Today was windy and overcast here so we decided to take a trip up the West Coast and hope that the weather was better there. We were heading for the West Coast National Park and a fishing village called Paternoster. These places do not attract a lot of international tourists unless you are a birder and/or a botanist and even then its only from the end of July to early September. But after reading up on the places, I thought it would be an interesting day out. The entrance to the park is about a 90 minute drive from Cape Town and the scenery is not that great as its inland and a lot of farmland. It reminded me of the Alberta Foothills as we passed miles and miles of hay fields. As we got closer to the park and started to head towards the ocean, the terrain turned to mile upon mile of scrub brush. Not a lot to see but at least the weather did improve. The park was not that interesting as most of the flowers were gone and so were the birds. However, we did enjoy taking a walk along a 16 x 4.5km (10 x 2.5mile) lagoon with magnificent azure water and white, white sandy beaches. We left the park and headed for the fishing village of Paternoster. We had read about this village that has very strict house development guidelines. The houses must have the look and feel of the original whitewashed fisherman cottages that dotted the large bay around the village. It's location is stunning as it is on a large, white sandy bay. Fishing is still the main industry and the small fishing boats dot the beach as they wait for high tide and the next fishing cycle. But the place has become a huge vacation spot for South Africans, especially those living in Cape Town. We had planned to stop there for lunch and found a quaint seafood restaurant. But after being overlooked three times as later customers were served, Rita had had enough and we stomped out of the restaurant. We ended up having a great grilled chicken and chips take-away lunch sitting at the beach enjoying the spectacular view. Other than the restaurant incident, it was a great day out and we definitely got to see a non-touristy part of South Africa.
The beautiful turquoise waters and pristine white beaches of the West Coast National Park's lagoon
Wild Ostriches walking among the scrub bushes in the West Coast National Park
The long pier at the lagoon is required to launch boats as the lagoon is very shallow
A couple of the new beachfront homes in Paternoster that are made to look like whitewashed fisherman houses
. The beautiful, windswept Paternoster Bay with its whitewashed cottages
A couple of the local fishing boats resting on the beach waiting for sunrise and start of a new day
Heading back to Cape Town, we saw this flock of pink Flamingos in a famers pond
Arrived back at Camps Bay to a wonderful sunset
No comments:
Post a Comment