Picnic with whales

There are often beautiful days in Cape Town . . . and then there are days of heaven. Today was such a day, with mild temperatures of 20 deg C, cloudless skies and barely a breath of air. Both False Bay and The Atlantic seaboard were as still as wishing-wells.

I was fortunate to host Mike & Pip Tait from Newcastle on a tour of the Cape Peninsula. Mike was particularly keen that we would see whales and other wildlife. He has traveled elsewhere three times in the vain hope of seeing whales.


We visited the Penguin Colony at Boulders Beach, and by the time we reached the gates of Cape Point Nature Reserve we had seen five whales – all fairly far away.


We saw Eland, Bontebok, Red Hartebees, Ostrich and Cape Mountain Zebra before stopping for a delicious picnic lunch and bottle of Tanzanite Cap Classique (by Melanie Van Der Merwe). We laid-out the picnic on the rocks, with three southern right whales lazing less than 50 metres away. What a day!