#884 Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

The southernmost point of Africa, south of Cape Town, is Cape Agulhas, but many people believe it to be at the end of Cape Peninsula - the Cape of Good Hope along with Cape Point. It is a windswept, wild place, colder and windier than you could ever imagine, even at the height of summer. Despite rumors, the two seas don't meet with different colors, although the currents join further east, but there are many sea birds and a sharp rock of a peninsula. The peninsula is also home to penguins, the odd seal and several farms.

Driving through Table Mountain National Park from Cape Town, past the pesky baboons, along steep cliffs and past gorgeous beaches helps to give a sense of how far away and how wild it is, and how it might have gotten a dubious reputation. Along with Cape Horn (#889), it has long held a special significance for sailors as a way point, and remains legendary.

#974 Zanzibar, Tanzania

Zanzibar Island is a tropical paradise with a rich history, pretty beaches, good diving, and generally a friendly vibe. While tourists can see the Fukuzani, Mtoni and other ruins, swim with dolphins (ethical or not), sucba dive, or visit the spice plantations and Islamic baths, the best part for me was wandering around Stone Town. Part of the Omani sphere of control, it was home to Sheikhs and princesses, and was a center for trade and commerce along the coast of East Africa, connecting Africa with South Asia.

 Mtoni Ruins on the ocean's edge.

The pizzas that are made in the night market along the front shore are amazing, by the way!

#976 Cape Town, South Africa

Aerial photo from G Adventure

View from cable car depot on Table Mountain

View of Capetown and Table Mountain from Robben Island

Cape Town is known as South Africa's crown jewel -- such spectacular mountain and cliffs, its multicultural, sophisticated, with a good lifestyle and history to give it lots of stories to tell. The Cape of Good Hope was a spectacular end to a fascinating continent for the first European explorers. Portuguese Bartholomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama were the first ones, followed by the Dutch who introduced the first slaves to the area from Indonesia and Madagascar. Britain took over during the Napoleonic Wars and maintained the Cape Colony, only for it to become part of the Union of South Africa in 1910.

Table Mountain and Lion's Head from Signal Hill.

Cape Town is not on the Cape of Good Hope itself, that is an hour or so's drive south, seemingly straight into the vicious South Atlantic winds down the Cape Peninsula through the national park that covers most of the area. The Cape itself is Africa's most popular tourist attraction - an awe-inspiring place where nature appears unconquerable. 

Why is Cape Town so amazing? So beautiful, so much history, so many changes and adaptations to the world! So many different people sharing space and heritage.

A visit to Cape Town is a pilgrimage spot of sorts, where people come to see Robben Island in the middle of Table Bay, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years.

A visit to Cape Town is incomplete without a visit to the excellent District 6 Museum, which details events in Cape Town during the apartheid era. 

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Town

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robben_Island

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Peak_(Cape_Town)