Quaggas, Canaries & Capes

 Yes, I was lured back to South Africa in search of wild dogs, flamingos, and the real southernmost tip of the continent.

While I didn’t find them all, I learned more than I expected and saw sights I hadn’t imagined.

First, Cape Agulhas.  

The Cape of Good Hope, just south of Cape Town, is where most day-trippers think they can see the confluence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

It’s not.

The real southernmost tip of Africa, where the actual confluence occurs, is about a four-hour drive south east from Cape Town, through vast orchards of apples, pears and oranges. The ‘fruit basket’ of the country.

Cape Agulhas (ah-GULL-ahs) had a reputation for sinking ships coming around the southern tip of the continent on the way to or from Europe and Asia. The second oldest lighthouse in Africa is here, built in 1849.

There’s a bit of history about the Agulhas lighthouses: the first was built on a rise above the coast, so it could be seen from further out to sea.  Problem was, it would often be engulfed by heavy fog, thus useless for the hapless ships trying to steer clear of the rocks jutting into the sea.

You cannot see the two oceans crashing together, of course, but the difference between the two can be seen and felt: the rocks look softer on the Atlantic side and the water is generally warmer on the Indian side.

This Cape is not nearly as popular with tourists as the Cape of Good Hope, but if you want to see the real merging of the two oceans, Agulhas is it.

I wanted to see it because from there, it’s nothing but ocean all the way to Antarctica, about 4,000 kilometres away. 

I stood there and pointed vaguely SSW and said, “That’s where Cape Zumberge is,” named after my Dad, who was an explorer during the International Geophysical Year in 1957/58.  A mountain (Zumberge Nunatak) and a coast (Zumberge Coast) are also named in his honour there.

I figured that’s the closest I’ll get to his erstwhile ‘office’ so it gave me great satisfaction to point in that direction. 

I shared this journey with my old friend, Biz (she's not old, our friendship is). And she managed to dip her right toes into the Atlantic, then her left toes into the Indian. Pretty nifty trick:

Our guide, Trent Lucas (he markets himself as ‘Adventure Man’) is an engaging Capetonian who was brought up in a suburb of Johannesburg but now acts as guide in and around the Western Cape.  Although he is only 29, he knows his stuff and is a knowledgeable guide.

Trent brought along his colleague, Jacques, an avid birder, who began pointing out birds before we even left our lodge. By day’s end, we anointed him l’Homme Oiseaux.  Although we saw only one flamingo (from a thousand yards), we saw many other birds and animals.

Jacques (left) and Trent

There are bright yellow Cape Canaries that fly around the lawn off of our verandas. We spied the rare kwagga - the nickname (from the Afrikaans name for the quagga) of an extinct subspecies of the plains zebra. It’s clearly being reintroduced.

The Kwagga (Quagga)

The blue crane is South Africa’s national bird, with wing plumage fluttering in the wind. We saw lots of raptors, a buzzard or two.  Southern red bishops, the colourful malachite sunbird.

We had lunch at a local diner in l’Agulhas where we were treated to a ‘Springbok’ - a shot made from equal parts of Amarulla and green peppermint liqueur. The two don’t mix visually, so you get the colours of South Africa’s rugby team, the Springboks. (They do however mix nicely on the palate. Yum!)

Back to our lodge, The Mosaic Lagoon Lodge on the estuary just outside the village of Stanford in the Overberg region. 

Each guestroom is a separate building with a private veranda that overlooks the estuary and all the birds that flock into the surrounding trees. The main house serves breakfast and dinner, and Chef Lucky serves up some excellent food.

This has been a great beginning to our excellent adventure.

Stay tuned.