Simons Town

Simonstown is a quintessentially English seaside town with intricate Victorian wrought-iron balustrades and the flag-flying British Hotel dominating the main street. Enticing alleyways lead up to whitewashed houses on the hillside, which overlooks a charming waterfront complex and the False Bay Yacht Club alongside extensive Navy buildings.

This is a delightful area in which to spend some of your holiday, and a visit to the rare African Penguin colony at Boulders Beach, a couple of kilometres out of Simonstown, should not be missed. Further along the road towards Cape Point you are very likely to come across the resident troop of baboons who rule the road and jump onto parked car bonnets to peer nonchalantly in.

During whale season (July to September) it would be virtually impossible not to see an enormous southern right whale cruising along the coast next to you. Simonstown is also on the way to Cape Point Nature Reserve and you could do a loop back to Cape Town around the whole Cape Peninsula.

A word of advice: if you get out of your car to admire the view from one of the many view points, close all the doors and windows - you don't want to turn back to find a large, hairy baboon heading for the hills with your bags.

While at Simontown's waterfront area you may find yourself contemplating the statue of a large dog. The explanation will make for an interesting dinner table anecdote.

In 1814 the English colonial governors of the Cape turned Simonstown into a Naval Base and it has remained one ever since. In 1940, when the sailors' favourite Great Dane dog created a nuisance of himself on the trains, a request was sent to the British parliament asking for him to be enlisted in the Navy. Permission was granted and the dog was brought to the Recruiting Officer, who inquired: "Name?"

"Nuisance, Sir", the sailor replied.

"First name?"

"Just Nuisance, Sir," the sailor stated.

Able Seaman Just Nuisance was the only dog ever to hold rank in the Royal Navy and he became a legend in his own lifetime. He died prematurely after a boisterous leap from a moving vehicle but is immortalised in the life-sized statue in Simonstown's Jubilee Square.

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