9 nights from £1115
The first recorded discovery of the Cape of Good Hope was in 1488 by the Portuguese navigator, Bartholomew Diaz, seeking a route to India. Since then Table Mountain has been an unmistakable beacon for seafarers and is today considered, along with Rio de Janeiro and Sydney as having one of the world’s most distinctive natural settings. Later Sir Francis Drake was to describe it as “…the fairest cape in the whole circumference of the earth”. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle and established beautiful wine growing estates in the Cape hinterland with elegant manor houses whilst the British built impressive public buildings. The harbour district has been converted to an attractive and atmospheric leisure complex, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.
The temperate climate and fertile soils provide ideal growing conditions for many varieties of flowering plants, on which feed a diverse array of colourful bird species. Unusual animal species include the dassie on Table Mountain, an endearing guinea-pig-like rock dweller, and the penguins and seals of the Cape Peninsula.
