Since we really enjoyed our prior visit to the southern portion of Table Mountain National Park 7 years ago, we decided to go again. This time we only focused on our two favorite areas: Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. 

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Cape Point– We climbed up the rock-paved walkway to the old circular, cast iron lighthouse for a great view of the Atlantic Ocean and rocky shoreline. We had hoped to see whales, but were disappointed. The old lighthouse, built in the late 1800s on the highest spot in the national park, is 238 meters above sea level.  The light had a 32-nautical-mile range. Unfortunately low clouds made the light not visible for up to 900 hours a year, so a new lighthouse was built in the 1930s. 

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The square masonry structure of the new lighthouse sits at 87 meters above sea level and is closer to the tip of the peninsula. And its light has a 63-nautical-mile range, which means it is the brightest light on the South African coast.

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Chacama baboons in the Western Cape Province are a protected species so it is illegal to feed, kill, or hunt them. Large signs with this information are posted in Table Mountain National Park and park staff supervise highly-visited areas. A troop of baboons occupies the area around the lighthouses and unfortunately the animals  have learned to associate people with food. We did not see anyone intentionally feeding the baboons during our visit. But we did see two unpleasant instances when a baboon ran behind a child and stole the child’s backpack in hopes of finding a snack. 

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As we returned from a walk beyond the old lighthouse, one of the larger baboons along the trail (not pictured above) briefly grabbed Susan’s upper pant leg with its front paws. Susan was not carrying any food in her hands nor had any food in her pockets, so we were not sure why the baboon behaved that way. Maybe it thought Susan was walking by a bit too closely. Fortunately this animal encounter was very brief and the pants were not damaged. However, Susan was quite stressed by the experience and now avoids proximity to baboons if at all possible. 

Cape of Good Hope– Contrary to what many people believe, Cape of Good Hope is not the most southern tip of Africa. That honor belongs to Cape Agulhas. However, Cape of Good Hope is the south-western most point on the continent. Known for its rough seas and stormy weather, the area was originally called Cape of Storms in the 15th century by the Portuguese explorer Barolomeu Dias who was searching for the southern edge of the African continent. He later changed the name to the more optimistic-sounding Cape of Good Hope. It is unclear whether he came up with the new name himself or if the change was suggested by King John II of Portugal. 

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During our 2019 visit to this famous spot we had our picture taken by the well-recognized sign, watched the waves and birds for a bit along the rocky shoreline, and were quite surprised when a South African fighter jet zoomed past us at low altitude and very near the cliffs. We readied our camera in case a second military aircraft flew by, but no such luck. 

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