save a frog, save yourself

As I've mentioned before, the Boo, like his mother, is not real thrilled to do the same thing everyday no matter how much he enjoys it. Even though he loves his preschool, he occasionally needs a mid-week break. On Tuesday this week, I came home from my morning workout ready to rush him off to school, but instead of jumping in the car, he  asked to stay home and play with me. Knowing full well the time is fast approaching when he won't want to hang out with me and since I had no set appointments for the day, I figured we could get out and about and have a little fun. 

The Boo and I made a deal (if you know the Boo, you know he arranges his life via "deals"). If he would come with me and not fuss while I took my defective laptop to the iStore (SA version of the Apple Store) to get it serviced, then I would take him to the Two Oceans Aquarium (conveniently located at the Waterfront just a few blocks from the iStore) for some fishy fun. The Boo said "deal" and we were off. The Boo was on his best behavior and the iStore was remarkably efficient, so with a quick stop for frozen yogurt we were soon on our way to the aquarium. My mom and Aunt Sharon had given us some money for Christmas, so we splurged and purchased memberships for each of us so that we could enjoy the aquarium at our leisure throughout the year.  Thanks Mom and Auntie Sharon!!

 

The Two Oceans Aquarium is one of the cooler aquariums I've been to. It has a kelp forest that has such realistic wave action that it makes me almost seasick upon first viewing, but eventually I get caught up in the hypnotic movements just as I do with real waves at the beach. The wave action is vital to keeping the kelp alive, so a healthy captive kelp forest is no mean feat (and there are only 2 kelp forest exhibits in the world). Kelp forests are common along the coast of the Cape peninsula and it is cool to get the underwater perspective here without freezing your butt off in the cold Atlantic.

 The "Two Oceans" theme refers to South Africa's unique coastal geography where the cold Atlantic Ocean meets the warm Indian Ocean. Since the water temperature, and therefore the aquatic life, varies so greatly between the oceans the various exhibits are separated accordingly. The Boo is a big fan of what he calls the "Nemo tank" in the Indian Ocean area:

 

There is a large predator exhibit with ragged-tooth sharks, rays, turtles and other aquatic predators. The first time we visited the aquarium, a couple of months ago, we got to see the sharks being handfed by divers. This was rather entertaining as the loggerhead turtle kept sneaking up on the divers, giving them a bit of nudge, trying to snag some of the sharks' food. This visit, we arrived just in time to see the general feed. Even the rambunctious Boo sat still long enough to see these normally slow-moving big fish display some serious speed when zeroing in on dinner.

 

As with so many of our experiences here in South Africa, the aquarium was quite kid-centric. There was an entire floor devoted to kids with craft tables, play areas, a puppet theatre AND a small snack bar with juice boxes for the munchkins and cappuccino for the parental crowd. Additionally, the stairway down to the kid floor was one big play structure. There's an additional play area in the main cafe too. The Boo is a toy and play aficionado and ate up these areas with a spoon.

 

The aquarium eventually closed for the day but by this time the Boo and I had moved out on to the deck of the cafe overlooking some of the docks. Just below us there were several dozen South African fur seals (aka Cape fur seals) basking in the sun with occasional barks, grunts and downright aggressive growls when passing seals got a bit too close. This is one of the great pleasures of life in South Africa, being able to plop yourself down and just observe wild animals in their "natural" habitat (to the extent that docks in the Victoria and Alfred basin of the Waterfront are "natural") for as long as they care to put up with you.

 The Boo showed very little patience with this activity when we first arrived almost three months ago, but since then we've had enough wildlife encounters that he is starting to get as fascinated with animal behavior as his parents. So we found a warm vantage point on the dock above the seals and settled in for a good hour of observation alternating between enjoying the show and debating the whys and hows of certain behavior. There was a mother seal with at least half a dozen pups who cuddled together with her on top:

 

The seal in the bottom of the above photo has piece of plastic or twine caught around his neck resulting in the conspicuous line in his fur. Of the 20+ seals we observed during this time at least 4 had similar attachments. These "nooses" are the result of litter, specifically packaging materials, washing in to the sea. The assistant director of the aquarium goes in to the water every day to cut the "nooses" off as many seals as possible, but it's a delicate process as these are large wild animals not interested in sitting still for the procedure. Without removal, the material becomes embedded in the seal's skin leading to an open wound that often gets infected and leads to an early death. It's a stark reminder of how human pollution and behavior (the aquarium is trying to educate the public to make sure they cut the ties on packaging material to limit the potential threats) have such negative impacts on the wild animals with whom we share the planet (and is all this packaging truly necessary?)

 OK, off the soapbox and back to animal behavior....the seals on the deck seemed to get a bit ornery when a newcomer would get too close. This larger seal in the photo below seemed to actively goad the mother of the pups, though did not appear to be threatening the pups directly. The mom didn't seem too concerned with his intentions but eventually roused herself enough to tell him to get lost in no uncertain terms:

 

When they weren't jawing at each other, the seals seemed quite enthralled by the sun:

South Africa definitely has a way with water!

the scenic route

The weekend before Christmas we took the above road - Chapman's Peak Drive - to get to the below beach - Nordhoek.


I can't really explain in words what great rejuvenation I am gaining from being so near to so much ocean.  Due to the (amazing!!) geography of the peninsula, this beach is basically a wind funnel and consequently the sand is powdery soft.


At one point I just sank down in to that velvety sand and zoned out staring at the waves.  I actually achieved a state of calmness that I have only ever approached through guided meditation.  I was so zeroed in to my own consciousness that I was completely unaware of anything or anyone around me except the movement of the waves.

Fortunately, Tim was on the ball enough to keep a close eye on the Boo as they navigated the rocks, the tide pools, and the pounding surf.




Happy day...

we've been abandoned...

Let me rephrase, Timmy is up at the telescope doing great science and the Boo and I have been left behind to suffer through 4 Timmy-less days in Cape Town. Yeah, there are definitely worse places to suffer in (see tag for "complaining when you have nothing to complain about"...) so I know you are not feeling too sorry for us.

Anyways, since the routine was shot I figured a little more shake up wouldn't hurt anyone. So when I picked up the Boo from preschool instead of taking him right back home as was our usual plan, I told him we had a job to do. Nothing gets the Boo's attention like a job ;) The "job" was to finish up our Christmas shopping so we headed down in to the City Bowl.

The Boo suffered through the shopping with promises of playgrounds on the beach. So, once Santa was satisfied, we rolled on down the hill and landed at one of our favorite places - Mouille Point. Our opening photograph is the Mouille Point playground we touched on briefly in an earlier post with Signal Hill off to the left and the Boo in his orange shirt somewhere left of center.

We did some tree climbing:


We did some playground peeking:


We had ice cream (Mama had iced coffee...mmmm....South Africa's version of a frapuccino) at one of our favorite cafes, Cafe Neo, while we gazed at the lighthouse, blue water and large container ship off the coast:


We went back to play some more:

Eventually the Boo got tired and we were ready to go but it was now a little after 5pm. On a previous outing to this part of town we made the mistake of leaving right at 5pm and what should have been a 15 minute drive turned into an hour-long slog through less-then-fun traffic.  Again, we may be slow but we do learn, so instead of fighting traffic we hopped a little ways up the coast to the Waterfront, one of our favorite haunts.  There are many Boo-friendly eateries there and watching the boats come and go never gets old.

Of course, best laid plans and all....the Boo fell asleep in the car and was pretty much down for the count.  Now, I would rather sit on the Waterfront then sit in traffic, so I muscled the sleeping child out of the carpark and up to the daylight.  And since I've always been more lucky then good, we walked right in to a free outdoor concert.  So while the Boo slept on my shoulder, I was able to get off my feet and enjoy an excellent concert by a band from Stellenbosch that played all sorts of different "traditional" songs as long as violin, accordion and percussion were involved in the tradition.  The amphitheater was packed and the crowd was really in to the music.


The Boo woke up about 10 minutes after the concert was over and we enjoyed our dinner overlooking the docks and the boats.  Right before we left, he hugged me and said, "Thank you for bringing me here, Mommy."  So a good time was had by all.... at least until we got home and the Boo realized Daddy was "having a sleepover at the telescope."  But that is a story for another day...

some days it pays to be slow

So it was Saturday and since I have switched to working out in the mornings, it was time to sleep in.  Consequently, we got a late start to our day.  I know, quite shocking! (for those of you who don't know us well, we are late on a legendary scale...)  First order of business was to get the Boo a haircut.  Once that was accomplished it was time to eat.  We ended up at the Millstone, the cafe with the awesome treehouse we spoke of in a previous post.  It also had this very cool swing and lots of other great outdoor places to play.  Consequently, brunch went on for hours, which suited us just fine.

Since it was a gorgeous day with little to no wind, we thought a sojourn to the beach would work just fine.  By now it's late in the afternoon and the Boo didn't get a ton of sleep the night before.  He passes out in the car as we are trying to figure out which beach to go to.  Since we want him to nap a bit we decide a beach a bit further away would be a good idea giving the Boo plenty of time to sleep in transit, plus we knew our friends Bruno and Antoine were at Boulders Beach checking out the penguins.

When we were at Boulders last weekend we had lamely forgotten to bring our beach gear.  Now we may be slow but we do learn, so we figured we could do Boulders Beach round 2, only this time we were ready to swim and play.  So off we went to Boulders.

And this is why being slow pays off - not only were the crowds on their way home by the time we got there but large parts of the beach were now in shade AND as the people left and the sun dipped, the critters came out.

This curious penguin was just a meter or two from our beach towel and kept on eye on us for quite a while.  Eventually, he decided that things were safe and took a stroll across the beach.  The Boo gave chase though we did explain the difference between "watching" and "harassing" the penguin, and he backed off a bit.

As the penguins kept criss-crossing the beach singly and in pairs, we were visited by a small family of Eqyptian geese, a dassie and a large-spotted genet.

Finally, as sunset neared we thought it best to pack up and find a restaurant to enjoy the last rays of the day.  On our way out of Boulders Beach, we caught a couple of penguins making a break for it.

They hopped down to the asphalt and toddled off up the hill and away from the beach together, two for the road ;)

We headed back up the road a bit to Kalk Bay and our current favorite seaside restaurant the Brass Bell.  Where we enjoyed the sunset and I finally remembered to photograph the yummy, and beautifully presented, Cape Malay Curry (only this time Tim ordered it with chicken instead of the butternut and lentil I had previously.)

Love it when a full day at the beach can start at 4pm!

about those baboons...

So to continue from the penguins...a little later that day, after our lovely lunch...we arrived in the parking area for Cape Point.

We wanted to go the lighthouse atop Cape Point, way up here:

But we have a 4.5 year old who has decided he's not much for walking.  Fortunately for us, we could take the Flying Dutchman funicular to the top.  Woo hoo!  The Boo loves anything related to a railway and the views going up were spectacular:
I was completely captivated by this lovely beach between Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope:


The view from the lighthouse to Cape Point made you feel as if you were at the end of the world.


Eventually, we went back down and headed to the Cape of Good Hope.  On the road we met up with a resident troupe of baboons, who we'll hear more from a bit later.  We also made the acquaintance of a young ostrich.




When we finally made it to the Cape of Good Hope (we were slow not because the distances were far, but because the wildlife was so fascinating...), the Boo loved practicing his rockhopper skills while telling the photographer (aka me) what to do and where to go ;)




We eventually tore ourselves from the view, chased the Boo off the rocks and reluctantly got back in the car to go home.  As we passed the now closed Buffelsfontein Visitor Centre, we met back up with our troupe of baboons.  The alpha male, who is quite intimidating and not to be trifled with (actually, no one should let their guard down around baboons and all of our photos were taken from the car), was no where in sight, but the females and younger baboons were grooming and playing on the grounds of the Centre.


We then got a complete acrobatic show courtesy of the younger members of the troupe.  They took over the deeply slanted roof of one of the out-buildings of the Visitor Centre and played what appeared to be the baboon version of King of the Hill.  As each young'un ascended the roof, the others already there would try to knock him off.  They sometimes succeeded and the newcomer would fall to the ground, bounce (literally!), shake himself off and head back up.  We watched this cycle over and over with a few variations for about 20+ minutes.









Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally
Golly, what a day!

before we get to the baboons

I'm a bit short on time today, but wanted to get a few more pictures up.  Above is the view from the terrace of Boulders Beach Restaurant.  The restaurant (and there is a lodge too) is located just above the parking area for Boulders Beach, home to our penguins from yesterday's post.

Tim commented that he is fast becoming accustomed to eating lunch by the beach and I wholeheartedly agree.  This is one of our favorite things about the Cape, gorgeous places to eat and drink are always close at hand and they are often quite a good value, especially considering the high quality of the food.

I had the open-faced vegetarian sandwich.  What you can't see in the picture is the truly yummy pesto that anchored the vegetables to the bread.  Delicious!  Tim enjoyed his antipasto plate and a cold beer and the Boo...well the Boo was only interested in chips (french fries) but at least they came from a less expensive kiddie menu.

penguins, baboons, and ostriches, oh my!

Well, can't believe we really live here.  So Saturday was another mind-blowing day.  We took 269 images with the big camera just to give you an indication of all the eye candy South Africa offered up to us.  Amazing!

I'll have to make multiple postings in order to really do our day justice.  But let's start with the penguins.  There is a colony of African Penguins (aka Jackass Penguins, due to the braying sound they make) on Boulders Beach just south of Simon's Town on the eastern shore of the Cape Peninsula.  This is just a little further down the road then our previous foray in to Kalk Bay.

The colony only established itself in the 1980's once the fish stocks were able to recover somewhat from the vast overfishing that occurred up through the 1970's.  The penguins took over the beach but started making a nuisance of themselves by showing up in people's gardens.  So the South African National Parks System (or it's predecessor at the time) made Boulders Beach a national park. They put up "penguin fence" to contain the colony and allow people to view and experience the penguins without tramping over their nests or putting the penguins (or the people...) at physical risk.  There are boardwalks that wind through the thickets that border the beach and jut out over the sand to provide viewing points for the beach itself.  The penguins seem completely unfazed by all the human attention they receive and just go about their business as usual, which is fascinating to watch.

Some of our favorite penguins but first a warning:









It was quite common to see two penguins cuddled up together as they mate for life.  If they are nesting on their own they'll seek out the shelter of the dense thicket and bushes.  Otherwise they build nests in the sand and group together for security.

Their interactions could be quite hilarious.  In the photo of the the penguins in the sand nest, the one penguin that you can barely see because he's so far in the nest is actually digging the sand and flipping it up and out of the nest.  The sand was hitting the penguin on the far left of the photo full on in the face and you could just see him getting more and more irritated, until he finally moved out of the line of fire.


That security thing is key as Tim spotted this mongoose in the grass not far from the above nests.  The mongoose is pretty well camouflaged but you should be able to see his tail in the center of the photo.  For whatever reason, he didn't make a move on the penguins while we were watching.


More shots of life on the beach, penguin-style.  In the first you can see some penguins are molting. This is a 5-6 week long process that they do entirely on land, meaning they don't eat during that time.  The brown penguins are under 2 years of age and haven't had their first molt yet.  You can see the boulders that give the beach it's name and provide some shelter and security for the penguins.




We leave you with a few parting shots.  First of the Boo showing off his "penguin egg." You put the penguin egg in water and after a while it hatches a baby penguin, leave the baby penguin in the water and it continues to grow.  This process fascinated the Boo for the rest of the weekend!

The Boo got a huge kick out of the boardwalks through the thickets that brought us up close and personal to the penguins.  He loved spotting the penguins in the bushes and even found one right under the steps of the boardwalk that we would have completely missed.  He had less patience for the hanging out over the beach and watching the colony as a whole.  But the whole day made a big impression.  He kept asking to go back to the "Wild."






Watch for our next post for babboons and ostriches and 360 degree views.