and lots of barnacle-like creatures. There were seals lounging on a rock where the waves broke; the water was frigid as it arrived to the shores direct from Antarctica; and yellow flowers were blooming across the hillsides. It was a beautiful afternoon.

For dinner Rosie invited us to an event celebrating the opening of a new market in her neighborhood of Woodstock in Cape Town. The market had tons of stalls and was an even hipper side of Cape Town than we’d seen so far. One stall in particular called the “Insect Experience” was serving dishes prepared with insects as the protein and included mealworm spaghetti! We returned after a full day to prepare for our last day in Cape Town and Khayelitsha.

— Anna & Peter