Camps Bay

Camps bay is a very popular beach town both for upper class residential and holiday makers alike.


It has a restaurant and cafe "strip" that is popular with the jet set. Classic cars and Harley Davidsons cruise up and down the strip while restaurant and cafe patrons are crammed into seats on the pavements and balconies overlooking the beach.


This shot of paragliders jumping off Signal hill shows Camps Bay beach on the left and Clifton on the right.

NEXT STOPS : South to Bakoven or North to Clifton

CATEGORIES : 1atlantic, 1campsbay, 1beach, 1coastal trip

Bakoven

Bakoven is a very small holiday enclave jutting out into the Atalantic ocean. From here you can view the Twelve Apostles rather nicely when looking South.


Typical holiday house shown with entrance and parking in view. The house faces onto the sea and the Twelve Apostles at the other side.


This is the northern side of Bakoven. You can see that it has the smallest public beach in South Africa, which can only accomodate a few dozen people!

NEXT STOPS : South to The Twelve Apostles or North to Camps Bay

CATEGORIES : 1coastal drive, 1bakoven, 1beach, 1atlantic

The Twelve Apostles

You follow a magnificently tarred new road that winds with the mountain for about 10 minutes until you reach "The Twelve Apostles",which is a series of 12 peaks/outcrops on the mountain. These are shown clearly from the shot taken from this passenger liner. Camps bay is to the left of the picture.


Open your window on the drive to smell the refreshing sea breeze.


You will see the Twelve Apostles Hotel on the side of the road, positioned to have glorious views over the ocean. The sun sets on this side of the ocean providing for spectacular sunset drinks or dinners from the hotel. The hotel is popular with honeymooners as it provides luxurious accomodation too. There is a cocktail bar which is highly recommended for sundowners. You can see three of the Twelve Apostles in the backdrop.


Just past the hotel are many little rocky coves used by divers to fish out crayfish (lobster) from the kelp (seaweed). You will see the divers parked on the side of the road in long rowson a nice day. You can see Camps Bay jutting out the water in the distance.


If you bother to stop and park with the string of divers' cars you will see them working up a sweat climbing up and down the small cliff from the road to the sea.

NEXT STOPS : South to Llundudno or North to Bakoven

CATEGORIES : 1twelveapostles, 1coastal drive, 1atlantic, 1hotel, 1diving

Llundudno

From Hout Bay, one also has the option of taking the northernly Atlantic drive that eventually lands up in the main city. This drive is in the opposite direction to Chapmans Peak drive. The first little enclove we reach about 10 minutes out of Hout Bay is the suburb of Llundudno.You can see Chapmans Peak drive carved into the mountainside in the background.


Half permanent residents and half holiday homes, some homes reach $2-3M. Its little beach is a favourite with the boogie boarders and surfers.


Just past the entrance to Llundudno, there is a large parking area for sightseers on the highway. Vendors selling all makes of African curious take up a good chunk of the parking area, but it seems a favourite stop for the tourists to pick up some souvenirs against the magnificant backdrop scenery.

NEXT STOPS: Back to Hout Bay or onward to The Twelve Apostles

CATEGORY : 1coastal drives, 1llundudno, 1atlantic coast,1souvenirs

Chapmans Peak Drive

This surely rates as one of the most spectacular and dramatic scenic drives of the world and is one of the top tourist destinations in Cape Town. This shot is taken about half way into the drive and is looking North back to Hout Bay.


This is a shot of one of the dozens of picnic spots dotted throughout the drive. You can see the drive carved into the mountain in the background as it heads South. The point of the drive at the very edge of the mountain to your right is called "Lookout Point".


A little further up the drive you get a dramatic view of "The Sentinel" flanked by the fishing village and harbour to the right. You can see Seal Island to the left of the Sentinel.


This is the last stop before the "Lookout Point". You can see the drive cross-section carved into the mountain at Lookout point in the background. Pleasure craft, yachts, recreationsal fishing boats and rubber dingys hug the calm waters offered by dozens of little coves such as the one shown.

NEXT STOPS :Back to Hout Bay or forward to Lookout Point

CATEGORIES: 1hout bay, 1coastal drives, 1chapmans drive

Hout Bay

This is a shot of Hout Bay beach from the start of Chapmans Peak drive. The town of Hout Bay stretches behind the beach. Being on the Atlantic side of the peninsula, this water is very cold (15 degrees centigrade). However on some hot summer spells, the currents have been known to produce water temperatures of up to a pleasant 20 degrees centigrade.


This is the view toward the working harbour and the fishermans accomodation blocks against the mountain. Fishing vessels and pleasure craft to Seals Island bus in and out busily, especially on weekends.


From the spot we took the shot of the beach from, this is the view looking South toward Chapman Peak drive carved against the mountainside.

NEXT STOPS : Chapmans Peak Drive or Llundudno

Introduction

This blog will attempt to capture the visual splendour of the city of Cape Town, located at the southern tip of Africa. Cape Town is nicknamed "The Mother City."

We will start with broad introductions to the major visual sites and over time, provide more and more pictorial detail and information. I suspect this project may take many years to complete but it will stand as a timeless record to the stunning natural beauty of this city.

Please send any special pictures you may have with a brief text introduction to the scene, to themothercity@yahoo.com and we will inlcude them in the archive to help speed up the project.