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!

God’s winter palette

The Protea family is named after the Greek God Proteus who repeatedly changed his appearance. One of the forms that our Cape Proteas take is that of the Leucadendrons or Cone Bushes. This group of proteas has separate male and female plants, often looking quite different from one another. The female plant produces woody cones which protect the seeds. There are 83 known species of Leucadendron in the southwestern Cape.
In spite of their relatively large size these bushes are an inconspicuous green during the summer. However at the onset of winter, the terminal leaves surrounding the flower of many species change colour and become vivid yellow. For this reason these species are commonly referred to as the sunshine conebushes.

At this time of year these Leucadendrons seem to have appeared from nowhere to dominate the terrain in the loveliest way possible. Where previously there was no colour in the landscape, it is suddenly blanketed in vibrant yellows. Where these conebushes are particularly abundant it appears as if entire mountainsides have been draped in a stitched yellow quilt. And at times like this, the warmth of colour from the sunshine conebushes compensates for the paucity of warmth from the sun!