Today's Vocabulary Word : Totsiens OR Vaarwel - Goodbye
Today we say goodbye to Africa and all that it has and is. We have loved this trip more than any other we have taken. The amazing beauty of both the country and the people is something neither of us will soon forget. Being able to experience all of this with my best friend (my husband) has made it that much more special. We don't leave until midnight so we have a long day to get through.
After checking out of the hotel and saying goodbye to all the nice people there, we got in our little rented Hyundai and set off for the World of Birds.
World of Birds is the largest bird park in Africa and one of the few large bird parks in the World.
Over 3 000 birds (and small animals) of 400 different species are found here in more than 100 walk through aviaries. There is a Monkey Jungle where you can have an encounter with a Squirrel Monkey!
The park is located in the Hout Bay Valley, and the aviaries are spaced over 4 ha of land, framed by the back of Table Mountain, the Twelve Apostles, Constantiaberg, Chapman’s Peak and Little Lion’s Head. Although it was the "cheesiest" and most "touristy" thing we did on our vacation it did let us see some very beautiful birds.
Here are some of the colorful and interesting birds we saw. I wish I had been efficient enough to write down all of their names but I didn’t so just enjoy their pictures!
These are Mandarin Ducks. Beautiful!
Some kind of crazy chicken.
They even had Meerkats!
When we finished with the birds, the monkeys and the Meerkats we headed for a working winery we had past on the way. It was over five hundred years old and they had a restaurant there, too. As most things here, it has Table Mountain as a backdrop so how can you go wrong? Since it is winter, there are only vines and no grapes but you get the idea.
You can see Cape Town off in the distance with the foot of the Mountain just to the right
This was inside the restaurant. They were having a big 21st birthday party next door but once again, we were the only ones at the restaurant. Another private dinner! Yeah!
This was outside
There is the mountain creeping into the picture
tree lined path to winery
I had winter squash soup with ginger cream and cilantro
Bob had calamari (of course)
There were several “Dutch Doors” that led outside. They are very nice for quick ventilation.
Bob had a chicken cutlet with rosemary mushroom gravy, green beans and broccolini and said it was some of the best chicken he had ever had.
When dinner finished, we headed to the airport (with more than a little reluctance) to await our almost 12 hour flight to Amsterdam. I don’t think I could have made it if we hadn’t broken it up into two days on each end. As our friend Jeff says, “Airports are the home of the walking dead”. It is the truth. Jeff has been working as a "Sports Scientist" with the Special Olympics at a meet in the Netherlands. Since we will be there at the same time he will, he is going to meet us at the airport and spend the day with us. It is nice to have a friend to meet in a foreign country.
Love to all,
Christine
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