African history

We've done this a few times now and know we find it a fascinating way to learn about a local culture. We took a guided tour of Cape Peninsula, unintentionally with an Englishman who has been living in South Africa since the 70s. He's seen and learnt a lot.

His story about how he got there was interesting enough but he was generally a great orator with a fairly balanced picture of how history has evolved here. Plenty of it is really sickening and too much to relay here. 

He could talk for England but each story was worth listening to. The most heartening one was about Just Nuisance, the dog who became an Able Seaman to prevent it being poisoned by rail staff on a train it liked to travel on. He followed sailors to bars on the train and drank beer with them. They ensured he was safe by getting him official rights to a train pass by becoming the first dog in history to become part of the navy. 

True to form the touristy bits don't delight but we enjoyed stretching our legs with a walk up to the Cape of Good Hope lighthouse (named, apparently, because if you got round it, there was good hope that you'd make it home.)

We added the Cape Cormorant to our birding list along with pelicans and Cape baboons, apparently the only monkey with a penchant for seafood. True to form, they were sitting on the rocky shore ripping off mussels and breaking into them to eat.

It's been ferociously windy but we've just got time for an hour in the shade and shelter of the pool.