CAPE TOWN

October 17-20, 2006

Here is a map of Africa. On this trip, the four of us went to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Roger and I also went to Mozambique.


Here is a larger map of the areas we went to:


Roger and I arrived in Cape Town at 10:00 am on Tues. 10/17. As we drove to the Cape Grace Hotel on the waterfront in Cape Town, we passed a couple of townships and we learned that a "township" is a slum. More about the townships later.


When we reached our hotel, our driver told us the Cape Grace was voted the top hotel in the world a number of years running, and we could see why – it is beautiful! We checked in, took a nap (it's vacation after all), then met up with mom and dad in the whiskey bar, where they serve hundreds of different whiskeys. We had a few drinks, then wandered around the waterfront, had a nice relaxing dinner, then headed back to the hotel.





The next day (Weds 10/18), we met our guide Greg, who took us on a tour of the Cape Peninsula. As we headed out of town, we had wonderful views of famous Table Mountain, and the less famous Lions Head and Twelve Apostles. We drove down the Atlantic seaboard, passing many beautiful beaches and beachfront homes, then left the populated areas and headed down the windswept coastline.

During the drive, Greg told us the history of the Cape:

The Portuguese "discovered" the Cape first, but they preferred the calmer waters of Mozambique, so they did not establish a post on the Cape. In 1647, a Dutch vessel wrecked in Table Bay. The marooned crew built a fort and stayed for a year, until they were rescued. Shortly thereafter, the Dutch East India Company established a permanent settlement on the Cape, so that passing ships could shelter there and sailors could stock up on fresh supplies. A small VOC expedition under the command of Jan van Riebeeck reached Table Bay on April 6, 1652, and Cape Town was born (van Riebeeck is South Africa's Christopher Columbus).

The Cape stayed under Dutch control until the English seized it in 1795. The English gave it back to the Dutch for a brief period, and then took it back again a few years later!

In 1910, SA became a union. In 1961, SA withdrew from the British Commonwealth (because of members who were critical of apartheid) and became a Republic. From the 1960's on, a number of black political groups, increasingly supported by sympathetic whites, opposed apartheid with tactics ranging from peaceful demonstrations to strikes, violence and sabotage. These strategies met with severe reprisals by the government. By 1970, the African National Congress had been banned and virtually all of the leaders of the resistance movement, including Nelson Mandela, were imprisoned. While the rest of the world was moving towards equality, SA was moving backwards.

Slowly, apartheid was denounced by the international community. In 1985, the United States and Great Britain imposed economic sanctions on South Africa in protest of apartheid. Throughout the late 1980's, anti-apartheid pressure mounted both within and outside South Africa, fueled by celebrities who made people around the world aware of apartheid. During this same time, Africa experienced its most violent protests and great bloodshed over apartheid.

Finally, beginning in February 1990, the SA government buckled to internal and international pressure and began to dismantle apartheid. The black congress was re-legalized and the long-imprisoned black leaders were released. In 1994, the country's constitution was rewritten and general elections in which all races could vote were held for the first time and, with Nelson Mandela's election as South Africa's first black president, the last vestiges of the apartheid system were finally outlawed.

I discuss apartheid in more detail in a separate blog entry, but that is the "short" version.

So, back to our Cape Peninsula tour: We left Cape Town and drove south through a number of small towns and beach communities, then we headed into the windswept Cape Peninsula National Park, and to the Cape of Good Hope / Cape Point, the southwestern tip of Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.

After admiring the view, we headed north (we were at the southwestern tip of the continent – we couldn’t head south!) and stopped for a relaxing lunch on the cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean. Next, we went to famous Bolders Beach to see the penguins - lots and lots of penguins! The penguins were molting, so they were quite scruffy, but adorable.

After marching with the penguins, we continued north, then turned inland, back towards Cape Town. We stopped at the beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and spent an hour or two wandering around the gardens, admiring the beautiful plants and trees. It was early spring, so lots of plants were blooming and the colors and smells were wonderful. Mom could have spent all day there!

I must say, at this point I was thoroughly confused. Everywhere we went, we could see Table Mountain. However, once we left Cape Town, Table Mountain did not look like Table Mountain! Greg explained that we had driven completely around Table Mountain and that you only see the famous view – the view that looks like a table top – from Cape Town itself. The views from the other sides of the mountain are totally different. This really confused me. I guess I am accustomed to the mountains being on one side of me (East, North, whatever) – I’m not used to being able to drive around a mountain in a day!

Anyhow, we headed back to the hotel, relaxed, had drinks in the Whiskey Bar, walked around the waterfront and had dinner at a nice outdoor waterfront restaurant.

The next morning (Thurs. 10/19), our guide Greg said that, since we had good weather, we should take the tram up Table Mountain. Greg explained that the tram closes whenever the weather is inclement, and the weather changes often. So, Greg drove us to the tram and Dad, Roger and I headed up. Mom stayed behind on terra firma.

We did not think the ride was all that scary until about the last 200 feet, when suddenly the tram rose straight up, like an elevator! Dad and I have been on a fair number of ski gondolas and trams, but we have never experienced anything like it. The world simply dropped away – what a feeling!

Roger, Dad and I wandered around Table Top, snapped a bunch of photos, then headed down, joined up with mom and Greg, and we headed off on our winelands tour.
We drove east from Cape Town and, very quickly, we were in beautiful rolling wineland / countryside.

We started at Ernie Ells winery (a famous golfer). We tasted some very nice wine and sat out on the patio, enjoying the view of the beautiful countryside.

From Ernie Ells, we drove to the town of Stellenbosch – the oldest town in SA (Cape Town is the oldest city). The town is beautiful, with restored cottages and streets lined with huge oak trees. It also has Stellenbosch University, a very highly regarded but apparently quite conservative "uni".

Next, we headed to an old farm manor that has been turned into a winery, for lunch. We ate outside, at the casual deli-restaurant located in the old stables/servants quarters/carriage house.

After a relaxing lunch, we went to La Motte winery for more wine tasting, then headed to the town of Franschoek ("French Corner" in Afrikaan). Franschoek was established by the French Huguenots in the 17th century, when they were expelled from France because of their Protestant faith. It is located in a picturesque valley and has a mixture of vineyards, Cape Dutch architecture and French Huguenot culture. It is a cute, charming town and is very popular with the tourists, but we all agreed that we preferred the oak-lined streets of the university town Stellenbosch.

Greg then drove us back to the hotel and we relaxed, had pre-dinner drinks in the bar, then wandered around the waterfront and had dinner at a very nice waterfront restaurant, Balthazar.

I had left our last day in Cape Town open because I thought we might be exhausted!. Unfortunately, Greg was not available, and Robben Island (the Alcatraz-like island where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 of the 27 years of his imprisonment) was booked. So, we decided to take a city and township tour.

Our new guide, Keith, met us the next morning (Friday, 10/20) and took us on a tour of the city. After we explored the city, Keith took us to the area known as District Six.

District Six is a famous area in Cape Town. It was a poor but thriving community. In 1966, the White government declared it a "White" area, forced all of the residents out and bulldozed the area. Over the next 10 years or so, 60,000 people were forced out of their homes and relocated to the townships far outside of town. The government never did anything with this area and, to this day, District Six remains an open barren area within the city.

Keith showed us where his father had lived in District Six and explained that his family was defined as "Coloured" under apartheid. Keith explained that people could apply to have their ethnicity changed, and that one of tests was quite simple: a government official stuck a pencil in your hair near the forehead and had you bend over. If the pencil fell out, you were White. If it did not fall out, you were Coloured or Black.

Keith had an aunt who successfully petitioned to be deemed White, but the rest of her siblings remained Coloured. Once she was "elevated" to White, the aunt lost moved out of the area, in order to start a new life as a White person. She basically had to abandon her family so that she could be deemed White.

As he was telling us these stories, Keith took us to the District Six Museum, which was established by Nelson Mandela in December 1994 to commemorate the forced removals in District Six and elsewhere. It is filled with stories of people who were forced out of their homes simply because of their color. It is so moving to see photographs of a thriving, vibrant (but poor) community and then see a photograph of barren wasteland, and realize it is the exact same area. I cannot adequately explain what an impact the museum had on us.

After visiting the District Six Museum, we headed out to the townships.

I must admit, we were somewhat hesitant to visit the townships – after all, they are slums! However, we were told by many people that it would be enlightening, so we decided to go.

If you have not read the blog on apartheid, the short story is that townships are the areas outside the cities that were created under apartheid where Coloureds (people of mixed race) and some Blacks were forced to live (many Blacks were froced to live on the SA version of our Indian reservations). A township is basically a slum with no Whites.

Keith took us to a small township with "only" 250,000 people – Langa, the oldest township in SA. Keith drove us through the streets and we were amazed. The structures aren't nice enough to be called shacks – they are made of cardboard, tin, plywood -- whatever the people can find, all leaning on each other, barely standing up.

However, as we looked more closely, we saw that the homes had electricity running to them (albeit a little precariously). Keith explained that, when Nelson Mandela was elected President in 1994, the conditions in the townships improved dramatically – communal bathrooms were added, electricity was provided and clean water taps were added every block or so. We noticed that the people we saw were bathed, with clean clothes, and that people seemed to be busy. We saw very few people sitting around doing nothing.

Keith explained that Langa was planned as a "model" township, with a single entry/exit point, wide streets, floodlights and a police station at the single entrance – all designed to allow "easy control" of the inhabitants. To this day, there are still only two entrances to Langa.

the townships:

Keith told us about the problems the townships are facing: the HIV/AIDS rate in the townships is the highest in Africa, the unemployment rate is 80% (!), the crime rate is high, etc., etc.

Keith also told us the positive: Schools and medical clinics are being built. More people are getting an education, and people are getting better health care than ever before. Keith also drove us to an area on the edge of Langa where homes were being built. Keith explained that the government is moving people out of the shacks and into homes and apartments. Slowly, the shacks are being replaced by small homes and apartments.

Keith pointed to a large empty field next to the new homes and told us that SA has a huge immigration problem – people are pouring into the country from countries with high unemployment / inflation / poverty / famine, etc. Keith explained that, as soon as the government moves a family out of a shack, it is taken over by an immigrant family. So, the government now demolishes the shanty the moment the family moves out of it. The result is large empty field where shacks used to stand, where the next set of homes or apartments will be built.

Keith then took us to a part of Langa that, even to our inexperienced eyes, was obviously worse than the rest of the township – and explained that this was the immigrant section. Here, there was no electricity or running water (it is not a sanctioned area and the residents officially do not exist). Keith explained that the immigration problem has caused a huge increase in guns, drugs and crime. Locals complain that immigrants are taking their jobs in that they work for too low a wage. Keith said that violence between the locals and the immigrants in the townships is a huge problem.

Keith then took us to the largest township on the Cape – Khayelitsha (Ki-uh-leech-uh). It is huge! The township runs alongside a freeway, nonstop, for over 10 miles, and is over a mile deep. Now, that may not seem large, but remember, the shacks are tiny – maybe 10x10, and lean against one another, so that you have a continual wall of shacks, running for over 10 miles, with only small breaks for roads. Keith told us that over 1 million people live in Khayelitsha! One million people!

Keith took as to a craft market in the heart of Khayelitsha. Local men and women make jewelry, sculptures, paintings, weavings, carvings, etc., etc. – and the tourists go there to buy them. It is a great source of revenue for the people and it encourages tourists to visit the townships, which really helps to open people’s eyes to the problems and that have existed and the progress that is being made. We bought a bunch of stuff – partly because we wanted to support the endeavor but also because they have great stuff!

We finished our township tour and returned to the hotel early. We walked around the waterfront, stopped at a little coffee shop (see the photo - that is out hotel and Table Mountain in the background), and then returned to the hotel for dinner at One Waterfront – the restaurant at the hotel. We had a wonderful meal and then turned in for the night. We all agreed that we liked Cape Town very much an that we would return again – if it weren’t so far away!