Paul, Ute and Nikki's Blog: Cape Town, South Africa

After a sad good-bye to the rest of the 8inKenya gang, we caught our early morning flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on our way to South Africa, our final destination before heading home. It will be odd travelling in a small group of 3 after so many days 24/7 together as a team of 8. We only had a few hours stopover in Addis Ababa, but we saw the sunrise from the airport, and watched as the golden hills slowly appeared as dawn illuminated all around us. It looks like a beautiful place. We then caught our early flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, and then the last leg of our trip, to Cape Town, on the southern tip of Africa.

Our friend Caroline met us at the airport along with her partner Paul. We had met Caroline during our travels in 1989, and had kept in touch ever since. We met their children Ashton (15) and Chelsea (12). Over the past few days they took us around the cape. We went to the southern-most tip of Africa where the Atlantic and the Indian oceans meet. It was quite windy, which apparently was nothing compared to winter time in July. It's no wonder there are many shipwrecks below the surface of the water just off the shore.

We drove to Boulders Beach where the African Penguins hang out (& make out). We went to Kalk Bay to see seals, and we've seen all sorts of floral and plant species indigenous to this part of the world.

One of the most amazing things I heard was the stories of the baboons. For those of you plagued with pests like bugs, spiders, or mice in your houses, you should consider yourselves lucky, A problem in some neighbourhoods here are baboons. They come in groups of 10 or more, and if they get into your house, they trash the place looking for food. Some stand 4 or 5 feet tall. In the neighbourhoods that the baboons frequent, the houses have bars on the windows, not for burglars, but for the baboons. The baboons are so smart that when they can't get through the bars of an open window, they send in the baby baboons who then unlock and open the front door for the big ones to enter. They can open cupboards, fridges, and you can't confront one, as not only are they protected, but they are so strong they can take your arm off. They even wait at grocery stores for people to come out of the store, and then as a group they sometimes mug people for their groceries. They can open car doors, they will even lift glass sliding doors off the track to get inside a house. One guy at a mall was pinned up against the wall by 4 of them, they went through his pockets and tried to eat the guy's Blackberry when they found it. Pretty interesting. It is not like this all over, just in some neighbourhoods close to the mountains where they live.

I digress. Cape Town is a very beautiful place, I can see the remnants of the soccer matches last year as there is new development, especially at the airports, getting ready for the world to come in. There are beautiful beaches, though they come with shark spotters who watch the waters looking for sharks, and raise flags and use a siren when there is a recent sighting. It's a laid-back coastal town where all sorts of people live together, the original African tribes of the area, racial mixes, and white English and Dutch people, as well as the people who come down for 6 months a year from Europe to enjoy the southern summer. It is a mix of rich, middle class and very poor people, all living in the same city. Though it is mostly a developed country, quite different from any of the other African countries Iíve seen before, the many poor people begging for food reminds us that it still has a ways to go in its development. And the baboons and the sharks and the penguins and the seals are all reminders that we are encroaching in nature's territory here. Regardless of how developed this place gets, it is still Africa.

Paul