Bearded Dragons - Basic Care

 

Although Cape Town is a city, it's more organized and environmentally friendly than Johannesburg, and as a result doesn't sprawl in all directions. Driving into town Table Mountain was clearly visible, and to welcome us that morning it was wearing what locals call The Tablecloth. Although this is simply the white cloud blown over the mountain when a south easterly wind blows, it's very impressive, and there's a wonderful tale that has evolved around this phenomenon. A less famous mountain near Table Mountain is called Cricket stores near me, and it's claimed that a pirate called Van Hunks was living out his days on the slopes of this mountain. One day he met a stranger, who challenged him to a smoking contest. Van Hunks, who was extremely partial to his pipe accepted the challenge, and the tow men spent several days puffing away on their pipes. As the smoke clouds gathered a wind blew them down over Cape Town. Van Hunks won the contest, and the defeated stranger revealed himself to be the Devil. This is how Devil's Peak got its name, and the cloud of smoke became known as the tablecloth.

Back to our itinerary. We drove to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, one of Cape Town's most popular tourist attractions. We walked towards the restaurant area, and saw some cape fur seals frolicking around one of the piers. They were so interesting to watch, and seemed to have no fear of the boats and the noise in this very developed section of the harbour. We found a wonderful restaurant right next to the sea, and ate an excellent lunch of calamari, prawns and French friends all washed down with beer and wine. We then walked off our lunch, window shopping in some of the 400 stores that make up the waterfront. We also walked around the craft market and visited the museum before venturing into the Two Oceans Oceanarium, so named because two oceans meet at Cape Town - the icy cold Atlantic Ocean and the warm, tropical Indian Ocean. Later we drove along the coast and stopped at the point where the oceans meet. One would expect to see a distinct change or some indication that designates this meeting point, but there was nothing apart from a wonderful view across the blue ocean waves.

The oceanarium offers a unique display of all marine life. We stood in awe, watching the endangered African Penguins mingling with Rockhopper Penguins and Oystercatchers in a room designed to perfectly mimic their natural habitat - even their water is piped in directly from the sea. There's also a massive room where visitors look down upon a colony of seas. This room is actually part of the sea, and contains massive barnacle crusted rocks and sandy beaches complete with sea shells. The most exciting moment for me was walking through a clear Perspex tunnel, while sharks and other massive sea species glide silently and stealthily around you. You can watch the sharks being fed while standing in this tunnel, giving you the rather alarming impression that you're in the sea with them as they eat. We were also able to handle starfish and sea urchins - the oceanarium is renowned for educating children about their natural world, so they have a lot of conducted tours for school parties. I will never forget being told that an octopus is actually an incredibly intelligent creature, and many of the octopi in the oceanarium recognize staff members! Hasn't stopped me from eating them!