Mountains in the mist

After many idle promises we finally feature a contribution from a guest writer! Thanks to Rachel Aspden for the latest article.

Last week we spent an afternoon walking in the Cape Point national park with Brooke from New York and Georg and Mari

a from Vienna. Winding along the False Bay side of the peninsula, the trail led us up high above the ocean and down steep rocky outcrops, from bright summer sunshine into fierce autumn winds.

Flowers were easy to spot. The cliffsides were covered in bright yell0w-green sunshine cone bushes, bearded sugarbushes and a white erica (erica ericoides) that filled the air with the scent of honey.

Cape Point’s creatures were more elusive. Fresh tracks left by klipspringer and Cape Mountain zebra were everywhere, but their owners were nowhere to be seen. The Point itself was also playing hide-and-seek. As we climbed up Kanonkop – crowned with its colonial-era cannon – to survey the south-west tip of Africa, a billowing white curtain of sea fog and cloud closed around us. Waiting on the hilltop as neighbouring peaks suddenly appeared and disappeared in the rolling mist, we were finally rewarded, for a few seconds, with a perfect glimpse of Cape Point.