day four

Table Mountain dominates the landscape in Cape Town. It's size means that it never fades into the distance, and can be seen towering over the city at all times - except of course when it is completely hidden by cloud. It's a little eerie when this happens as for a newcomer to the city, the mountain is used as a means of navigation, however when it disappears you get a feeling off being lost in a desert of roads without being sure of where they are leading you.

This morning we had brunch with Lindsay and Deliliah before driving up to Table Mountain in the hope that the day would stay clear and we would be able to take the cable car up to the viewing point. Although each day so far had been warm, the cloud was incredibly unpredictable and would change several times daily. By the time we reached the cable car the sun was beaming down on us and there wasn't a cloud to be seen, it was however too windy for us to take the trip up and the cable car was closed.

From there we decided to visit Chapman's Peak again, this time in the light of day. We made it all the way to the Cape of Good Hope which is the most south-western point on the African Continent. To get there we drove for hours through National Park, seeing wild baboons along the way.

We were invited to dinner with Lindsay's family which was across the other side of town. We decided to avoid Cape Town (and the traffic) and drive along the coast and then through the rural areas outside of town. Looking at our map we navigated a journey and after driving along the coast for some time we headed inland. It wasn't long after we had turned off we noticed discarded rubbish covering the landscape, as we drove further we noticed some of the settlers homes (slums) that we'd seen on the way out of the airport. It was fascinating to drive past and thinking they would pass quickly we continued on. This wasn't the case though and we found ourselves getting deeper and deeper into the slum. We stood out like a sore thumb as we were not only driving a much nicer car than those on the streets, but we were the only white people. We dared not take a photograph and tried to find our way out using our very basic map. After about 20 minutes, having driven through kilometre after kilometre of makeshift housing, shops and roadside stalls we found our way out and back onto the major highway. By now it was dark.

When we arrived at Lindsay's house we told him of our detour and he and his family were astounded that we'd made it out without being carjacked, recommending we don't get creative with our driving again and stick only to the roads we know.