Cape Town
“I am a passionate traveler, and from the time I was a child, travel formed me as much as my formal education.”
– David Rockefeller
Get Me Off this Truck
I rolled into Cape Town via overland truck. I’d been on this truck for 2 ½ weeks, traveling through southern Africa, mostly Namibia, and was ready to get the hell off it. I saw some amazing things. I made beautiful memories. And I was over it. Over sleeping in a tent, over camp food, and most definitely over spending half of my day sweat napping in a bumpy truck with no A/C, and nothing but a crooked branch keeping the window near my seat wedged closed and the dusty wind out off my face.
My overland experience wrapped up with one final day in Cape Town and included one final tour, a township tour. This tour brought mixed feelings from many. A township in Cape Town is another word for what is basically a slum. It’s a densely populated area, full of homes made of corrugated metal and shipping containers. During Apartheid, when anyone who wasn’t white was expunged from the city center, these areas were specifically reserved for non-white people. People who were restricted from both living and entering central Cape Town without permission.
A guided tour of a township feels like poverty tourism. I wouldn’t do a guided tour of a NYC or a DC housing project, so I can gawk at the people living there for my personal entertainment. It’s a neighborhood where people live, not a human zoo.
BUT.
I was really glad I left the city center to see the township. It felt strange at first, but I do believe there is a right and a wrong way to organize and participate in this kind of tourism, and I generally believe or hope that our tour was without the human gawking. I appreciated the focus on people meeting and history learning. It opened my eyes to the history of Cape Town, South Africa, and Apartheid. And that’s part of the point.
If I didn’t visit the township, I would have only seen the tourist-friendly side of Cape Town with pretty beaches, high rise hotels, and shiny new shopping malls. This would would have been an incredibly incomplete and one-sided picture.
The only photos I took on this tour were from a stop to the local bar. We tried a homemade beer that goes back to tribal recipes and is often drank to mark important life events. It’s also drank in the afternoons…just because. Other than this, I didn’t take pictures of people’s houses just to show how small they are or how much in disrepair. I’m not an ass.
Apartheid – What I didn’t know
I’m not doing a full history lesson. Too often in my travels, I’ve visited countries with sad histories of racism, extremism, genocide, and violence. The more I travel, the more appallingly common it is, though each place has its own very unique story to tell. I’ve certainly picked up quite a few books and gotten a lot more interested in world history since I started traveling.
Non-South Africans such as myself have a general understanding that Apartheid marked a time of racism. A lot of people, myself included, don’t fully understand the the full extent or timeline of Apartheid, which lasted from the late 1940s until the early 1990’s. It’s not some ancient, antiquated system of suppression. I sort of knew this, but never fully processed that it ‘ended’ in my lifetime. And of course, as often happens, it also didn’t really end. The laws changed in the 90’s, but the entire economy, education system, living arrangement, and culture built around Apartheid is not so easy to change, and dictates the lives and circumstances of many South Africans today.
As recently as the early 90’s it was illegal for a black person to have a sexual relationship or marry a white person. Black and brown people were only allowed to have certain jobs deemed appropriate for their race. Places of residence and schooling were also determined by racial classification, with melanin laden individuals being restricted from living in the city, likely living in a township with a crowded and underfunded school system.
When Apartheid ‘ended’ the country had millions of people who hadn’t had access to education or skilled job opportunities. All the well paying jobs were still in the city center, and most non-white people live a crazy long bus ride away from the city on a public transportation system that isn’t winning any awards anytime soon.
So yeah, good luck getting out of that situation. Even today, township populations are 99% black and incredibly dense. Thousands live in a square mile. Lots of people. Lots of community. Not a lot of opportunity. Meanwhile, the center of the city, the ‘nice’ part with those fancy restaurants and the beachfront boardwalk. Mostly white.
Learning all of this, I’m reminded of my own neighborhood in DC which used to be off-limits to certain races, and is now the home to a disproportionate amount of low income housing for mostly black and brown people. The historical details are different but the story is similar. America likes to pretend like these racist systems and limitations ended a long time ago. South Africa just made it more overt, putting it all out there in full visibility, complete with detailed step-by-step guide. The lasting impacts are the same.
Back in the Shiny City Center….
After returning from the township, I spent my last night with my overland tour group having a completely different Cape Town experience. We went out to some bars on Long Street.
Long Street is…somewhat boringly a long street of bars and restaurants. The street is crowded with locals and young backpackers most nights of the week. It’s a bit seedy. City security guards stand on city corners in bright yellow vests trying to prevent bar goers from being robbed. Heaven forbid the tourism industry is impacted.
We hit up a couple of crowded, loud bars serving cheap vodka in plastic cups, giving away free shots of jagermeister as a welcome gift. I didn’t even drink. I went to say I experienced it, but I left early. I’ve been to enough of those kinds of bars before and I’m tired of the scene. Some things never change and that includes bars with drunk college age kids. If you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it a thousand times.
I said my goodbyes to the group as we went our separate ways the next day. Farewell all, and on to the next.
Old Friends in New Cities
My Cape Town visit was highlighted by an ‘old’ friend I met way back in May, traveling through South America. Ryan and I met while hiking the Santa Cruz trail just outside of Huaraz in Peru. He’s a Cape Town resident, South African native, world traveler, and soon to be occupant of the great city of Amsterdam. His worldly travels led him to worldly relocation. Following my departure from Cape Town, he was set to move to Amsterdam for a new job in a few short weeks.
This worked out great for me. I got a local tour guide who was still unemployed with plenty of free time, who was equally eager to enjoy one final tour around the city he loves. Just perfect.
Penguins at the Beach
The thing to see at Boulder Beach is the penguins. African Penguins. Tiny little, pet like penguins that bask in the South African sun and swim in the beach’s clear blue waters. Ryan borrowed his roommate’s car for the day and we went for a drive to see these little adorable misfits in their natural habitat.
Since we visited in the middle of a weekday, the beach wasn’t crowded, and we were largely left to our own devices to crawl over boulders and wade in the clear waters. The really cool part of seeing the penguins is how close they let you get to them. Not so close that I’d dare try to pet one and risk getting my finger bitten off. But the adorable African seabirds would take a quick dive and swim right next to us as we stood in the water. How frickin’ cute are they??
Cape Point and Sunsets
From Boulder we drove south to Cape Point. The Cape is located within Table Mountain National park, within a section of the park that also contains the nearby Cape of Good Hope. The Cape has rugged standstone peaks, and also houses an old lighthouse worth a stop, and a furnicular called the flying Dutchman. A visit here offers a few short hikes, and lots of memorable picture viewpoints off the southern point of Africa. After being stuck in a truck for the prior two weeks, I missed being out in nature. This was a nice re-introduction.
From Cape Point we kept driving drive back up the coast towards Cape Town, stopping for some unforgettable sunset views. Per Ryan, the windy mountain route we took is a popular route for cyclists in the area, but is equally known for rockfalls disrupting traffic.
I can see the cycling appeal, though I would probably not be adventurous enough to opt for the cycling method myself. It’s way too windy and narrow for me. I’d be too chicken. Luckily I wasn’t too scared to stop at one of the many lookout points on the road to catch the sunset. It was stunning.
Table Mountain
After reading the weather report and (as I learned), the most important aspect of the weather report, the wind report, we decided to hike up table mountain the next day. It’s one of those things in Cape Town you have to do. If you’re not physically active you take the cable car up. Since Ryan and I first met on a hiking trip, obviously we didn’t take this route. We hoofed it.
There are a mind boggling number of routes you can take up the mountain with varying levels of difficulty. I don’t know how I would have chosen which route to take if I wasn’t accompanied by an experienced local. Ryan suggested we try one of the more challenging routes called the India Venster trail. Before choosing this route, he gave me an indirect warning of what to expect by asking me if I’ve rock climbed before. Sure, I said. I’m no expert but I’ve climbed indoors and outdoors a few time. It’s more a scramble, he told me, but he wouldn’t want to bring someone on the route who didn’t have any prior experience. Ok. We’ll see how this goes.
At the time of doing this hike, I was still getting over a cold that I had for over two weeks. I couldn’t breathe at full capacity just yet. This is my excuse for saying it was tougher than I anticipated, and I got more worn out than I expected.
Ryan sometimes goes up this mountain a few times a week, and often runs the route for training. This sounds outlandishly ridiculous to me. I could never run up this mountain. He said he can usually run it in well under 40 minutes, but since I wasn’t feeling 100% we might take as long as an hour and a half. Sure. Ok. We took over 2 hours. I was slow. It was steep. I’m sure Ryan could have moved much faster, but I needed a lot of breathing breaks.
Also the rock climbing section was a teensy bit more than just scrambling. It was more like unharnessed climbing. Basic climbing, but still climbing. Don’t get me wrong. I loved it. It was a whole lotta fun. I would do it again in a second. But you can surely die on this trail if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’m glad I was with someone who had hiked it several times before.
Once at the top we took in in some unforgettable sites. I learned what a brocken spectre means. It has something to do with water vapor in the air, and light refraction that creates a rainbow halo around your shadow. That’s nifty. We saw some small deer like animals prancing in the mist on top the mountain. I took a picture on a pile of rocks at the mountain peak. I survived. It was a success all around.
Boardwalks and Gardens
The next day Ryan had foreign consulates to visit and visa applications to complete, so I was largely on my own.
I was still congested and breathing through half a nostril, but emboldened by my Table Mountain hike, I decided to try a morning run. I ran SLOW. But I ran.
Greenpoint and Sea Point have a really lovely boardwalk waterfront area which is a perfect place to get some exercise. Even though I was tired and half lung-ed, it was too good to pass up. Truthfully the last few months I’ve been focused more on eating than working out, and I think my running game is starting to show it. I do a lot of city walking and mountain hiking, but no real cardio anymore. Also my diet is much more teenager-like than at home. Not so many salads. More potato chips and chocolate bars. Whatever. I still went for a run in Cape Town on my year of sabbatical living of no responsibilities. Props to me.
After my run, I opted to keep my nature visits going and headed to the Cape Town botanical gardens. It’s a 20 minute uber drive away from the central point in the city. I would highly recommend it. The grounds are expansive and extremely well kept for such a large space. If really understood what I was showing up for (i.e. took the time to read about it) I would have come with a personalized size bottle of wine (a full sized bottle of wine) and food to make it a picnic. It’s the perfect spot and helped that the weather was absolutely perfect that day. I was practically skipping.
Ending on a Wine Note
A nice way to end a trip to Cape Town, or begin a trip to Cape town, or just have a day in Cape Town, is to visit a nearby winery. There are two main wine regions within a few hour drive from the city. Ryan once again borrowed a car for the day and we drove to the region called Stellenbosch. It’s a lovely place. There are expansive vineyards in the foreground, mountains in the background, the wine is good, the tastings are cheap, and a lot of the vineyard do chocolate or dessert pairings with the wine. Cheesecake pairing anyone??
Really…I don’t know if it’s possible to end a visit to a country or a continent in a better way.
Closing Out Another Continent
After the wineries we met up with Ryan’s roommate for dinner and a few drinks, and I retired back to my guesthouse early to prep for my flight the next day. Thus completes my visit to Cape Town, and the last six+ weeks of traveling on the African continent. It’s hard to believe I’ve been traveling that long. Between climbing Kiliminjaro, gorge jumping near Victoria Falls, sharing a truck with 12 strangers across Namibia, and taking in the history (and the wine) in South Africa, it’s been a crazy memorable, almost unbelievable whirlwind of six weeks.
Like all of my travels, I’m sure the impact of all these experiences will influence me for a long time yet to come. From one day to the next I don’t feel that different. I’m seeing amazing things I’ve always wanted to see, but it’s hard to know what these experiences add up to just yet. When I look back at six weeks ago, or Jesus, six months ago, and mentally review everything I’ve done…every mountain I’ve climbed figuratively and literally, all the people I’ve met and the countries I’ve visited. Well then, I do feel like this experience has changed me some.
The person that left DC nine months ago felt stressed out and bored by work and life, and was ready for a drastic change but wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. That memory is familiar but foggy, like remembering what a wisp of smoke looked like. I guess I’m less concerned with the future now. I have more trust that I’ll figure things out when I get there. This used to make me nervous, and I think still makes my family nervous, but I’ve come to realize it’s the outlook I’d rather have.
As I move through the second half of my travels and head to my last continent….I have a certain level of anxiety about it all ending. Have I appreciated it enough? Have I lived in the present moment whenever possible? Sometimes. Maybe not at other times. So what. I’m human. Luckily I live in a time where I can record my thoughts and feelings in self-indulgent detail on this blog, and relive my adventures through the 4,000 pictures I took over the last six months.
Also I’m not done yet. Asia here I come.
