A taste of the wild and exotic

In some ways, Cape Town in South Africa reminded me of Johor Baru and Johor because its location was in the southern part of a peninsular.

Sunset on the Atlantic Ocean, viewed from apartment
window in Cape Town, South Africa

Johor has an extensive coastline surrounded by the South China Sea and likewise, the Cape Town region is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, but its geography is distinctly different.

This region is characterized by a jagged coastline washed by the waves of a restless ocean, dotted by rugged mountain ranges, inland valleys, semi-desert fringes and coastal plains.

From the open windows of the ocean-side apartment leased for our short-term stay, I could see and hear the Atlantic Ocean as its waves broke against rocks piled next to the road.

Andrew, my nephew and his wife, decided to stay in an apartment with kitchen facilities so that they could prepare baby food fresh for their daughter, daily.

Facade of the Market on the Wharf

There was also a guest room for my sister and I when we joined them in Cape Town for the next leg of their exciting South African adventure.

Then Andrew brought us to the Market on the Wharf, a warehouse-like destination with a collection of food stalls, for a casual meal and to taste exotic meat from an outlet called, Kubu Kebab.

In Asia, we have farms that commercially produced ostrich, deer and crocodile meat but in South Africa, we discovered they also served meat from zebra and warthog!

I paused for a moment to consider this because the only warthog I was familiar with was Pumbaa, a fictional character from The Lion King…

Andrew [Right] placing an order for our sample of meat
from ostrich, crocodile, zebra and warthog at Kubu Kebab

Here, it was not unusual to eat meat from the ostrich, crocodile, zebra and warthog, so we decided to sample a taste and shared a portion of grilled meat among us.

After our meal at an outdoor table, we explored the waterfront area and came upon Nobel Square, a monument dedicated to South Africa’s four Nobel Peace Prize Laureates: Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, F W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela.

In the evening, we explored Sunset Beach, situated a little further down the road from our apartment and saw from the rough seas that it was clearly not suitable for swimming but the beach was open for walking dogs on leashes.

I paused to read a large sign that was made with illustrations for easy reference and saw that among the items and activities prohibited from this beach was a gun!

At Nobel Square

The icon of a gun reminded me that in this country, people carried guns and other firearms, and they were not hunters who were going on safari!

From another sign, I was impressed that the City Council not only provided public toilets here for the comfort of beach users but they also provided dog poop scoops and bags for dog owners to collect and properly dispose of their pet poop.

From England to Japan and here in South Africa, I saw the way dog owners were responsible in caring for their pets and the public spaces provided for their use and wished that this responsible habit would be adopted everywhere.

The sign at Sunset Beach, Cape Town, South Africa

After an eventful day in Cape Town, it was good to turn in early for the night because the next morning, after breakfast at Jason Bakery, we would head out to explore Table Mountain.

[More adventures in the next episode of your armchair travel to South Africa.]