Cape Town, South Africa
WRONG.  First of all, there is no such thing as "hiking" Table Mountain.  You straight-up have to rock climb to get to the top.  These were the "steps" that were an "easy hike" to the top.  They got steeper and steeper the higher
Fun fact: the cable car is not always running.  For instance, when there are Gale-force winds on top of the mountain, the car doesn't run.  Lucky for us, we picked such a day. About 3/4 of the way up, another pair of hikers told us the ca
Once we found out the car wasn't running, we decided to keep going since we were close to the top.  The climb up wasn't terrible except for the whole running-out-of-water thing.  The climb down was murderous.  My legs were jelly, star
Since none of us could walk the next day, we decided to take a tour to Cape Point.  The drive south from Cape Town has phenomenal views of the Atlantic and is similar to the Amalfi Coast .   If you need a guided tour / driver around Cape
We stopped in Hout Bay  to grab a boat to Seal Island .  They run every 15-30 minutes, so there's no need to reserve one prior to arriving.  The only downfall was that we couldn't get onto the island and play with the seals. &n
Fortunately for me, there was a guy illegally feeding a seal in the bay that we got to feed and play with.  This seal is a chunkster because of all the tourists (like me) feeding him all day long.
Further South on our drive, we entered the Table Mountain National Park.  The Cape of Good Hope  is said to be the Southern most point of Africa.  Cape Agulhas is actually the southern most point, which is about 90 miles south of thi
Inside the same park is Cape Point , which is a Natural World Heritage Site.  You can hike up to the lighthouse or take a train.  It was cloudy while we were there, so we decided to skip the lighthouse and eat lunch instead at Two Oceans
During lunch, a baboon opened the door to the restaurant, hopped on the bar, grabbed a glass full of sugar, then ran back outside and ate it.   Evidentially, this is an every day occurrence.  These baboons will steal things out of your ha
Typically, I love animals more than people.  When I go somewhere that has animals, I want an interactive experience (i.e. hold them, play with them, cuddle them).   So, for me,  Boulder Beach  (home of the endangered, African pe
If you're a surfer, I've got one word for you: Muizenberg .  The most amazing sets come rolling in non-stop.  Had my quads not been torn to pieces from Table Mountain and had I known about this town, I would've spent a few nights here and
My favorite place to eat in Cape Town was Beluga .  It's a sushi place, so of course, I got the cooked Ostrich.  Overall, superb.
The #1 reason I wanted to go to Cape Town was to go to cage diving with great white sharks.  Let me repeat, NUMBER ONE REASON.  I mean, have you seen shark week ?  All my little heart wanted was an up close and personal encounter wit
We finally got on the water the second day.  But, I am the unlucky 2%.  We did not see one single shark.  The worst part was that the company knew the probability was slim to none!  They had not had any good sightings in 4 weeks,
To make up for the shark fiasco, I decided to drown myself in wine.  South African wine is highly underrated.  Most countries boycotted exporting their wines until after their apartheid ended in the early 90's.  
We booked a private wine tour  that went to 4 wineries throughout Stellenbosch , Franschhoek , and Paarl , which is the equivalent to Napa Valley and Sonoma.  Being the wino that I am, I'd say South Africa's "wine valley" trumps Napa
Go to Fairview for the goat cheese, go to Boschendal for the chocolate, and go to Uva Mira for the view.  
Johannesburg, South Africa
These monkeys straight-up pick-pocket you.  They're rescued monkeys from all over the world, and some have been trained to pick-pocket by their previous owners.  Others like grooming humans.  I guess I needed to shower that day?
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