Cycadian Rhythm

Our last day in Cape Town, and we had not done everything we had planned. Some indecision, a bit of stomach unease on my part, more tiredness than we expected: it all led to us having less time and more to do than expected. We began by talking with Don, who insisted that we go to Kirstenbosch. He said it is world class and well worth the visit. He would take us to the bus, which would get us there. So, in spite of my reluctance, we went with that plan, and perhaps some beach in the afternoon. On that front, Don has suggest Kalk Bay, because it would have less wind than other places, and was quite a pretty little town to boot.

So we were off, and very pleasantly surprised by the gardens. A wonderfully divers, and amazingly presented, garden of plants native to South Africa, along ith open public spaces for people to gather.






The "cycad" in the title refers to the type of plant in the above photo. I will include some pictures of them further along. They have been on this earth since the time of the dinosaurs, and survived the Great Extinction to go on and be part of our world (only to be threatened, of course, by humans). The look like palms, but aren't. They have fruiting bodies that resemble the cones of conifers, but they aren't that. The have two genders of plants. And the leaves are very tough and sharp, not fine at all. The reminded me of some of the tree ferns I had seen in Australia.






There were lots of other things there as well. One of these was a tree-top walk among the native forest that was still (or again) present.





Not as many birds as I would have expected. But interesting, nonetheless. In all, we spent a very pleasant three hours there, before catching a taxi to Kalk Bay. And that as well was an adventure. I have maintained an Uber virginity, but this time used Uber on Don's recommendation. It was a pretty seamless experience, actually quite nice. We got a young man with a pretty modern car, an immigrant from Zimbabwe, and a good talker. Turns out that a lot of the drivers are from Zimbabwe. They rent cars to drive for Uber (to own their own car is very expensive in South Africa), so the first R2000 - R2500 (about CDN$200) per week made goes to the owner of the car. They work long hours, but that's the work they can get. We talked about Mugabe, and the need to dispose him. We talked about the discrimination that the immigrants get from native South Africans (white and black). We talked about the government's policies in SA. A good political trip as well as a pleasant actual trip. And we got to the ocean, found the restaurant we were looking for, ate some lunch and then went down to the water. Not as sandy a place as some of the other beaches we had visited, but sunny and warm, and welcoming.





Another Uber to get us back to Cape Town, and we saw why we were directed to a bay where the wind was less. Back in town, the wind almost took us off our feet. Darlene was chasing her hat down the street. And we both had to be careful not to get going too fast down hill pushed by the wind until we fell. It was actually a bit scary.

And so went our last full day. A pizza at home in the B&B, some packing, and to bed. For the next day, we got onto Rovos for our trip to Pretoria.

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Location:Stellenbosch Gardens, Cape Town