caves and lighthouses at southermost point in africa

well...i'm almost up to date on my trip journal. i am now in stellenbosch, south africa. we only have 6 days left of the tour and i'm sad. how can 2.5 months come and go already? it's been an incredible journey, no doubt.\r

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the other day, we stopped at cango caves in oudtshoorn, south africa. this is a national monument. the caves were discovered in 1879 by some little man named van zyl. \r

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since then, they ahve unearthed 3 sections of the cave. we explored the first cave. the cave is huge...it reminded me of my family trip to mammoth caves in kentucky years ago. in fact, mammoth caves is the largest cave (area wise) open to tourists.\r

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the first cave is 760 meters long, the second one is 260 meters (must be explored on hands/knees and my crawling) and the third one is 1,600 meters (currently not open to tourists).\r

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lots of stalagtites but very few stalagmites as tourists in the past broke them off. in fact, for 30 years, they had concerts in the large cave but so many tourists and visitors broke off pieces of the stalagmites that they ended this program. \r

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it was a balmy 18 degrees delsius in the cave which i thought was unique as it's usually so cold in caves.\r

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from there, we drove to the southernmost point in africa...cape agulhus. in 1836, cape agulhus was officially recognized as teh southernmost point. at this point, the compass needle doesn't snow any delination between true north and magnetic north.\r

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cape agulhus means cape of the needle. in 1848, they built a lighthouse at this point. then, the agulhus village was built around the lighthouse. it's the only village built around a lighthouse...usually, the village is there first and then a lighthouse added.\r

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after we explored this point where the indian ocean and atlantic ocean converge, we all went up into the lighthouse. of course, i have the luxury of visiting lighthouses in north carolina but some of the ones on my tours had't ever been to a lighthouse.\r

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today, we have free time in stellenbosch. it's great to get some time to catch up..email, shop, etc.\r

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tomorrow, we are going on an all day winery tour to 4 different wineries. stellenboch and this region is known for the wineries.\r

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stellenbosch reminds me of holland. in fact, the past few towns we've been in have their signs in dutch. petra (from holland) is loving this. the houses even have a dutch flair. stellenbosch is about 30,000 populaiton or larger. quite large and very modern. it has a university here which has 20,000 students. hmmm..wonder if they need any student activity directors? hee.\r

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well...we will leave on august 3rd to head to simonstown (not sure what is there) and then we head to Cape Town where the tour will end on august 6. i have 2 extra days in cape town (at a hostel) before i depart on aug. 8 and arrive at rdu on aug. 9.\r

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i will add 1-2 more trip journal entries once i arrive in cape town...so stay tuned.\r

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adventure on family and friend,\r

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julie\r

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p.s. i hope you have enjoyed following my adventures. it's been fun writing (and re-living) them.