Grootbos is south of the Cape of Good Hope, and home to a large area of fynbos, vegetation. Among other activities, the lodge offers flower safaris and shark cage diving. We passed up the opportunity to see the Great White sharks, but we did take the flower safari.

The area does not look, at first glance, like it has a lot of flowers. 

Getting closer to the fynbos, flowers start to appear. More on the fynbos here.

Ice plant is common.

The ranger took us out and up the mountain in a safari vehicle. At one point she stopped and picked flowers along the side of the road. Proteas were in abundance.

The ranger was assembling a bouquet with flowers picked by the side of the road.

At this point, the sun came out. The ranger is not finished yet.

Very nice!

With the sun out, the flowers were easier to spot. The pink flowers are native geraniums.

Both Grootbos and Bushmans Kloof had yellow birds that were building nests with the entrances on the bottom. These Cape Weaver birds moved around so much, it wasn’t easy getting a picture of one of them. 

We also drove down to the town of Gansbaai to look at southern right whales. We saw five or six, but the photos aren’t much. The whales came within 100 yards/90 meters of the beach. The coast is attractive, even on a cloudy day. There are whales in the second photo

Our ranger also took us into the nearby town of Stanford to visit Birkenhead Brewery, Klein River Cheese (Slow Food award) and the Raka winery. 

After leaving Grootbos, we drove north for two hours to Cape Town.

We arrived in Grootbos mid–afternoon and right away went out on a guided walk through the fynbos.

Next—north to Cape Town