In Maputo, Mozambique, I dropped into the South African Airlines ticket office and purchased a round trip ticket from Johannesburg to Cape Town for $200 US. I had to commit to a certain amount of time there, and I selected 16 days. I figured I could always explore the surrounding area if I got bored with the city. Besides, I hadn't spent much time yet in South Africa. I took the overnight bus from
From the Johannesburg airport, the flight to Cape Town was an easy two hour flight. I got there in the early afternoon. and took a shuttle bus into the downtown area called "City Bowl" for the hills and mountains that wrap around in almost every direction. I found a single room in a backpacker hotel for $20 per night on Long Street, which was in the heart of the City Bowl. I set off to explore the center of the city.
I walked to the Victoria & Alfred (V & A) Harbour area, which was a new development on the waterfront of shops, malls, restaurants and condominiums. I made official tour arrangements to visit Robbin Island the next day to see the apartheid-era maximum security prison which held Nelson Mandela for over 20 years.
It was a one-hour boat ride out to Robbin Island. Then we boarded a bus and were given an explanation of the prison and the workings of the evil apartheid government. We drove to the limestone pit mine, where the prisoners had to break limestone rocks and carry them to a big pile, only to move that pile of rocks from place to place just to make work. When we drove to the prison itself, we were greeted by our next tour guide. All the prison guides were former political prisoners who had lived in the prison, so they were very qualified to speak about the prison environment.
One of my in-town excursions was a hike to the top of Table Mountain (aerial photo). Table Mountain, at 3,000 feet elevation, forms the scenic backdrop to the entire City Bowl area of Cape Town. From my hotel in the middle of the city, it was only a one-half hour walk to the base of Table Mountain where you could take a gondola to the top. But my choice was to hike up one of the several hundred hiking trails to the summit. From the base, it took me about one and one-half hour to get to the top of this mountain. Up on top, there were lots of paved walkways to explore. I was lucky to have a nice clear day with no wind or clouds and great views to the city below.
Cape Town - City Bowl area from the top of Table Mountain
One day I rented a small car and drove to Point Aguilla, the southern-most point of Africa where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. It was a very barren area with rolling hills.
Later that same day I drove to Hermanas, a small city which claims the best land-based whale watching on earth. From the cliffs on shore, I could see over a dozen whales offshore, many of them very close to shore and they were exhibiting different behaviors such as breaching and "standing" with their tail fin out of the water.
Another day I took the suburban train to Simons Town. The two hour round trip rail trip cost less than $3, which was less than I paid for my lunch that day. In Simons Town, I walked a short distance to Boulders Beach National Park. This is a beach area inhabited by thousands of Cape penguins. They nest in the beach sand.
The area immediately north of Cape Town is wine country, and I spent one full day on a guided wine tour. The Western Cape wines are very good quality and very reasonably priced. Our group visited four different wineries for tastings, and the tour included a nice lunch (with wine, or course).
During most of my stay at Cape Town, I enjoyed movies at the
Capetown World Cinema Festival (Sithengi) in progress, which
specialized in African and European films. There were also a few
American films as well. My hotel was in a central location that was
only a 5 minute walk to two of the film festival theaters. The movie
tickets were less than $3 US per movie, so I tried to catch a different
movie every day or so. Some of the movies featured a live presentation
by the movie's director or several of the leading actors. One of the
movies I saw was the Spike Lee movie "When the Levees Broke". If you
have ever seen this movie, you might remember the overwhelming majority
of black faces portrayed in this cronicle of the Hurricane Katrina
aftermath. Here I was in Africa, and most everyone was black - the
movie got lots of laughs from the local audience for the way the
disaster was handled.
On my day visit to the top of Table Mountain, I could see the part of the city beyond the City Bowl, which I hadn't visited yet. These neighborhoods were waterfront areas on the Atlantic Ocean, and were densely filled with high-rise apartments. A rich area further south was filled with high-priced single family homes. A few days later, I took a city bus out to this area, and walked the whole beachfront back to the city center. I started in Clifton Beach neighborhood, and walked to Green Point and finally ended up in the V & A waterfront. This was a very affluent portion of Cape Town.
One Sunday I went to the Green Point soccer stadium where there was a giant rummage and craft sale. The entire parking lot was filled with vendors and temporary shops/stands. The prices were the best in town and couldn't be beat by any other the regular souvenir dealers.
Cape Town has a regular tour bus which does a large circle around the tourist destinations in the greater metro area. For a $15 fee, you can board and exit as many times as you want all day long as you make your way from place to place. Their schedule allows them to stop at each location about every half-hour, so there is never much waiting. On my day on the bus, I went to the National Botanical Gardens, which is part of Table Mountain National Park, but on the back side from the City Bowl.
My stay in Cape Town was a great experience. I hope to return to this city which I consider one of the most beautiful I have visited.
I left Cape Town and flew back to Johannesburg. My last in activity in South Africa was a 3 day safari to Kruger National Park. On my way back from this safari, I got a ride from the tour company back to the Johannesburg airport. I was the only passenger in a brand new pickup truck. It was a very comfortable ride and we traveled through the scenic Drakensberg Mountains. My driver's name was "Lucky".