South Africa, part 2 – Cape Town and area

I have finally found the time and place to complete another blog. This one comes from notes that were written each day as well as notes that were added after the fact so please forgive the mix of tenses if you do decide to wade through yet another one of my long postings. And I haven't had time to read either this one or the last one, which was probably posted several weeks ago now, so hopefully there aren't too many errors in them. Cheers!

Tuesday, April 17th

I'm off on another tour, this time for four days and three nights along the Garden Route on the southern coast of South Africa just east of Cape Town. Francis is our driver and there are two other singles on the tour as well - one from Germany and one from the UK. With just the four of us it promises to be a nice intimate tour without the pressure of being the only one to do the talking!

The van is new and comfortable and air conditioned, which is good since it was a hot day and a long drive. We drove east from Cape Town from 8:30 to 4:30 and had just three stops, lunch and an afternoon and a morning pit stop, and they were all very quick.

Most of the drive was through wine country so we had some wine tastings at lunch and at one of the other stops. The wines were good but the wineries involved seemed quite small and the facilities for lunch and tastings were not as fancy as those in the Okanagan. We didn't have any tours of the wineries and I didn't even see any signs for tours, but then this is the Garden Route and not the Wine Route tour so there is a difference.

Lunch at the Rooiberg Winery was great with big platters of traditional South African food. Their babooti (however you spell it) was different that what I'd had before but it was very tasty. The chicken, potatoes, cucumber/apple salad, nuts, olives, raisins, peach, pear, ... were all delicious and created great taste combinations.

The drive was incredible, through mountains and passes and valleys and flat lands. Part of it was very fertile and green and part was semi dessert and very dry. There were rolling hills and incredible jagged peaks in wonderful shapes and colours. At times the fields looked like patch-work quilts with tomatoes, grapes, peaches, apricots, carrots, roses, olives, dairy cattle, etc. all intermixed. There were large estate homes and smaller huts, which looked like entire villages for the workers or blacks. In the one filed of tomatoes there were at least 50 black workers picking the tomatoes manually and carrying their full baskets to the waiting trucks. In another area there were pallets of tomatoes lying out in the sun drying. It was a hot day so sun-dried tomatoes are indeed just that.

We passed a number of ostrich farms and we are now in ostrich country. There were even some tiny chicks - well, not really that tiny but they were chicks - on our way in to the resort. I think we see more of them tomorrow and can go for a ride if we want. Luckily that's tomorrow because I see they are on the menu tonight!

Our resort is the Riempies Estate Hotel in Oudtshoorn and it's quite nice. The rooms are small but nice and the lawns are green and beautiful. The sun is just setting and the birds are really singing up a tune. I hear they will wake us early tomorrow morning too. It was hot today at over 30 degrees Celsius but it's cooling off quickly and will only be 8-10 degrees tonight.

In the 19th century this was a very rich area and there are some large homes from that era still existing. The ostrich business was big back then with ostrich feathers more expensive than gold. Hard to imagine!

They get snow in these mountains and it is much needed for the water supply. The melting snow is caught in reservoirs and they are all over the area. There are ski hills but only a few and some not open for more than a couple months each year. The longest mountain range, or at least one of the largest, is here and it's called the Long Mountains - pretty original. The highest peaks are in the 1800-2000 metre range with the highest at 2300 metres. Some of the roads and passes were built by Italian prisoners of war. The Great Rift Fault runs through the area and as a result there are lots of hot springs and spas around.

We went past Drakenstein Prison where Mandela spent a few of his prison years. Some old towns have been completely redone; others still have their original buildings. We went through the Toitskloof Pass and Tunnel. Many of their mountain roads are reinforced and netted like ours and tunnels and rock sheds are also used. The Paarl valley is beautiful. They have heather on the hills. There are over 400 species of proteas with diverse shapes and colours - named after Proteus who could change form so well named. Route 62, the wine route, is 486 miles long. How's that for a full paragraph of odds and ends?

They plant roses and bougainvilleas around their fields. It makes the area look very pretty to look at but serves a useful purpose too. Both plants are very susceptible to various diseases so by checking them regularly the farmers know what might happen to their crops.

I have to read more about Cecil John Rhodes of the Rhodes Scholarships. He sounds like a strange man, an eccentric individual, a mean man and a major philanthropist. He made his money in diamonds in Kimberley. Some geologist told him the diamonds were down deep so he bought everyone's claim after they done the surface work and found very little. They were happy to get the sale money. He then dug the big hole and became one of the richest men in the world. He was made PM of the Cape until he attached the Vaal Republic after gold was found there. As a result of that he was removed from office and died shortly thereafter in his 40s.

Wednesday, April 14th

We went first to the Cango Caves and had a one-hour tour through the first few caverns and chambers. These caves were formed about 10 million years ago but the water only drained out of them about 3 million years ago. There are some wonderful shapes and colours and lots of stalactites and stalagmites. We only did the first 6-10 "halls" as they call them. Beyond that point the route becomes trickier. I wrote down the dimensions of some of the tunnels but I can't find it now. In places you crawl and in places you climb chain ladders. The brochure says, "For lean people only" and they mean it. Someone wouldn't listen a few weeks ago and accused the guides of being prejudiced; she was a black lady. Well she got stuck in the tunnel and it took three hours to get her out. Meantime, everyone else on the tour was trapped in the cramped quarters as well and very little air was getting in past "the blockage" so it was quite serious. Her picture was plastered on the front page of the papers so I'm sure she was more than a bit embarrassed. At any rate, our part of the tour was more than enough for me, and had I even thought of going further I certainly would have heeded the warnings! Oh, another somewhat interesting point. The first chamber is about 50 by 100 by 20 metres in size. When it was first discovered and explored in 1780 by small, weak lamplight, it was estimated to be 3 by 5 by 1 mile. Obviously estimating the size of something big is pretty hard when you can only see a couple of feet in front of you.

We then went to the Cango Wildlife Ranch which was enjoyable. They have various animals such as lions, cheetahs, jaguar, white tigers, pygmy hippos, wallabies, crocs, red river pigs, ring-tailed lemurs, etc. Most if not all of their animals are on an endangered list so this is a conservation ranch. The tigers were something new for me and they are trained to do a few simple moves with the trainers. It was quite spectacular to see one standing on his back legs and stretched up well past the trainer's head and pawing in the air. The jaguar was older and had just lost her mate so she looked pretty sad just pacing back and forth along the fence. The lions, as usual, were sleeping. One could go pet some of the animals but none of us wanted to so we went on our way.

There are ostriches all over this area. Oudtshoorn is supposedly the ostrich capital of the world and I believe it. There are ostrich farms everywhere. Even hotels and restaurants have ostriches around so it was appropriate for our next stop to be an ostrich farm. We got to meet a couple of mating ostriches - Jack the Ripper and Sally the Stripper to be precise. They had 8 eggs in their nest. We got to hold the eggs and stand on them to see how heavy and sturdy they are. Jack and Sally just watch carefully and then after we leave they just roil the eggs around in the sand to get rid of our scent. They will raise other ostriches as well. There are "the couples" who are breeding and then there are others "in the wild" who also lay eggs from time to time. These eggs are taken and put in incubators. When the chicks hatch they go to one of the "couples" who will look after them. The eggs are in the incubator for 42 days and the chicks are just a few days old when they go out into the field with one of "the couples". There were several chicks around and they were very fussy and cute and well camouflaged to match the dirt with dark marks all over them, even on their necks. We got to sit on an ostrich and to watch the workers racing the ostriches. I really don't know how the riders stay on! They showed us the different types of feathers and how they are made into various products. Lunch luckily was before the tour. We all wondered if the ostrich egg and ostrich steak might have tasted differently after the tour. As it was, it was all delicious.

All of these attractions are around the town of Oudtshoorn where we stayed the first night. It is a beautiful place and seems to have lots of sunshine and hot weather. Even in winter it averages between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius so that sounds good to me.

Leaving Oudtshoorn we drove south to the coast, through or around George and on to Knysna for the night. We stayed right at the waterfront in Knysna and it is small but very nice. The rooms were great and the sunset beautiful. We had dinner upstairs on the wharf at a local restaurant and it was delicious. We had a little time that night and the next morning to walk around the town and enjoy the scenery and the amenities.

Thursday, April 19th

We had a cruise on the Knysna Lagoon in the morning and went out to Knysna Heads, which is the narrows between the two pieces of land at the mouth of the bay or estuary. The land on both sides is high rugged cliffs with rocks and boulders below. There are also outcroppings of rocks in the water. As a result no ships can get insurance to enter the port and few ships ever try. They once tried but they know better now. The sea was very rough the day we were out there so I was happy our captain wasn't going to try going through.

We were dropped at the Featherbed Nature Reserve and from there did a walk along the coast and out to Knysna Heads. It was a great walk and very relaxing and peaceful and the views were spectacular. We had dinner overlooking the lagoon before we boarded our ship for the return journey to the Knysna waterfront.

We then drove to another park to see the indigenous forests of the Garden Route. We stopped at the Garden of Eden and went for a walk through the forest. It was very dense and tropical but I think we were all expecting the “garden” to have flowers. This walk and the entire Garden Route tour was really about indigenous forests, not gardens in the way we think of them. It only took us three days to figure that out!

We were supposed to take a steam-train from Knysna to George but it was not operating. A big storm last year damaged the coastal road and rail route and the rail line had not been fixed yet. The road, although still being repaired, was passable so we drove to George.

As a substitute for the train ride we went to the Elephant Sanctuary, which looks after orphaned elephants. They have 10 elephants but only 9 were around that day. One of the males was off being useful at another elephant sanctuary, and the ladies here didn’t seem to be missing him. One three-month old baby and its mother were in a separate pen. As soon as the baby heard or saw us coming it took off running towards us. Mom was right on its heels to keep it in line and that’s why the two of them are separated. The baby is too friendly and the Mom would run right after it and do anything to protect it so the separation is a safety precaution for us tourists. The baby was so cute – only a few feet high and full of life – but never far from Mom. Three of the elephants were off in another area where people were having rides but we all skipped that part. That left four elephants for us.

All four lined up at a fence as we approached, obviously their usual stance as people come near. From there the tourists feed them fruit and vegetables, which the elephants take gently with their trunks. It’s a very civilized process. After that we got to pet and hug the elephants, which was fun. It reminded me of the story of the four blind men who encountered an elephant as every part did feel quite different, although I certainly didn’t touch the tail as we weren’t to go behind the elephants. I was the only one who tried feeding them right into their mouth, not to the trunk. It took a while but I did get the hang of it. You actually have to place the food quite far back in their mouth so your hand and arm are right inside their mouth. They have a very soft but thick tongue! The trunk was flipped up over their heads so it wasn’t in the way. However, it was still rather intimidating looking down an elephants throat from such a close view. It was a good visit but kind of sad to know that these elephants would always stay here and never be returned to the wild. The four we were with were 19, 15, 3 and 3 years of age. Elephants can live to be 60 or 70 so that’s a long time to be in captivity and have tourists bothering you everyday. I definitely like the Nairobi Shedrick approach better where the baby elephants are returned to the wild as soon as possible.

That night we stayed at the Golf Hotel in George, again beautiful big rooms and this time with a view of the golf course so very green and lush.

On Friday, April 20th we started our return to Cape Town. Our first stop was in Mossel Bay, a beautiful port city. We visited the Bartholomew Dias Museum Complex, which has many different parts. Dias was a Portuguese explorer who landed in the area in 1487 having missed Cape Point. THE Cape was developed in the mid 17th century but Mossel Bay not until the 18th century.

Some of the sights included a replica of a stone cross erected by Vasco da Gama in 1497, the 1786 Dutch East India Co. granary that is now the reception area, the 1901 grain and saw mill now the Maritime Museum, a garden of natural plants such as those used by the sailors, a 1902 building that now house an impressive shell museum and explains how molluscs were and are used by man, the 1512 fountain, some 1830 houses, 19th century graves and the 1500 post office tree. Sailors used to leave letters under the tree and ships going in each direction used to gather them and deliver them and drop off new deliveries. The letters at the tree were left in old shoes or iron pots. There was a brick shoe for more valuable deliveries of money orders or cash. In the Maritime Museum there is a life-size replica of Dias’ caravel ship. I definitely would not have wanted to be a crewmember on that coming around the rough seas of the point!

After lunch in Swellendam we drove back along Clarens Drive, which is a truly spectacular coastal route. The views were fantastic! Apparently Clarens Drive is one of the ten most scenic drives in the world and I can understand why. Shortly thereafter we were back in Cape Town and our tour was over.

I did a tour to Cape Point with the same tour company as the Garden Route. It was a one-day tour on Monday, April 16th and it was very interesting. The views were spectacular again, this time around Clifton, Camps Bay and Chapman’s Peak Drive along the coast.

Chapman’s Peak Drive has scenic views all along it but it is more important because of the road itself. Started in 1915 and finished in 1922, it was built by prisoners. The road clings to the rock face of the cliffs along the seaside. In 2000, rock falls closed the road and it took 3 years to repair and reopen. It now has tunnels and rock sheds and netting in various locations. At most times you have a sheer rock face going up on one side of the road and a sheer drop to the ocean below on the other side so it is quite amazing.

At Hout Bay we all opted for the boat trip to Seal Island. This meant we didn’t see much of the village but we did get a trip across the bay and out into the sea to watch the seals. There were lots of them and they seemed quite content just ignoring us and lazing in the sun. The sea was quite rough so luckily they weren’t far from the bay.

Hout Bay itself is an interesting little town. I went back later in the week for some fish and chips and had a better look around. There are fort remains and cannons at the east and west entrances to the bay and dating back to the 1700’s. There is a small harbour area and also some lovely beaches. It was originally called Chapman’s Chance and from it you can see the Chapman’s Peak Drive along the cliffs. You get a Hout Bay passport when you enter the city and it’s quite a cute tourist gimmick now. However, at one time during the apartheid regime the “republic” of Hout Bay tried to issue passports. South Africans were not allowed to travel abroad for many of the apartheid years so Hout Bay decided to declare itself a republic and issue its own passports. I’m not sure if anyone ever made it abroad on one of these passports but I doubt it.

The bay and hillsides around are very scenic and the hiking in the area would be great. Fishing is very important to the area and fish and chips are popular. The kingclip and snook fish are the main choices. I had the former and it was great – fresh fish and chips at a picnic table overlooking the sea. What more could you want?

These areas and waters are generally safe. However that week there had been a large poisonous snake on the beach at Hout Bay and a shark had been spotted at Long Beach. Thus there were no swimmers in the water and few people on the beach. The guide pointed out someone with binoculars on the hillside and their job was simply to watch for sharks with special binoculars. And apparently they sit there for 12 hours every day!

We went to Noordhoek and then crossed over to Fish Hoek going from the west side of the cape to the east side. The scenery was beautiful and the cape is very narrow so there is almost always an ocean view. The inland areas are agricultural and very green. The baboons appeared in several places to entertain us.

The Cape Conservation Area or Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, now Table Mountain National Park I think, covers the entire tip of the cape. It’s a high rocky peninsula with grass and small shrubs only. We saw ostrich, zebra, antelope and bonteboks in the area. The latter were new to me but easily identifiable by their white socks, underpants and facemasks! There was a fire about two weeks ago so most of the area was burned. However the animals seemed to be doing fine.

Cape Point is the southern most point of the peninsula but not of Africa, a common misconception. Cape Agalus (?) further to the east is the most southern point of Africa. On a clear day the Hottentots Mountains on the other side of False Bay can be seen. This was not a clear day. We all took the tram to the top and then climbed up tot the lighthouse. It was very windy up there with a light drizzle starting and the clouds moving in. We didn’t stay up top too long and by the time we got down it was pouring. We then went to the Cape of Good Hope and just jumped out of the van long enough for a couple of quick pictures. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans meat somewhere in the area, perhaps Cape Agulus, but even on a good clear day you can’t actually see this. It just happens.

One of the interesting things I learned at the exhibition centre was that the rocks and mountain formations in the area are 360 million years old. By comparison the Rockies are just 60 million years old (And as I write that I’m questioning whether it wasn’t really just 30 million years for the Rockies!) At the top of Cape Point are the homes of the lighthouse keeper and weatherman and others. It would certainly be an interesting place to live.

We went to the penguin colony at Boulders outside Simon’s Town. Even though it was rather wet and miserable they were very cute to watch. These are African penguins – assumed to have arrived years ago on an ice flow from Antarctica. They are black and white only – no other distinguishing marks like the Empire Penguins – but they are still cute, especially when they are waddling across the beach.

Our route took us through Constantia, another great wine producing area. I brought a bottle of this wine back with me and we enjoyed it the other night at dinner in Wales. It was quite delicious.

The last stop on the tour was the Kirstenbosch botanical Gardens, which became a national park in 1913 and cover 528 hectares with 36 hectares in formal gardens. The plants are all native to southern Africa. We only had about an hour here so didn’t see much of the park. It is fall now so not all the flowers were out but it was still very tranquil and beautiful. The area was first developed and the gardens established back in the 17th century. Rhodes bought the estate in 1895 to keep the eastern side of Table Mountain from development. When he died in 1902 the land was left to the nation and became a wonderful park for everyone to enjoy

While in Cape Town I did both the Red and the Blue Route of the Hop-on Hop-off Tour Bus. I rode around both routes in their entirety and got off in several locations along the way. The Red Route I did on Sunday, April 15th and I made two major stops – The Castle of Good Hope and Table Mountain. The Blue Route I did on Saturday, April 21st and I stopped at the World of Birds and in Hout Bay – the fish and chips place previously discussed.

The World of Birds I expected to be a quick stop but it was great and it took hours. It is the largest bird park in Africa with over 3,000 birds and some monkey and small animals, almost all in walk-through enclosures. There were 100 large aviaries so you really got close to the birds. And the little squirrel monkeys were all over you and into everything. Any valuables or items not totally secured had to be left at the gate. They were good at Velcro and zippers and drawstring closures. It was quite funny to watch them. There were many other monkeys and baboons but we didn’t get to meet them face to face without a fence between us. Of course there were all kinds of birds: big and small, cute and ugly, colourful and plain. There were also alpacas, porcupines, racoons, crocodiles, tortoises, wallabies, meerkats, duikers, etc. The penguins were very cute up close and it was fun to watch the kids try to imitate them walking. The park was well layed out, very green and very pleasant to stroll through. All of the birds and animals looked very content and happy so that was nice to see.

The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest colonial building in South Africa and was built between 1666 and 1679 to replace an earlier clay and timber fort. It is pentagonal in shape with large bastions at each point to protect the walls. There is a military museum inside as swell as the Wm. Fehr Collection, which has art and artefacts re life at the Cape in the 19th Century. The five flags that have flown over the fort since 1652 are now flying every day – United Netherlands, Union Flag of England and Scotland, Batavia, Union Jack, Republic of South Africa and South Africa. Okay, there are six countries listed there so I’m not sure what the story is – let’s say it was five previous flags and then the current flag.

It’s interesting looking at the dates to see how many times the area changed hands over the years. It was a typical castle in many ways with high thick walls, a moat, ramparts, dungeons, etc. However it also had a lovely dolphin pool and garden area reconstructed from the 18th century and it looked like quite a relaxing area within the military setting.

The Castle parade grounds are now a parking lot across the street. It was there where tens of thousands gathered to hear Nelson Mandela on the day he was released from prison in 1990. It was very interesting to compare the barren empty parking lot (it was a Sunday) to the masses seen in the pictures of that historic day.

The stop at Table Mountain was at the bottom of the Table Mountain Cableway. I rode up the cableway not knowing what to expect at all except for great views at the top (1067 metres). Well everyone in the cable car had great views too. The floor of the car revolves so you continually get a new view of the city or the mountain or the sea. I was quite impressed. At the top there are many walking trails ranging from short and easy to longer and more challenging. I took one of the shorter ones as I had to catch the last bus back but I could have spent hours up there. The views were spectacular and made you just want to sit and stare and smile. It was fantastic! And if you didn’t want the cable ride you could climb the 3,630 stairs to the top.

On the Saturday at the end of the Blue Route Tour I went to the Two Ocean’s Aquarium. It sounded interesting with over 3,000 fish, reptiles, etc. that compare and contrast the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The sea horses and penguins were particularly cute. The giant spider crabs and the rock lobsters were huge with antennae (?) alone being several feet long. The giant and green morays were by far the ugliest and largest at 3 metres and really fat. The slime fish was longer and skinnier but just about as ugly. When threatened they can release up to 7 litres of slime, which clogs their attacker’s gills and kills them. Problem is, all the slime also affects the slime fish. The solution to that is to tie a knot in your tail and slide it all the way along your body and over your head to scrape the slime away – very disgusting but obviously it works. You got to look at tiny creatures through a strong microscope and then you got to walk through the tunnel under the larger fish and sharks. The kelp forest was also huge and it certainly reminded me of what I could see out in the water in front of my Cape Town apartment every day.

I am staying on Beach Road in Mouille Point in Cape Town. The apartment is owned by friends of the people I stayed with in Joburg. When I met them over the Easter weekend they asked me where I was staying in Cape Town and I said I didn’t know. They offered me their apartment and it was wonderful. The unit had way more space than I needed and it was in a fantastic location right on the ocean and just a 20-minute walk from the waterfront. It was a great place for a terrific price.

The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Waterfront is a huge complex and it’s still growing. There are hundreds of stores and restaurants as well as many tourist attractions like the aquarium and several museums. And of course there are boat cruises available as well.

Nobel Square is there and recognizes South Africa’s four Nobel Peace Price winners: Albert Luthuli (1960), Desmond Tutu (1984), F W de Klerk and Nelson Mandela (1993). The life-size models are very impressive.

The Nelson Mandela Gateway tot Robben Island is also on the waterfront. There are interactive, multi-media exhibits in the Gateway and then a two-and-a-half hour boat ride and tour to the island. I did the tour on Sunday, April 22nd and it was very good but not as great as I expected. The exhibits at the Gateway were good and very moving. Ex-political prisoners do the tour in the prison and that part was good. However, the bus tour around the island was weak mainly because of our tour guide. The island is still impressive and you can see why it would have made a good prison. No one ever did successfully escape from the place and it was used for a prison from the 1600’s on. It was also a leprosy colony for a while but that ended in 1931.

We saw the lime quarry where the prisoners worked all day. When opening the island as a museum, Mandela picked up a rock and placed it at the entrance to the quarry. No one asked him why or what it meant but every other ex-prisoner who was there that day followed suit. There is now a pile of rocks of various shapes and colours and it’s used to represent the diversity of South Africa. The work in the quarries was long and hard and the dust was dangerous for their eyes and lungs but nothing was done to help.

Mandela’s cell was in B section of the prison. There were 30-40 cells down the hallway. Each one had an open barred window and door into the hallway and a barred window to the outside. There was no running water or toilets. The cells were only about 6’x 8’and inside there was a bucket, small table and bed (or bed roll originally).

Sobukwe, another black political leader, had an actual separate house to live in. It was small and he was only allowed a 30-minute family visit every six months. He was arrested and re-arrested many times and died after 24 years in prison confinement.

The prisoners were fed a diet depending on the colour of their skin. The blacks got the least nutritious and the smallest meals. Sometimes the others would save parts of their meals, like the meat, to share it, but if they got caught they were punished.

All the guides within the prison are ex-prisoners. Michael had been at Robben Island for seven years. His crime was leaving Soweto illegally, associating with some people, being a member of ….., etc. He was a student in 1979 fighting the education system. When they realized protests weren’t going to work many of them went to Swaziland to meet ANC members, trained in Angora, went to Botswana and then back to Soweto. He was arrested when he returned in 1985, spent six months in detention which he said was the hardest part but at least he came out alive. After his trial he spent seven years at Robben Island.

He talked about the cell blocks. A, B and C were individual cells with A for “observation”, B for political leaders and C for punishment. “Observation” was the cruellest time and all prisoners went through it to start their term. D, E, F and G were communal cells that were large enough to hold 50 prisoners. Before 1979 they were sleeping on mat on the floor but then the Red Cross gave them bunk beds.

They had many hunger strikes as that seemed to be their only way to be heard. From 1974 to 1991 there were only white guards. Many of the prisoners were studying by correspondence while in prison. In 1991 the last prisoners were released.

There was a town on t he island. The old governor’s house is now a conference centre. The museum staff now lives in the other homes. The whole tour was good but it just didn’t grab me the way I thought it would – maybe because the whole tour is so understated and because there are no pictures of what went on. The island became a museum in 1997 and in 1999 it was declared a world heritage site. Its message is “the triumph of the human spirit over enormous hardship and diversity” with “a message of tolerance, reconciliation and hope that moves the world.” Perhaps they are looking at it so positively that the tour becomes less moving. I found the exhibits in the Gateway more moving and perhaps that’s the way they want it to be.

I guess I should do some quick notes about Cape Town itself. It’s a beautiful city with water on three sides and mountains on the other side. The streets are wide and clean and many have treed boulevards or sidewalks. The original shoreline was many blocks from the current one. 450 hectares have been reclaimed and now provide the main downtown area and new waterfront complex and there are more developments underway. And where possible they have hung on to original buildings so history is not lost. The hills in the background – Devil’s Peak, Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill – make a wonderful backdrop for the old and new buildings of the city.

I only saw the seaside vistas on the west side of Cape Town – Mouille Point, Three Anchor Bay, Sea Point, Bantry Bay, Camps Bay, Clifton, Etc. The shore is beautiful – sometimes beaches and sometimes cliffs. The beaches are sometimes sandy and sometimes stonier. There is development all along the shoreline – some high-rise apartments/condos and some individual homes that are incredible. Where the cliff is high there are personal funiculars for the owners to use although some do still have stairs. Clifton is said to be the most expensive area in South Africa and perhaps in all of Africa. A bungalow recently sold there for 38 million rand (over $6 million Canadian). In places the parking lots for the condos are a t road level and there are up to 10 storeys below that – all with ocean views. Anything built on the ocean side of the road cannot obstruct the view.

On the other extreme there are of course some very poor areas in Cape Town. I was reminded of that on my way back to the airport on the day I left. I had noted it when I arrived but then forgotten about it. There is a huge area near the airport with small wooden and tin homes so close together you can hardly get between them and there are thousands of them. It is a black community and it’s part of Cape Town and has Table Mountain as a backdrop. I’m sure the locals wish it wasn’t located on the main highway but I think it’s very appropriate. It certainly sets the tone on arrival and provides a good reminder on the way out that although apartheid is ended there is still a lot of work to be done.

District 6 is an interesting area of Cape Town. It is a big area, once home to over 60,000 people of black and mixed race (one book says over 150,000!). In 1966 under the apartheid regime they were all forced to move so the land could go to the white folks. The whites however didn’t want to have anything to do with it and even today it is just a big empty wasteland or ghost town where there are old buildings. There are plans to develop the area and invite the removed people back but it will be a long process and two generations later, few remember what it was like there. The stories of neighbours being torn apart after living side by side for decades were unbelievable – here and all over the country during apartheid. 60,000 people – that’s like all of Chatham, Ontario when I left and move out west or all of Kelowna, BC when I got there. It’s absolutely impossible to imagine either of those places being in a similar situation. And most people were driven out with very little notice.

In other such cases, the whites did eventually move in and develop the areas. It’s hard to imagine how the system is going to correct itself when some people were allowed to buy cheap land and build on it so it’s now worth millions, while others were driven from their homes and lost everything they’d worked for. South Africa is making great strides but it’s going to take a long time to reach an equitable balance among all the people.

Okay, back to Cape Town. On the bus tours we also saw: Parliament Buildings, statue of Bartholomew Dias and the Gateway to Africa, the Artscape Theatre which was for whites only (onstage and in audience) until the whites boycotted and forced a change, St. George’s Cathedral from where Tutu led many protest marches, the Art Gallery and various museums (Jewel Africa, Gold, District 6, South African Jewish, Holocaust, South Africa, etc.). The museums were all in the same part of town so it would have been interesting to see them. However there just wasn’t time.

Before I forget I should mention language in South Africa. English is certainly spoken by everyone. Many people also speak Afrikaans, and there are other tribal and European languages as well. Even when people are speaking English it is sometimes hard to tell what they are saying because the accents are so heavy. And their terminology is also strange at times. As someone for directions and they’re liable to tell you to turn right at the next robot, which is how they refer to street lights. And when they say “just now” it can be past or future and it can be 5 minutes or 5 hours or 5 days. It’s a very interesting term!

Well, I think that’s all for South Africa except to say that it is an incredibly beautiful country and it is very large. As a result, you cannot possibly see it all in just three weeks. I saw many of the highlights but there were vast sections that I didn’t even come near. I guess that means that another trip will be required in the future!!!