There is something very special about the West Coast. Actually, there is something special about every destination in South Africa. I guess it’s just the nature of living in such a diverse and beautiful country. Just over an hour outside the Cape Town city centre is where you can find a slower, simpler kind of life. A place where people still live off the land (or sea). A place that is drenched in history.
Our day started very early. We left the house just before 7am so that we could reach West Coast Fossil Park by 9:30am. When you leave Cape Town on a weekday morning, you are bound to find yourself in traffic for at least a portion of your journey. There is simply no real way around it. After a Big Bear breakfast for the adults and a Baby Bear breakfast for the kids, we headed over to the dig site where teams of experts had been uncovering fossils that were millions of years old. The draw card of this particular dig site is the fact that you find marine, fresh water and terrestrial bones lying side by side. This proves that this site, which is currently over 20 kilometres inland from where the sea is now, used to be part of the ocean. In fact, our guide told us that if we could continue digging, there is a strong possibility that we will find the ocean under our feet. Mind boggling!
After lots of information and even more questions, we move
d away from the site to visit the lab. This is where we got to feel the difference between a skeleton bone and a fossil. What qualifies as a fossil, you might want to know? A fossil is when bone, turns to stone.
West Coast Fossil Park is on the brink of opening there new education centre where schools can visit to learn everything they need to know about nature. Qualified teachers are on hand to teach everything from ecology to biology and everything in between. Our kids had the amazing opportunity to dissect an oil pellet. It went from gross to engrossing in a very short time.
We barely had time to catch our breath before we had to say goodbye and head to Thali Thali for lunch. And what a lunch it was. Wow! They really know how to cook over there. We were glad that we had time to really relax and explore Thali Thali before our game drive at 3:30pm it was just SO HOT. The kids quickly made their shoes disappear and had their feet in the pool before we had even ordered our drinks.
After learning about the short necked giraffe, The Sivathere, at West Coast Fossil Park earlier that day, it was great to spend some time with their long necked counter parts at Thali Thali. The kids could have spent hours just watching them interact with one another if I hadn’t forgotten to pack water for the game drive and we all were distracted at how thirsty we were.
Suffice to say, the children were exhausted by the time we arrived at our accommodation in Paternoster. We had absolutely no trouble getting them to go to sleep and, if that’s not a sign of a productive day, then I don’t know what is.
Disclaimer: This post was created in collaboration @westcoastwaySA. All thoughts, words and images are our own.
What a great opportunity this was to explore more of our diverse and rich heritage 🙂
It was Tandy! We really enjoyed our trip up the West Coast xx
How cool!! I’m trying to get my head around SA’s West coast,that threw me for a minute!! I’ve been to SA a couple of time, my brother lived there 10+ years, near JoBurgh. Amazing opportunities for us as wildlife lovers at Lucia, Kwa Zulu Natal, Umfalozi ( can you tell I can’t remember these words properly!!!)
Anyway, cheers.
Thanks for your comment, Alyson. Yes, it is tricky to find your bearings if you aren’t a local. In fact, most of the locals still have a hard time. Sounds like you explored the northern parts of South Africa. It’s time for you to come and explore the equally exciting southern parts. We hope you will visit us in Cape Town the next time you find yourself in our beautiful country. 🙂
Would love to travel to South Africa as a family one day. Thank you for sharing your photos and experiences.
You are very welcome Samantha. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. We hope to see your pictures and blog posts about your experiences when you eventually get around to traveling through South Africa 🙂
It sounds like so much fun! I’d love to take my kids there! South Africa is definitely on our plans for next year!
That is great to hear Thais. We hope you will get in touch when you are near Cape Town. We’d love to meet you and our family. 🙂
I would love to explore this place, it is so breath-taking!
It really is, Agness. It’s like a whole other world 🙂
If you are travelling through South Africa and are staying in Cape Town then you should definitely visit Table Mountain and Robben Island. So many interesting and fun things to do. Welgelgen Boutique Hotel is only a few miles from all that Cape Town has to offer and it is located right in the heart of the CBD.