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We’re not budget travelers per se, but we do travel with a budget.  Though we aren’t the biggest fans of large group, bus tours, the City Sightseeing, Cape Point and Penguin Day Tour, allowed us to see Cape Point within our budget. It seemed like a good idea to do the budget version of this activity, so we could splurge on other activities, like our Victoria Falls Helicopter Ride.

After achieving my dream of seeing the penguins on Boulders Beach, our tour group loads onto the bus and heads off to Cape Point.

The first nice thing about being on a bus tour, is that we don’t have to wait in the long line of vehicles, queued up to pay at the park’s entrance.

Our tour guide, Dieter, gathers us around, and gives us our instructions for the rest of the day. The instructions are detailed and clear.

I like Dieter.

I imagine that at the end of a busy day of herding tourists, Dieter drops an Opera record onto an antique record player, slides into a well-worn, leather chair, and sips from a snifter of brandy. I’m pretty sure at the end of this day, Dieter will sip from several snifters of brandy…more on that later.

We are given a few hours to explore Cape Point’s lighthouse area.

Though you can hike to the lighthouse, I’m a sucker for fun modes of transportation, so taking the Flying Dutchman, Funicular, is a must.

The lighthouse area is well maintained, and offers us our first glimpse of the sweeping views.

I didn’t know that rocks could have so many shades of red, black, grey, and beige.

Since there is a a large concentration of visitors around the lighthouse, we weave our way through the narrow, less wandered, stairways.

Stumbling upon the Lighthouse Keeper’s Trail, we estimate that we can make our way to the end and back, before our appointed bus meetup time.

If you visit Cape Point, give yourself time to walk the Lighthouse Keeper’s Trail. The walk is beautiful, and was one of the highlights of the day.

Back at the bus, we are given options. We can follow Dieter on a moderate level hike to The Point of Cape Point, or we can stay and continue to explore the lighthouse area, and then the bus will take us down to The Point’s meeting spot.

We choose the hike.

Dirt paths turn to boardwalks, that eventually drop us off at the bottom of a scramble up rocks.

Saying that it is windy is an understatement. Dieter jokes that in South Africa, this is merely a light breeze, but there are a few times I worry that I will be swept off the boardwalk.

The scenery is stunning. The ombre, Caribbean blue water, at the shore, gradually darkens to a deep,warm, indigo, as it stretches to the horizon.

It is some of the most amazing scenery we have seen in our travels. We take a hundred pictures, but lament that none of the the pictures do the place justice. It is a place that can only be truly appreciated in person.

There is plenty of time to appreciate the scenery, because there is a woman in our group who thought that this was the best day to wear chunky heels. She decides that she can hike and rock scramble in said heels…she is wrong. Our group has to stop often and wait as she webbles and wobbles, and/or climbs her way,  across a gap in the boards, or up/down a rock step. I hope she learned a valuable footwear lesson.

Poor Dieter. Not only does he have to ensure that shaky shoe lady doesn’t tumble over a cliff, she is causing the tour to fall behind schedule.

We finally make it to the top of The Point. We snap a few photos, then put our cameras away, so we can fully take it all in.

Far too soon, Dieter beckons us on, and what goes up, must come down.

The very best part of being on the bus tour, is that instead of hiking to The Point, and then having to hike all the way back to the lighthouse, all we have to do, is hike down to the beach, where our bus is patiently waiting.

For anyone who hikes, you know that sometimes hiking down, can be more precarious than hiking up, and that was the case at Cape Point.

It isn’t dangerous, but you must step carefully.

There is time left to get a picture with the famous Cape of Good Hope sign, and gaze at the beach, before we settle onto the bus.

Dieter does a head count.

Dieter does a second head count.

Dieter is one tour bus guest short.

Since the group is so large, it’s impossible to know who is missing. No one even knows the gender of the missing person.

The tour staff scatter from the bus. They scour the beach for a guest who looks tour-less.

When the perplexed staff get back on the bus, two people fess up and admit that it’s their mate who is missing. They give Dieter a description of the man.

You can sense the bubbles of panicked terror simmering underneath Dieter’s outwardly cool demeanor.

Because I am a voracious listener of true crime podcasts, I’m already imagining the Thinking Sideways or Generation Why episode entitled, “Disappearance at Cape Point.” They would debate over whether the man was abducted, accidentally feel over the cliff, the always surmised, random serial killer, or was this the man’s elaborate escape plan to start a new life?

We languish on the bus. I wish we could at least walk around on the beach while we wait.

Finally, Dieter gets a call that staff back at the lighthouse found the missing man sitting on another group’s tour bus.

Crisis solved, our bus chugs to life, and we drive back to the lighthouse.

The man boards the bus with a coy smile, a shrug, and nary an explanation. Clearly he did not listen to Dieter’s careful instructions regarding when and where to be (he was from the UK so there were no language barrier issues).

Like most large group bus tours, the downside of the City Sightseeing, Cape Point and Penguin Day Tour, was not having enough time to spend in each spot, particularly at the top of The Point. Overall however, it was not a bad tour. It was nice taking in the gorgeous scenery on the way there and back, without having to worry about driving. Dieter was a knowledgeable, well organized, guide.  Chunky heel lady and missing guy added a little excitement and entertainment to the day.

No matter how you get there, visiting Cape Point is a must. It was one of the most captivating places we have visited and I can no longer imagine life not having seen it.

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