My ex-brother-in-law Tony ( and I hate to call him "ex" because we are still fine friends) has challenged me to learn some of the Afrikaans language. To be specific, he wants me to learn Nkosa, a dialect in which they make "clicking" sounds as they speak. Difficult to learn but cool to listen to. Not being one to shy away from a challenge, I am learning it (and am miserable at it) but it does seem to provide my tutor with moments of great laughter. I am going to include a vocab word for the day from now on. These will be in Afrikaans because anything else is just too hard.
TODAY'S VOCABULARY WORD: bakgat(buk ghut) positive expression meaning "That's cool"
THE MOUNTAIN
I have admitted to being a "Table Mountain Junkie". I snap its picture incessantly and look at it from where ever I am. I just can't seem to get enough. Today, I imagined that if I actually went to the top of the mountain and got up close and personal with it, maybe I could beat the addiction. I don' t know if I succeeded but I did have fun and of course, took some amazing pictures.
Table Mountain is to South Africa what the opera house is to Sydney or Big Ben is to London. There is wild life on the mountain and over 1400 species of flora. The indigenous mammals include baboons, dassies (see more about those to follow) lizards and a host of others I can't remember right now.
The newly renovated Table Mountain cable car provides spectacular views while rising to the summit.
At the top, to say it is breathtaking is to understate it. (Note: to all women experiencing "eternal summer" this is the place for you because it is peaceful, the views are amazing and the cool wind blows nonstop) Here are some pictures I took today from the top of the mountain.
There are also many beautiful flowers that grow on top. Here are a few of them
DASSIES
Dassies are just the coolest, most laid back little creatures. They look like over sized, fluffy guinea pigs and they live on Table Mountain.
Hyraxes (Procavia capensis) despite their appearance, aren't rodents at all but the closest living relatives of elephants. There name (pronounced like "dusty" without the "t") is the Afrikaans version of dasje, meaning "little badger", given to them by the first Dutch settlers.
Like reptiles, Dassies have poor body temperature control and they rely on shelter from both hot and cold. They wake up sluggish and and seek out rocks to catch the sun in early morning. Dassies favour rocky areas, which makes Table Mountain the perfect home. Special pads on the soles of their feet act as suction cups and make climbing up rocky faces easy.
They live in colonies consisting of a dominate male and eight or more related females and their offspring. The raptors are their enemy so one adult stands sentry against predators and issues a low pitched warning cry if he sees a Black Eagle flying low on the mountain. Today was the perfect day to see them because it was warm and clear and they were out and about. I watched this little guy for the longest time. He was as fat as an over inflated football. Every once in awhile he would wake up, stretch a back leg, raise his head up and look around and then fall back to sleep.
Speaking of falling asleep, Bob is already there and I am fading fast. I will have to leave the sites from the city for tomorrow's blog. And speaking of tomorrow we are going Whale Watching. How cool is that? It is the perfect time because they have come here to have their babies so there is lots of activity in the bays along the coasts. Until tomorrow, much love to you all!
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ReplyDeleteI just looked at your photos. It seems that you have gone to up top of a peak by the Table Mountain (and Table Mountain itself). When I went there, I could not go up by a cable car because the wind was too strong to operate the cart. However, from the top of this peak, the view of the bay and Cape Town City was amazing. I still remember my wonder and said, "what would Dutch settlers first thought about this stunning view?" More importantly, I had asked myself, "what would the indigenous people long before the European settlers thought of this view for a long time?" It is just stunning. Isn't it?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your stay, and good luck with your learning Nkosa. I tried, and I was not so good at it, either.
Hiro