JodockWorldTravel

December 21, 2022

Beautiful views and mostly clear skies greeted us as we pulled into Cape
Town this morning around 6:00 a.m., an early indication of how different this experience of Cape Town would be from our initial introduction to it a little over two weeks ago.  Today’s guide has lived his entire 53 years here and is well-acquainted with its rich and turbulent history.  Left on his own to determine our itinerary, he did a wonderful job of blending past and present, reflecting on the good that has come from the city’s European influences without negating the challenges of colonization and apartheid.

We drove past numerous historical landmarks and points of interest, but time limited the number of actual stops we could make.  Here are some of the highlights…

Built in the style of an ancient Greek temple, Rhodes Memorial on what was once his favorite spot on his vast estate, the monument is a tribute to Cecil John Rhodes, an influential and controversial English-born South African who became an extremely successful businessman, influential politician, and eventually Prime Minister of the British Cape Colony.  He was a mining magnate who founded DeBeers Diamond Company (today considered by many to be the world’s leading diamond company) and played a significant role in the colonization of Africa.

Upon his death Rhodes donated most of his estate to the nation of South Africa, portions of which became home to the University of Cape Town’s Upper Campus and the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. 

Similar to the controversy over historic confederate figure statues in the U.S., there is a movement afoot to remove memorials like this one across South Africa that are viewed as glossing over the damage of colonization and apartheid by glorifying those behind this history.  Our guide’s perspective is that while a lot of damage was done by colonization and apartheid, there are also some positive things, and they are part of Africa and South Africa’s history; these countries would not be what they are today without these influences.

The site offers spectacular views of the city below, but the wind just about blew Aunt Dori over!

Pam was curious about the statue hidden behind the columns at the top of the stairs, and Ken kindly investigated to satisfy her curiosity.

The statue of Rhodes on horseback faces NE towards Cairo, an homage to Rhodes’ efforts to create a railway linking the Western Cape to Cairo, a dream never realized.

We drove past Cape Town’s version of a Farmer’s Market, a statue of Nelson Mandella on the balcony of City Hall, the site where he gave his first public speech after his release from prison on February 11, 1990, and Groote Shuur Hospital, where Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first human heart transplant in December 1967.  Today the hospital is viewed as a world-class training hospital, far beyond the reach of most of the common people who receive their care from public clinics and hospitals with far lower standards. 

We also drove past the University of Cape Town,  Established in 1927, it is the oldest educational facility in South Africa.  Originally established as a boys-only school, it began accepting females in 1887.  Today a leading teaching and research institution, the government proudly touts its availability to all South Africans, but in truth it is far out of reach for many of even the brightest of those of tribal descent.  Its annual tuition of roughly $1500/year may sound incredibly cheap to Americans, but in a land where unemployment and poverty are high and many, like our tour guide, work two to three jobs to make a combined income of about $1,000/month just to cover day-to-day expenses, it’s a lot.  Financial assistance is available, but not widely publicized and difficult to access.  Its student body is predominantly white, with international students accounting for a large portion of enrollment.

We drove through District Six, a former inner-city residential area populated by people of color.  In 1966, the apartheid government announced that the area would be razed to make room for a white-only neighborhood.  They declared it a slum, fit only for clearance.  They said it was crime-ridden and dangerous, full of immoral activities like gambling, drinking and prostitution.  More than 60,000 non-white residents were forcibly removed.  The vision of a whites-only neighborhood was never realized, and most of the land has been left barren and unoccupied.  Post-apartheid the neighborhood has been reopened to Blacks and “coloreds” (people of mixed race), and the government said it would help previous residents reclaim their land.  Sounds good on paper, but the reality is that 30 years had passed between eviction and the end of apartheid; many of the original residents had passed.  It’s been nearly 60 years now, and finding the required documentation to prove prior residency is not easy.  The government can say it’s doing something to benefit the people, but when you make it so difficult to access the help are you really helping?

Our next stop was Signal Hill.  Sitting high above the harbor, Signal Hill was once the site where flags were used to communicate weather warnings and anchor instructions to ships to help them prepare for stormy conditions.  It is also where the “Noon Gun” was located.  At exactly 1:00 p.m. Cape Mean Time a gun would sound, helping ships check their maritime chronometers.  This practice continued until 1934.  One last function of the guns was to notify the public when a ship was in trouble.  When the look-out on the hill saw a ship in distress he would fire the guns three times; the Battery responding to the emergency would fire one shot in return to let the lookout know they were on it.

We had a motorcycle escort to the top of the hill.

It was super windy, but great views!

Our final stop before checking into the hotel was Bo-Kaap (translation:  “Above the Cape”), the historical center for the Cape Muslim community, descendants of enslaved Muslims from different parts of the world.  According to local legend all of the area’s buildings were once white.  When the slaves were freed in 1834, they celebrated by painting everything in bright colors (the internet begs to differ, saying the colors began appearing in the 2000’s).  It is the oldest surviving residential neighborhood in Cape Town, and the largest concentration of pre-1850 architecture.

This pig constructed entirely of crushed Nescafe coffee pods is indicative of the culturally diverse community’s quirky personality.

We were almost sad when this wonderful – and completely opposite approach to our introduction to the city – tour ended – until we saw where we would be staying.

The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Hotel is a 1904 warehouse turned luxury hotel located in the beautiful Victoria Wharf.  Created in 1992, the Wharf was designed to be a premier tourist destination for local and international visitors.  It contains leading retail, commercial, residential and marine spaces with extensive dining, leisure and entertainment facilities.  We had an enjoyable afternoon exploring the shops and the area and enjoyed our best meal yet at one of the restaurants directly on the water.

It was a wonderful day that completely changed our opinion of Cape Town.  It is far from perfect; there’s no denying the social issues and economic disparity that continue to plague this beautiful town, but after today we’ve fallen in love with its physical attributes, friendly people and diverse offerings.