This episode continues my journey from Johannesburg to Cape Town, where I drop some horses off at the animal quarantine centre at Sanddrift  on their way to France. I am then left with a few days to explore the region. I get the privilege of staying at a beautiful manor house with English gardens in Constantia, family of a woman that had a horse at the J'burg stables I managed. I visited the Cape Town pier and caught a harbour cruise, admiring the cape fur seals lounging around the harbour. I borrowed a car and drove down to the Cape of Good Hope and did the walk to the light house, admiring the view of the many peaks of the Cape Range along with the cloud and looking out to the challenging seas where the next place far away is Antarctica. I saw a few antelope and baboons along the way. I stopped off overnight at Boulders Beach on the way back to experience the jackass penguin colony. They are called "jackass" for a reason (their braying was deafening) and I did not get much sleep that night.

I also decided to go up and see the fabled Table Mountain. There is a cable car so I travelled up to the summit on it. However, being 6 months pregnant, it made me feel nauseous and so I decided I could not take it back down. I saw a sign and decided to trek down the mountain instead. It was 3 pm and the sign said two hours so I was sure I would make it. I did not realise the two hours just meant walking the circuit of the top of the mountain. 

I ended up on a track past Maclear's Beacon to Breakfast Rock and then down into Skeleton Gorge. It was getting darker and I was unprepared. I lost the track and I ended up clambering down the rocks on the cascading waterfall and leaping from boulder to boulder. Somehow my new "Caterpillar" hiking boots managed to keep me solid on the slippery rocks as I scrambled down. There was nobody else on the trail. I was worried as I knew if it got dark, it would have been too dangerous to continue. I would have to stop and stay the night up there.  I imagined leopards but also I did not want to worry my hosts where I was staying. And nobody knew I was pregnant. Somehow by sheer luck and determination I arrived at the bottom at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens just as the last light was fading. I found out later this track was around a 5-hour trek and many people have lost their way and fallen off and died on the trail - hence the name. Even today when I look up the walk, there are still deaths in most years even though they have added some ladders and chains to some of the rock scrambles. 

On self-reflection of this part of my journey, I am yet again amazed that I survived another endurance feat with the added complication and weight of being six months pregnant. We do crazy things when we are young but this would have been one of my craziest. As I am currently in my 50's and nursing ankle injuries, I think besides the boots, how solid was my body, especially my legs and ankles to be able to withstand some of the situations I constantly faced. I look at the younger generations today lounging on couches and binge-watching shows while they waste away their youthful and supple bodies and lose these opportunities. Get out and enjoy the amazing world we live in!

Cape Town is a beautiful city surrounded by beautiful terrain and much safer than Johannesburg (although you still have to be cautious especially at night). It is well worth a visit although I suggest if you want to do a Table Mountain walk, go prepared and start early morning so you have the time. You should also not hike alone. Maybe I should listen to my own advice. :-)   

Photo: View looking back up Cape Range from the Point of Good Hope. Source: JMurray, Pentax Z-10.