A Rookie Mistake

There’s few things more dangerous than deciding what a blog post title is before actually writing any of the content. Since I made the mistake of opting for a finance degree vs. something slightly more practical (say journalism, english, physics, anything else), I’ve had to learn this writing thing on the fly (I know, it shows). Luckily, 2025 has been a year with a lot of content. Since the last post, Harriet and I have moved, got married, both started new jobs(!), and most importantly, got a dog. Surely, no one is as interested in any of those life events as they would be a multi leg trip across Southern Africa, so this post will be a blast from the past.

Travel “Perks”

In my initial trip itinerary posted a lifetime ago, or in 2025 terms 10-months ago, we only had four destinations remaining; Newark NJ, Cape Town SA, Victoria Falls ZWE, and Savuti BWA. I’m fairly certain that the only time Newark and Cape Town get mentioned in the same sentence is when United Flight 1122 is on the agenda. Compared to all flights we’d completed on our journey so far, this was the one I was most looking forward to. As a fairly tall person, it wasn’t the 15-hour flight time that drew me in, but rather the dichotomy of places that you can only experience via air travel. Getting on the plane in New Jersey and exiting in the Western Cape was a 21st century marvel (I also recognize that air travel isn’t without its downsides, but more on that later). Prior to takeoff, I was mid-punch bowl in the consulting kool-aid as I got to tell my future sister and brother-in-law that I was able to “upgrade” them to an extra two inches of legroom in economy plus via United status. Thankfully, they remained benevolent even when our economy “plus” seats meant a tight squeeze three-across while the rest of the plane was empty.

At this point, I should note that we ended the self-guided portion of our trip and opted for guided trips on the majority of our Africa legs. While Cape Town can be self-guided (and I have some family members that rave by that option), our trip’s matriarch wisely opted for the guided option for the duration of our African trip. Upon landing in Cape Town, the first thing I noticed was the relevant sparsity of the airport. While Cape Town is the fifth busiest airport in Africa, it would hardly crack the top 30 in the US (closer to Austin and Honolulu than LAX, the #5 in the US). After clearing customs, we were greeted by our rather imposing tour guide, Albert. Albert certainly had some Gandalf qualities in that he was in his late 50’s/60’s, had an impeccable beard, and was about to lead a group of misfits around a startlingly beautiful place. He was a native of the Western Cape who, given his age demographics, had witnessed remarkable changes in a country he loved to share with others.

Kaapstad

The drive from the airport to the center of Cape Town is one that will always sit in my memory for how surprising it all was. Before coming to SA, I did a less than stellar job about understanding where I was going. Like many millennials, South Africa was introduced to me with the World Cup in 2010 and well…Shakira. Of course, I understood some of the horrible history of apartheid, but it’s not exactly a core tenet in the US curriculum (I wonder why…). With a guided tour, I was particularly lazy about understanding where we’d be going and I was upset with myself as soon as we landed, because I knew I’d only be absorbing a small percentage of what I could be. Luckily, Albert was more than capable of making up for my shortcomings and had explanations for everything. Within our first hour in SA, Albert gave us insight into the black market busing system, pointed to the hospital where the first human heart transplant was conducted, and added some very strongly worded safety tips. I’m certain that nearly every South African in his age bracket has amazing stories, but his insights were invaluable to understanding just how much we had to see in three days.

After some much needed sleep, our first day out in Cape Town took us to the Cape of Good Hope. Hailing from Southwestern Connecticut, I thought I understood in detail how the Gini Index worked. For those less familiar, the Gini Index, is a measure of inequality that quantifies the distribution of wealth or income within a nation. Essentially, it’s a reading of how far apart the wealthiest and poorest individuals in society are. Unfortunately, South Africa has been #1 on the Gini index for multiple years running, and our experience made those official statistics feel overwhelmingly accurate. Of all of the places we’d been over our trip, there was not a road as naturally beautiful as Victoria Road along the coast of Cape Town. The views of the Atlantic are incredible, and the cliffs leave any driver speechless. On narrow roads, Albert calmly pointed at landmarks as we watched cyclists go by on $20,000+ bikes. The bikes and multi-milion dollar homes stood in stark contrast to roadside settlements that dotted the route. With a bit of uneasiness, we finally arrived at the Cape of Good Hope which was hardly the most beautiful view of the day. On our return journey to Cape Town, Albert managed to convince us to stop in at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. With only 45 mins to closing, Albert asserted that this stop was meant to be only highlights. Quickly, I realized the cruelty in Albert’s directions in that everything at Kirstenbosch is a highlight. Luckily, in our mad dash across the grounds, we saw one of the world’s last living Cyad trees. Cyad trees, like so many other resources on their native continent, were illegally poached to their extinction and only remain in captivity. This was, unfortunately, excellent foreshadowing, but was not obvious enough at the time to put a damper on a simply outstanding first day.

Shark Week!!

As a kid, I knew the waters off of Cape Town for their role in shark week. The chance to view Great Whites was for years a massive tourist attraction to Cape Town. However, due to some Great White obsessed Orcas (Not Kidding), this attraction has been diminished and now tourists get to see the wealth of wildlife that thrives in the brisk South Atlantic. While we considered doing our best “My Octopus Teacher” remake for our second day, Albert recommended a combined trip to see both the seals and penguins of the south coast. The views off the coast of Cape Town were stunning and almost numbingly so at this point. Due to some questionable boat driving from our captain, we were only able to see the seals from a distance. However, much to our surprise the penguins were nowhere to be found. Upon returning from our boat ride, Albert calmly explained that the penguin colony is now limited to only a small string at Boulder’s Beach which we’d have to drive to. Previously, penguins feasted in the waters off of Cape Town (approximately 1.5 Million in 1900) but with massive overfishing by foreign entities and little to no government oversight, the penguin population has dwindled to less than 10,000. Like all conservation movements, a dedicated group of locals have done their part to protect penguin habitat and recently won a court case to enforce fishing regulations as of March 2025. As one French tourist learned after attempting to pick up a penguin and being accosted by Albert, some locals are certainly sick of having their natural resources abused without consent.

What Else?

By this time, the family unit needed a collective break so for our third day, Harriet and I opted for a hike up Lion’s Hea to start the day. It would be a disservice to Albert not to mention that he had taken us to Table Mountain the day before, but waiting for a cable car was not an experience I would not like to relive or make anyone still reading at this point sit through again. We had a guide for our trek up Lion’s Head before sunrise, and much to our surprise found the trail full of headlamps with similar intentions. Normally, we would not hike with a guide, but due to some recent trouble on the trail we opted for someone who knew their way around. Luckily for us our guide happened to be the mayor of this particular trail (completing it nearly 400 times per year) so he made us feel at home as he said hello to all the locals. The view at sunrise was as expected, and we were soon at the peak with a small crowd of very happy hikers. From Lion’s Head, one can see nearly all of the beauty of Cape Town Harbor including Robben Island. At this point of our trip, I was about a third of the way through Mandela’s book “A Long Walk to Freedom,” and the view of the island was striking from this perspective. To me, these moments of beauty mixed with darkness had personified our trip to Cape Town so far. 

In retrospect, three days was not nearly enough time in Cape Town. As Albert bid us adieu at the airport on the last day, I made a promise to come back to wild camp through Namibia with him at some point in the future (a promise Harriet was slightly less thrilled about). After another Gandalf-esque pep talk, he sent us on our way to Zimbabwe.

Note: I’m simply the wrong person to write the food review from Cape Town, but nearly everything we ate was delicious and very affordable. My brother and sister in law would be much better qualified so I will do my best to get their takes if you’re planning a trip.

Thanks for (still) reading,

Andrew & Harriet