Private Tour: Table Mountain, Boulder's Penguins & Cape Point from Cape Town

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Bo-kaap, Cape Town Central South Africa

Photo opportunity will be given here at this location where one will find colourful houses in what is known today as the Cape Malay quarter. A brief history of this popular tourist attraction : The residents of Bo-Kaap are mostly descended from slaves who were imported to the Cape by the Dutch during the the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They reigned from Africa, Indonesia, Java Malaysia, and elsewhere in Asia. They were known as “Cape Malays”, which is an incorrect term as most of BoKaap’s residents are not entirely of Malaysian descent. There are still traces of Indonesian vocabulary in BoKaap’s dialect such as “trim-makaasi” thank-you and “kanalah” please! There are also many words which have also been substituted with Afrikaans.

Slaves:

The Dutch imported slaves who were political exiles, convicts, skilled craftsmen, artisans, famous scholars and religious leaders. Islam, who roots started in Saudi Arabia some 1400 years ago was brought to the Cape in the 1700’s.

Skill, Talents and Cuisines:

Skills and talents passed down from generation to generation accompanied these slaves. Not only skilled craftsman but superb cooks and cuisines blossomed. The Cape Malay Cuisine are not only delicious but unique and has played a huge role in South African dishes. The dishes are a combination of asian, arab and european which makes people view food in a different light.

Colorful Houses :

Like all great cities, Cape Town's historic centre is really a collection of interlinked villages, each with its own character. Some of the country's wealthiest people own gracious Cape Dutch heritage homes in affluent Constantia, on the southern slopes of Table Mountain. Penguins waddle to and fro at Boulders Beach, close to the southern tip of Africa. The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront is a lively slice of rejuvenated docklands, crammed with stylish shops and open-air restaurants. But the city's most colourful neighbourhood must be the Bo-Kaap. On either side of the district's steep streets, in the shadow of Signal Hill, are two-storey houses painted in vivid colours - lime green, lemon yellow, sky blue and lipstick pink seem to be favourites. These are home to a uniquely diverse Muslim community, which has lived here for more than 300 years. Day and night, the call of the azan is heard from the minarets of the seven mosques that serve the 10,000 people from this slice of the city - just a few hundred yards from Cape Town's Central Business District. And although more and more people now speak English instead of their distinctive version of Afrikaans, you'll still be greeted by locals with the time-honoured greeting: assalaamu alaykum.

But nobody seems to know just when, and why, the householders of the Bo-Kaap began painting their homes in kaleidoscopic colours. Perhaps it's to do with South Africa's reinvention of itself as the Rainbow Nation. Certainly, after the end of apartheid, Bo-Kaapers were able to buy their own homes from the city council, so, perhaps painting them in bright colours became an expression of long-suppressed individualism and a celebration of new-found freedom?

"Maybe," says one resident. "But don't forget, when we became owners, we also had to maintain our houses on a small budget. Sometimes, people just had to use whichever paint was cheapest."

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, Tafelberg Road Lower Cable Station, Cape Town Central 8001 South Africa

Guided tour at the top of Table Mountain. Your tour guide driver will escort you to the top of the mountain to give you a guided tour. Please take note that this attraction is weather depending.

Please note that Table Mountain cable car tickets are not included in our tour price. Clients are required to purchase their own Table Mountain tickets to prevent delays at the entrance. In this way, you will skip the ticketing queue but there is still a queue during busy periods to board the cable car.

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Chapman's Peak Drive, Hout Bay Road Between Noordhoek and Hout Bay, 7872 South Africa

Photo opportunity will be on the program along one of the most scenic drive in South Africa and in the world. Chapman's peak is today one of the tourist attractions not to be missed en route to the Cape of Good hope.

A brief history of Chapman's peak :Chapman’s Peak is named after John Chapman, the Captain’s mate of an English ship, the Consent. The peak which looms overhead was not named after a governor or brave mountaineer, but a lowly ship's pilot. In 1607 the skipper of the British ship Contest found his vessel becalmed in what is now Hout Bay and sent his pilot, John Chapman, to row ashore in the hope of finding provisions. The pilot later recorded the bay as Chapman's Chaunce (chance) and the name stuck, becoming official on all East India charts.

In the early 1920’s Sir Nicolas Fredrick de Waal, first administrator of the Cape Province, ordered the construction of a high-level road linking Cape Town with the Southern Suburbs. The roadway (De Waal Drive) was extremely well received. Enthused with this success he called for another road linking Hout Bay to Noordhoek. Two possible routes were under consideration in 1910. The route over the low nek between the Chapman’s and Noordhoek Peaks was second to the more spectacular route along the vertical sea cliffs.

In 1914 preliminary surveys on the road got under way. Surveying the route was a scary business. The cliffs and ravines were steep, rotten and unstable, and at times the surveying party was on all fours as they investigated the perpendicular terrain. The route over the nek appeared to be no better; and the project appeared to be expensive and a ‘mission impossible’. De Waal however, would not take no for an answer and eventually he ordered the ‘go ahead’ for along the cliffs which appeared, at the time to be the better option.

The road was cleverly planned with the road surface based on the solid and conveniently located 630 million year old Cape Granite contour, while the many roadside cuttings would be carved out of the more workable Malmesbury series sediments.

In 1915, with the use of convict labour supplied by the newly formed Union Government, construction began from the Hout Bay end, and in the following year work began from Noordhoek. The first portion of the road to the Lookout was opened in 1919.

This spectacular roadway took seven years to complete, at a cost of ₤20 000. The Hout Bay - NoordHoek Road ‘hewn out of the stone face of Sheer Mountain’ was opened to traffic on Saturday 6 May 1922 by the Governor of the Union of South Africa, His Royal Highness Prince Arthur of Connaught.

You will be given an opportunity to walk along the pathway leading to where you will take beautiful photos. Please stay in demarcated walking pathway.

Duration: 20 minutes

Stop At: Boulders Beach Penguin Colony, Simon's Town 7995 South Africa

Stop for a viewing of the African penguins. For many of our Guests, Boulders beach also known as home to African Penguins is the highlight of this tour. Therefore, we will allow you enough time to discover the main colony. Cost is at own account (ZAR 152 per adult and ZAR 76 per child). Cash and credit cards are accepted.

Boulders beach is also commonly known as Boulders Bay. It is a popular tourist stop because of a colony of African penguins which settled there in 1982. Boulders Beach forms part of the Table Mountain National Park. These African penguins are only found on the coastlines of Southern Africa - (South Africa & Namibia).

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point Rd, Table Mountain National Park 8001 South Africa

Photo opportunity at Cape of Good Hope

Hike or take the Funicular (own account) to Cape Point lighthouse

The area today is one of the hottest tourist attraction not to be missed on your Cape Town visit. It is the most south western point of Africa and a protected National Park. There are a few families of wild animals living in the reserve such as Baboons, Bontebok, Zebras, Ostriches, Eiland , Marine life, Penguins, Whales, Cape Seals etc... and lot of birds.

The Cape of Good Hope also known as The Cape Point or The Cape PeninsulaIt was originally named the Cape of Storms by Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Dias in 1488. It was later renamed, by King John II of Portugal, the Cape of Good Hope because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India and the East. The lighthouse can be reach by a mini hike, or the use of Funicular at own account (ZAR 80 per adult and ZAR 50 per child)

From here, we will return to Cape Town via a scenic route and you will be drop off at your hotel.

Duration: 2 hours