Cape town, South Africa Photo Gallery

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA PHOTO GALLERY

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The V & A Waterfront


Approaching Cape Town Harbor - Note the clouds drifting over Table Mountain. Locals call it "the Tablecloth", a meterological phenomenon that causes clouds to tumble down the mountain slopes like billowing fabric.		The waterfront is full of shops and restaurants

	Leaving the ship for our tour to Robben Island

	Shop selling huge sculptures

Ferry to Robben Island	Robben Island is a World Heritage Site. The prison here was used to hold political rebels during the apartheid era, including Nelson Mandela.	View of Table Mountain from Robben Island

Robben Island was a former Leper Colony. This is the Leper Cemetary	Prison inmates were forced to work in the limestone quarry in the hot and blinding sun	Prison Grounds with Mosque on the island.

Prison	Our tour guide was a former inmate in the prison.	Prisoners carried an ID which spelled out information about him.

Photo of prisoners including Nelson Mandela	Nelson Mandela's cell

Beautiful Sandy Beaches as seen on our all day tour of the Cape Penninsula.

The peaks of the 12 Apostles are in the background


Houts Bay	Carsons at Clifton Bay	Chapman's Peak Drive

		Simon's Town



		Souvenir Shop

Stop at Ostrich Farm

Penguin Crossing Sign - they were nesting on a nearby beach	African Penguins - an endangered species	Also called "Jackass" Penguins because of the braying sound they make

These are similar to the Magellanic Penguins we saw in Antarctica

Visit to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens - a World Heritage Site	Garden was founded in 1913 to promote and conserve the flora of southern Africa, the first indigenous botanical garden in the world.	Mandela Bird of Paradise - a special species developed here to honor him.

Over 4500 species of plants in the garden, many endangered.		Pea Hens and their chicks

Beautiful sculptures line the walkways		Herschel, Liz, Thelma and Herb

The garden contains many different species of protea. The King Protea is South Africa's National Flower




	Baobab Tree - called the Tree of Life due to its useage as food and shelter for many animals

Panorama view of Cape Town from Table Mountain


Our hotel - Fountains Hotel - in center of downtown Cape Town	We took the HopOn-HopOff bus for a 2 hour tour around Cape Town	The first part of the tour went through the central part of the city

	The court house	The right hand bench outside the court house reads "Non-whites only". The one on the left was for whites. A reminder of apartheid days.

		The Castle of Good Hope

	Flea Market

		The weather was finally nice - no wind or clouds so Table Mountain was open. We got off the bus to take the cable car to the top.

The cable car has a capacity of 65 people. The floor of the cable car rotates so everyone gets a 360 degree panoramic view	Cape Town and Lions Head	Terminus of Cable Car at top of Table Mountain. The highest point is 3300 ft.

Love the word "hooter"	The views from the top were spectacular	Table Mountain is part of the Cape Floristic Region World Heritage Site and has over 1400 different species of flora.

	View of Clifton Bay

One of many beautiful paths around the top of Table Mountain	Erica	Watsonia

View of Table Bay		View of Cape Town Harbor



You can see Robben Island in the distance



We hopped back on the Red Bus to complete our tour and return to the hotel	The return was along the coast	Today, since the weather was nice, people were enjoying the beaches

	One of several statues of swimmers in different poses that line the promenade along the beach	The houses/condos are built above the beach and parking is on top of them.