TRAVEL Guy Number crunching my extraordinary journeys – Part 3

South Africa

For an Englishman abroad Cape Town is a nineteenth-century colonial bolthole. Much of the architecture reflects that not-so-proud period of the British Empire yet thankfully the people and natural history of this most southerly tip of Africa more than represent what makes this a very extraordinary place.

Table Mountain dominates the landscape, drawing you in with the peculiar shape as you ponder how that ever happened. Yet for me, the magic was both ancient and contemporary. Having been informed by the hotel receptionist to expect all four seasons in one day, I was memorized when the unique weather patterns caused by the spontaneous flux of air temperature forced the clouds to literally spill over the top of the mountain like a frothy coffee. A seasoned tea drinker, I was nonetheless open-mouthed as this spectacular show silently erupted and brought a beautiful calm to those who watched transfixed. I wondered if this natural phenomenon could be beaten. Then again this is Africa. Of course, it could!

Boulders Beech gloriously showcased that Mother Nature will occasionally buck the universal trend. Penguins on the beach under the hot sun! How on earth could this habitat support these connoisseurs of the cold? Mind-boggling