FROM GOODHOPE TO GOOD HOPE
We finally got the chance to
visit Cape Town in late May, during school vacation. For Peace Corps volunteers
from throughout southern Africa, Cape Town is seen as the ultimate R&R
destination: a mix of the Mediterranean and California perched on the southwest
coast of Africa. It did not disappoint us.
We stayed
five nights at an inn in an upscale residential neighborhood close to one of
the beaches. We took many walks along the ocean front promenades, joined by
local joggers and bicyclists. It was not beach weather as such. The winter
rainy season had begun, with daytime highs not getting above the 60’s F.
To explore
Cape Town, we used on-and-off double decker tour buses. You find versions of
the same bus in major cities in Europe. Patrons pay a set fare for the day and
amble along a meandering circular route, getting on and off as you choose. Each
passenger gets a set of head phones to listen to the commentary about the
various sites. There are two separate routes in and around Cape Town, and we
explored each.
There are
so many highlights to Cape Town it is difficult to know where to begin. We
visited the Kirsenbosch Botanical Gardens, one of the greatest in the world.
The Cape area of South Africa is home to the smallest floral kingdom in the
world, with the highest diversity of plant species. Why is that? Because the
region hosts a Mediterranean climate (warm dry summers, cool wet winters) and
because it is surrounded (and thus isolated) by arid climates, including the
Kalahari Desert, which has the opposite rainfall cycle: dry winters with any
rain coming in the summer. The gardens
showcased the many indigenous plants: proteas, cycads (a kind of prehistoric
palm plant), bird of paradise flowers, and flowering heath bushes. We learned
that even the workhorse geranium flower is native to the Cape floral kingdom.
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| Stephanie at Kirstenbosch on the back side of Table Mountain |
We rode up
to the base of Table Mountain, the stunning flat-topped steep ridge that serves
as a backdrop to central Cape Town. There is a cable car for trips to the top,
but the weather was too bad on the day we visited. We later explored the
downtown, including the old stone fortification that dates back to the days of
the original Dutch settlers in the seventeenth century. We ate at some great
restaurants: Italian, Thai, Lebanese, you name it: Cape Town has it.
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| A couple of country folks from Goodhope visiting the original Good Hope |
One day, we
joined an excursion out to the Cape of Good Hope, a spectacular hour’s drive
south of the city. There, we took the obligatory photos at the southwest corner
of Africa as we enjoyed all of the indigenous vegetation in the surrounding
nature preserve. From there, we drove to a beach hosting – believe it or not –
penguins. Hundreds of penguins long ago migrated from Antarctica and decided
not to leave. They are every bit as cute in person as they are on film.
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| Penguins on the beach near Cape of Good Hope. It's not Antarctica, but it's not warm either. |
As if that
weren’t enough, our drive continued on to Stellenbosch, an old inland town and
the center of South Africa’s thriving wine industry. It is also a college town:
Stellenbosch University sits there. Today it is also a tourist magnet, with
quaint old Cape Dutch buildings, fancy shops, gourmet restaurants and, yes,
lots of wine. After lunch, we toured one of the many wineries out in the
countryside: Zevenwacht.
For some
tourists, a trip to Cape Town would not be complete without a voyage out to
Robben Island, the location of the prison that housed Nelson Mandela for more
than 20 years. It took us three tries to get there. One day the ferries were
booked, another day the ferries were cancelled due to bad weather. On the third
day we succeeded, although it was cold and windy and the boat trip was rocky.
Still, the experience was unforgettable. Our tour guide was a former political
prisoner who had served his sentence with Nelson Mandela. We learned that
African political prisoners at Robben Island did not get a winter coat. Only
the “colored” (mixed race and Indian) prisoners received such a garment.
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| View of Table Mountain from the boat to Robben Island |
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| Nelson Mandela's fellow prisoner describing life on Robben Island |
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