After leaving the penguins at Boulders Beach, we continue to head south down the Cape Peninsula. Our next stop, at the extreme southern end of the peninsula, is the Cape of Good Hope.
The geography of the Cape Peninsula consists of rock of the so-called Cape Supergroup which includes Table Mountain that we’ve already seen. Here is what much of the countryside looks like.
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| Cape Peninsula Countryside |
We’re still in the Cape Floristic Kingdom here on the Cape Peninsula with fynbos vegetation, here the sub-varieties are known as the Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos, which is endangered and endemic to the peninsula.
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| Cape Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos |
There are two well-known land fauna in the Cape Peninsula, one of which we saw and the other of which we only saw signs – literally. Let’s look at the one we saw – and it is an old friend.
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| Ostrich on Cape Peninsula |
There are a couple of ostrich farms on the Cape Peninsula and I’m assuming that this guy (and remember how you can tell he’s male) is part of one of those farms. We’ll talk about the other critter in our next post.
The cape area is well known for its stormy weather. In fact Dias first called it the Cape of Storms. And the day we visited the cape, in late winter, it showed its stormy and rapidly changing weather pattern. Just pay attention to the sky in the photos in this post and the previous and next posts. Be assured that these were all taken in the same day, in the same general area.
Both Dias, and Vasco Da Gama were among the very first Europeans to sail in this area. Portugal, their native country, has seen fit to provide honors for them here as well as navigational beacons. In the Cape Peninsula here is a Dias Cross and a Gama Cross which form one line. Two other beacons in Simon’s Town, where we have already visited, form another line. These two lines meet at Whittle Rock, a large submerged rock (and thus a shipping hazard) in False Bay. Here is the Gama Cross unless it is the Dias Cross – I don’t know how to tell them apart and no one told me which one I was photographing when I did so.
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| Gama or Dias Cross |
Along the road on the way to the Cape of Good Hope, inside the National Park, is Skaife’s Barn, a rustic, thatched roof structure.
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| Skaife's Barn |
The barn is named in honor of Sydney Skaife, even though he never lived there. But who is he? Let's start by making the political comment that he comes from the good branch of the family that uses a "k" instead of a "c" in the name.
Skaife was born in England on December 12, 1889 and came to Cape Town at the age of 23 to teach biology. He later became an important research entomologist with several important studies and was President of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa in 1940. But he is honored here because of his efforts in founding the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, which later became the Cape Point Section of the Cape Peninsula National Park (and which is now known as Table Mountain National Park).
As we near the Cape of Good Hope itself, we see the ocean and the sky is clouding up. Storms may be brewing. Now, since we’re north of the cape on the western side, we can be sure that this ocean is the Atlantic.
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| Atlantic Ocean near the Cape of Good Hope |
When we reach the cape itself, do we see the boundary between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans? Well, let’s first look at the cape.
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| Cape of Good Hope |
The Cape, by the way, is behind those people who are not wearing capes.
But what does the sign say – “The most south-western point on the African continent.” Humm – seems like an important proviso – “western.” The Cape of Good Hope is not the southernmost point on the Africa Continent. That distinction belongs to the much less known Cape Agulhas, about 90 miles east-southeast.
So, then where is the boundary between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean? Well, it’s complicated. The International Hydrographic Organization notes that Cape Agulhas is the western boundary of the Indian Ocean and thus the Southeast boundary of the South Atlantic Ocean. This is touted by the tourist bureau in Cape Agulhas.
Wikipedia, perhaps under the influence of the Cape Town tourist bureau, notes that the currents of the two oceans, which differ in temperature, move, depending on the time of year and other conditions, between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point and thus the boundary moves, although as we’ll learn in the next post, Cape Point is not the same as the Cape of Good Hope so even if Cape Point is where the oceans divide, it is not here. This location also can’t be the division between the oceans for another important reason – there is no black dotted line on the water (joke alert). But, when a ship is following the African coastline from the equator, the Cape of Good Hope is the place when the ship begins to travel in a more eastward direction (which it couldn’t do earlier because land is in the way).
The Cape of Good Hope has the advantage in this dispute of being first, being in many more books and memories of school children, being closer to a major city (around 30 miles from Cape Town center) and having a much more impressive sign. I make the last comparison having seen the sign at the Cape of Good Hope but only seen pictures of the sign at Cape Agulhas.
As we leave the Cape of Good Hope, let’s take a closer look at that nice rocky structure that is behind us in the previous photo.
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