South Africa: where I've seen thing you people wouldn't believe. The mighty hippo's nostrils. I watched mad taxis glitter in the dark near every stop. Sudden storms like tears from ten billions eyes. Beautiful people in a fantastic country. Time to remember.

The Baboons and the Penguins at the end of the world

Another early start.
Time time the destination was the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. I've always wondered, since I was a kid at school, how the first europeans reacted when they finally saw the end of this huge continent called South Africa. Finally, I could test almost the same emotions, only few hundred years later. I've been always late on this kind of experience.

Driving from Cape Town to Cape Point was already worth the price of my trip. Imagine driving along the coastline, mountain with falling rocks on your left, the atlantic ocean on your right, and only few cars and many cyclists. The trip was long, maybe tiring for the poor Lindsey (so far she was the only one driving me around), but after two hours we almost reached the natural park where the cape point is located.

The traffic stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere, where a huge family of baboons invaded the path and we had to wait till they were all gone. Minutes later, and many and many curves later, we arrived at cape point, where probably all the tourists in South Africa decided to take a look.

Short walk to the Lighthouse and there they were: the two oceans, merging with each other: the calm and salty Indian Ocean, and the cold and wavy Atlantic. Few sights in my life moved me like this one. I know it sounds corny, but describing it is difficult, and even a picture can't capture the magic of that place. You have to move your damn asses, once in your lifetime, and come to see it.

We walked even farther to reach the end of the coastline, almost to the old lighthouse, many meters below the new one. Even closer to the action. I could almost hear a voice : "Ladies and gentleman, at your left, in the red corner, the Indian Ocean, at your right, in the blue corner, the Atlantic Ocean!"



I took many pictures, but they will never be enough to capture the flavor and the smell of the place...

Back to the car, and this time I decided to give Lindsey some rest and drive on the other side of the coast, on the Indian Ocean. Now, this was my first time driving on the wrong (english) side of the road, on a car with the steering wheel on the wrong (english) side of the car. Keeping the car in the right position, not too close to the other cars coming from the opposite lane or not too close to the sideways was tricky, but somehow, thanks to my genuine talent as a pro driver (I just can't park, that's it), I managed it.

We stopped in Boulders, to see the animals I would never expect to find in South Africa, with a boiling sun in a boiling summer: penguins. Yes, penguins. There are different types of penguins, mainly four or five, and the African Penguins, called Jackass Penguins because of their love making style. I always associate penguins with ice and snow and Santa Claus. But Christmas in South Africa is about braais (barbecues) and summer and shorts and bikini, so probably everything fits just perfectly.

After spending a good hour filming and observing the hundreds of funny penguins - they still walk like their Arctic counterparts - we drove to Fish Hoack, had some food and tried the Indian Ocean, but the small waves and the quantity of salt made it a poor contender to "ocean of the year", compared to the Atlantic.

Back in Cape Town at almost sunset time, we decided to go up to the Table Mountain, via the funicular, and after a long, long, very long queue, we enjoyed the sunset and the darkness and the lights and the panorama and another great place at the top of the mountain, watching Cape Town enjoying the night many hundreds of meters below us.

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