Visit the Cape Peninsula, South Africa

The Cape Peninsula is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, with a huge number of endemic floral species crammed into a small area.

Fauna and flora of the Cape Peninsula

The principal vegetation is fynbos, heather-like bushes found nowhere else. Much of the peninsula is given over to one of the most beautiful national parks in South Africa, combining spectacular scenery with indigenous animals. In the waters off the coast, seals frolic in kelp forests, whilst resident penguins encounter migrating whales.

Simon’s Town

Simon’s Town boasts a high street of historic Victorian architecture, and at Cape Point, there is a funicular railway to take you to the end of the continent, where a lighthouse stands sentinel over one of the most spectacular views in the world. Waves crash against the foot of the cliffs hundreds of feet below, and the sea stretches to a vast curved horizon, its surface whitened by winds that have blown unhindered from the Antarctic.