Captivate The Cape Hiking Tours

20/12/2024

Not me Pspspspssss for the whales 😎

Watch with sound at your own risk 😅
(Or you can count how many times I said Oh My God!!!)

So last week, I wanted to put on a certain top but it was way too tight 😭😭😭 and instead of comfort eating, I booked a Whale Watching trip with Karbonkelberg Tourism to lift my mood 😃😃😃 and boy oh boy, was my mood lifted ❤️❤️❤️

Coincidentally, Brent Thomas and I did our Mountain Guide course together and we argued daily 😅 but he's forgiven now as he was an amazing Whale Watching Guide 🤗 He knew where to direct the skipper and gave us some fun facts about the marine life and even more importantantly, respected the gentle giants' space. We just floated and allowed the curious whales to come to us🤗🤗🤗

10/10 would recommend as I had a ball of a time (as you could hear in the video, if you didn't mute it after my first few OMG's!!! 😅😅)

I know this is not a hiking related post but oh so worth it ❤️❤️🤗

20/11/2024

One thing's for sure when exploring the Cape Mountains with Fatima from Captivate The Cape Hiking Tours - every step of the journey is worth it.

Whether it's a short stroll or a challenging hike, the incredible views over South Africa will leave you breathless! 🌍⛰️



Pictures courtesy of Fatima

18/11/2024

I had the honour of being featured by Cape Town Forever in their first Video 🤗

Like and subscribe to their channels for more Cape Town inspired content 🤗

In this episode, we sit down with Fatima, a passionate mountain guide whose deep connection to Cape Town’s rugged peaks drives her to share their breath-taki...

24/10/2024

Ziplining in the Hottenhollands Nature Reserve 🤩

1h30m drive outside Cape Town, you can experience 11 slides. The longest 320m and the highest 1100m 😃

Check their website for more information
https://www.canopytour.co.za/locations/cape/

21/08/2024

Welcome to all the new followers to my page 🤗

If you've scrolled down my feed you must have read that I keep making posts that I'll be more active on this page but then I'm clearly not 🙈

I have no excuse other than I don't like admin and posting to various pages 😅 but I am still very much active on Instagram.

So inspired by Cape Town Mag's post asking ChatGPT to roast their Instagram feed, I've asked my assistant to have mine roasted 😅 ouch!

12/09/2023

Hello everyone! I just wanted to take some time to say welcome to all my new followers!

Thank you all so much for the support you've given me and wanting to follow along on my Guiding journey.

I must say though that my page is not the most active social media platform as I've decided to sift and sort through my photos and albums so that I can try to post at least once a month (I may have neglected it for a bit, oops), and I will get back to it as soon as I am able to!

It has definitely been a busy year and I am super grateful that so many of you are choosing me to give you the natural Cape Town experience through touring our magnificent mountains. I even booked myself for 2 back-to-back tours today!

If you really want to follow along and see where I go and the pictures I take then do be sure to follow me on Instagram . I update it frequently and on the day of the tour (if I'm not too worn out!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

16/03/2023

01/01/2023

Happy New Year 🎉

I thought I was photobombing someone's photo but turns out he was live 😅 oops!

2022 is a blur to me. I've been gratefully that busy and wish to thank everyone who supported me as tourism recovered. Especially the guides and agencies who trusted me to take their guests up the mountain and give them the best possible experience 🤗

Thank you to the guides who assisted me with the bigger groups and doing the tours I was not available for. I appreciate you all 💖

May you all have a prosperous year ahead filled with health, love and laughter 💓

PS: I'm still most active on Instagram as fats_on_a_mountain

16/10/2022

My booking for today got cancelled so a friend said at least I can rest...no, I ended up doing the laundry, cleaned and making lunch. ...with a bit of admin.

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iSimangaliso, the Place of Miracles and 5 ecosystems.

Post 2 of 3 (turns out I only have videos of the whales and as per FB settings, I will have to upload those in a separate post sigh)

For our last day in St Lucia, Teshni from Under African Skies booked a boat based whale watching tour with Advantage Tours.
(I didn't know that this would be an actual tour with fun facts about the whales and the Indian Ocean!!! I was pleasantry surprised)

The lazy whales didn't want to show their heads, tails or breach for us sigh but it was still amazing to see them up close! I did however see whales having a whale of a time in Gansbaai a week prior. I've uploaded 1 tail pic lol.

WE HAD A BLAST!!! Launching from the beach and over the waves was sooooo much fun! Told the Skipper, "We go agane!" xQc quote haha
Landing on the beach what seemed at full speed as just as much fun! And learned a lot from our Skipper Kyle.

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Then it was off to the Lake, Estuary & Swamp for a Hippo & Croc tour and learned even more about the 5 Ecosystems. That there are even Bull Sharks in their waters. That when cyclone Domoina hit in 1984, the waters flooded the bridge connecting the Western and Eastern shores!

We saw quite a few hippos and only 1 small crocodile lol. We also learned that if a female Weaver bird doesn't like the nest a male built, he will destroy it and start all over again lol.
I only have videos of the bridge so that will also have to be uploaded in next post sigh.

I would have loved to do a Cultural Tour, hike to Bat Cave, Turtle Tour (but this is only from November) and scuba dive in Kosi Bay but alas, time didn't allow.

And returned to Durban for spices and supper at Whale Bone Pier in the icky wind before our flight back home.

14/10/2022

iSimangaliso, the Place of Miracles and 5 ecosystems.

Post 1 of 3 (broken down to land, boat and videos)

I could have self driven but I wanted guided tours. I wanted to learn from a local about the 5 ecosystems and take in the beauty of my surroundings while the guide does all the hard work like driving and spotting the wildlife and giving us information without us having to Google or do extensive research on the routes we have to take.

I was connected with Teshni from Under African Skies and she booked all my tours for me.

Day 1 we arrived late in St Lucia and settled in for the night.

Day 2, our guide Siya from Shakabarker tours collected us from our guesthouse for a full day tour through iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
He gave history of the Park together with fun facts about the various wildlife we spotted in 37 degree Celsius heat. We were grateful that he braai'd our lunch while we cooled off for a bit of snorkelling at Cape Vidal.
We didn't see any Elephants or leopards as it was a Sunday and rest day for the animals we joked. Also, way too hot for them to posing for us. He even spotted a baby crocodile on the sand bank which just looked like mud to me until I saw it through Binos lol. This is the benefit of a guide, they we can hear and see things we are not trained for and they can answer questions we may have.

Day 3, Teshni gave us an exciting private full day tour through Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve which is the oldest game reserve in Africa. The wildlife was a lot closer to the road than in the Wetlands and I was beside myself seeing baby elephants and buffalos and rhinos that aren't de-horned. On a related note: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-11-godfather-and-sa-man-nabbed-in-major-rhino-horn-busts-in-new-york-singapore/

I could have not been more grateful to Teshni who got us safely out of the Reserve after being surrounded by herds of Elephants. Yes herds as it happened twice on different roads! She went back and forth so many times and just when she thought it was safe and take the corner, a bull was waiting in the road!
She eventually decided to turn around and take another road just for us to be jack-knifed between ellies ahead and behind us. The adrenalin I tell you shjoe! We even passed 2 fighting ellies who threw the other down! and drove past 1 that camouflaged behind a tree, so close that Teshni could have touched it but she was too busy keeping us all safe. I don't think I would have known what to do if we were self driven.
We would have not have seen the Elephant graveyard, the rhino toilets, the rocks where they rub themselves. The markings from Porcupine on a tree. Why a zebra has that 1 spot on its legs. Why the Warthog graze the way they do. Why the most dangerous animal (after humans) are old, tossed out lonely Wildebeest.

We didn't spot any Lions or Leopards but we're not even disappointed as the guided tour with Teshni was 5 stars in itself. The same way I have to make sure my guests are enjoying a hike when there are no views.