One thing that surprised me on this trip was just how cold it often was in Cape Town during my nearly one week stay. I knew that it might get chilly, particularly at night.
Going into the trip, I assumed that I was pretty well prepared. With my light windbreaker jacket, it seemed that I should be good to go.
My girlfriend told me to bring a sweater. I looked at my carry on bag and my backpack. They were already pretty well packed. A sweater felt like it might be overkill.
In the end, I brought the sweater. Later on, specifically on the second day of my stay in Cape Town, I was really glad that I did, that she talked me into it. You see, it was quite chilly early in the morning. But I thought it would warm up as the day progressed. In fact, it got colder and windier. It was so cold, that I gave up and went back to the hotel to get warmer clothes, and was then glad that I had done so. It just got more and more brutal. My tolerance for cold usually is fairly high, but even with three layers, it remained unpleasantly cold.
And that was days before my visit up to the top of Table Mountain, where it literally reminded me of a cold winter's day in the northeastern United States. I was bundled, as was pretty much everyone else. Yet you could tell that some people just wanted to get out of the cold. I was happy to be there, but my fingers grew numb and were in pain shortly after reaching the top. It was a while before they warmed up again after I went back down.
I had always dreamed of going on a safari someday. But when I actually went, about two hours or so away from Cape Town, it was freaking cold. They handed everyone blankets, and I didn't see anyone not using them. Mind you, this was late morning and into the afternoon. But it remained cold. In fact, our guide mentioned at one point that they were expecting snow overnight, and I believed him. It really was that cold.
That's the thing about South Africa: it can get colder than most people unfamiliar with the country realize.
Some South Africans told me that it seems to them that it has gotten colder in recent years. They pointed to climate change, which very well might be the case.
While visiting the Cape of Good Hope, the guide kept mentioning that the waters of the Atlantic (not the Indian Ocean) were really cold. That, he said, is because there really is nothing in between the southern African coast, where we were visiting, and Antarctica.
That made sense to me.
Now, I knew that South Africa 🇿🇦 could get cold. I read books about the place since I was a kid, because it always fascinated me. And in several books which I have read, it was mentioned that it could get cold at times, at least in the worst conditions, in South Africa. Sometimes, I had read, it might even snow, especially in the mountains. Particularly in the Drakensberg range.
Apparently, according to one of the taxi drivers that I had, it sometimes snows in Cape Town. Rarely, but it happens. Since the weather is supposed to be similar to San Francisco, where it also rarely but occasionally snows, I could believe it.
It did not snow while I was in Cape Town or, for that matter, during the safari trip outside of Cape Town.
However, some of the tallest mountain peaks did indeed have some snow.
Below are some pictures which I took of some of these mountains, which were quite rugged and spectacular. Some were taken during the drive to and from the safari. Others were taken from the flight out of Cape Town. They should all show evidence not just that they are very tall and rugged, but that snow apparently collects there, at least during the winter.
Enjoy.
From the Air:
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