Finally, we
arrived in Africa.
 |
| Linda on Table Mountain; Photo: Caty Stevens |
After being trapped in a window seat, it paid off.
 |
| Cape Town |
 |
| Cape Town from the air |
Miles and miles of beaches.
 |
| False Bay |
And, the very striking mountains and cliffs that end right about the ocean.
 |
| View from Table Mountain |
Arrival was
marred by a problem that persisted the entire trip – British Airways lost
Caty’s bag. When we checked at lost baggage, they had a printout indicating
that the bag had “probably” not made it onto the flight from Heathrow. I am not
going to go into great detail, but I did want to state that British Airways has
abysmal customer service. It is difficult to determine what to do and when to
do it when baggage is lost.
It is virtually impossible to talk with a real
person. We (and our two GAdventures guides) spent hours on the phone with
multiple people at British Airways. We were told that there could be an
immediate emergency payout of 36 British Pounds if the baggage is missing 72
hours. It has now been over six weeks and there has been no settlement, no
trace of the bag and the only actual apology came after Caty tweeted about her
problems.
The sense we get is that British Airways frequently loses bags and
finds it to be quite an annoyance. It seems that if a problem is common, you
would have a better resolution problem. I also suggest the staff at British
Airways Lounges get up to speed on lost baggage policies.
 |
| View from the hotel; Photo: Linda Rowe |
After the
unfortunate delay at the airport trying to locate baggage, we checked into our
hotel, the ONOMO Inn on the Square. It was a nice hotel in what appeared to be
a good location near a lot of Cape Town's popular attractions, including Table Mountain. It also seemed to be a relatively safe location, despite the fact that our driver pointed out
a nearby area that he advised us to avoid because it wasn’t safe, especially
for women.
With Caty’s
luggage lost, we decided she would room with me until it was found (originally,
we were going to rotate the single status created by Robin’s cancellation).
So, Linda, with whom I was going to room, ended up with the single. Since Caty’s luggage was never found, we roomed together the whole time.
So, Linda, with whom I was going to room, ended up with the single. Since Caty’s luggage was never found, we roomed together the whole time.
 |
| Market by the hotel; Photo: Linda Rowe |
It is always hard to tell if this kind of stuff is authentic or mass-produced (maybe even in another country).
Of course, all the vendors claim authenticity and we were later told by our guides that much of these types of souvenirs are hand made in villages, but the artisans get very little of the proceeds. While interesting, I didn't see anything that I really wanted to buy. But, some members of our group shopped there.
About Cape Town
About Cape Town
Cape Town
(Afrikaans: Kaapstad) is the capital of the Western Cape province and, with
3.75 million people in the greater metropolitan area, is the second-most
populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg. Interestingly, it is also
the seat of the Parliament of South Africa, making it the legislative capital
of the country, even though Pretoria is the capital. Cape Town is famous
for its harbor ...
 |
| The Harbor |
... its natural beauty ...
... its Afrikaans character ...
 |
| View from above |
 |
| Colorful houses |
... and well-known landmarks including Table
Mountain ...
 |
| Caty, Becca and Janet at Table Mountain |
... and Cape Point, which I will address later.
 |
| Cape Point |
The earliest
known Cape Town inhabitants date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago, but
there is no written history from the area before it was mentioned in 1486 by
Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, the first European to reach the area. Dias
named it "Cape of Storms" (Cabo das Tormentas) because of its fierce
weather. It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as "Cape of Good
Hope" (Cabo da Boa Esperança) because of the optimism created by opening a sea route to India and the East (and most likely to entice
fearful sailors to take the exceedingly dangerous route).
In the late 16th century, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and English ships regularly stopped over in Cape Town on the way to the Indies.
 |
| Cape Point |
They traded tobacco, copper
and iron with locals in exchange for fresh meat.
The area became a Dutch East
India Company supply station for Dutch ships and, in 1652, was established as the
first permanent European settlement in South Africa.
The Portuguese imported
slaves from Indonesia and Madagascar and introduced a range of plants, including
grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples and citrus, changing the natural
and cultural environment forever.
Britain
captured Cape Town in 1795, returned to the Dutch by treaty in 1803, and re-occupied
it again in 1806. Cape Town was permanently ceded to Britain in 1814, when it
became the capital of the newly formed Cape Colony. The Cape attained its own
parliament in 1854 and a prime minister in 1872.
The discovery
of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886 prompted a flood of immigrants, creating conflicts
between the Boer republics in the interior and the British colonial government.
After winning the Second Boer War, Britain established the Union of South
Africa (later a Republic) in 1910, with Cape Town as the legislative capital.
 |
| Company's Garden |
In 1948, the
National Party created apartheid (racial segregation that classified all areas
according to race), leading to the erosion and eventual abolition of the Cape's
multiracial society. Formerly multi-racial suburbs were either purged of “unlawful”
residents or demolished.
The worst example was District Six, where, after being
declared whites-only in 1965, all housing there was demolished and more than
60,000 residents were forcibly removed. South Africa is still struggling to recover from this shameful era.
Cape Town was
home to many leaders of the anti-apartheid movement and, in 1994, apartheid
came to an end. It now appears to be a very multi-racial city, but in addition
to the beautiful area, there are still ”Townships,” that are among the worst
slums/shantytowns I have seen. I also saw evidence of these areas being
replaced with government-built housing. I didn't take pictures (I tend to have a bias toward beauty -- I probably should channel at bit more of my photojournalism skills).
Cape Town is
located at latitude 33.55° S, which is about the same as Sydney, Australia, and
equivalent to Los Angeles in the northern hemisphere. And, in many ways, it
resembles Los Angeles.
 |
| False Bay |
Table Mountain,
with its near vertical cliffs and flat-topped summit over 3,300 ft. high and
Devil's Peak and Lion's Head on either side, forms a dramatic mountainous
backdrop to central Cape Town.
 |
| Kristen, Becca, Kandice and Alexis in front of Table Mountain |
To the south, the Cape Peninsula is a scenic mountainous spine jutting 25 miles south into the Atlantic Ocean, terminating at Cape Point. There are over 70 peaks above 980 ft. within Cape Town's official city limits.
 |
| Lion's Head |
Many of the city's suburbs lie on the large plain called
the Cape Flats, which extends 30 miles to the east and joins the peninsula to
the mainland. With a
generally Mediterranean climate, Cape Town has been experiencing the worst
drought in one hundred years since 2015.
Multiple
languages are spoken in Cape Town: Afrikaans, English and Xhosa are the most
common. No population and no language is dominant.
 |
| Becca on Table Mountain |
Upon arrival in Cape Town, we decided to spend the afternoon at Table Mountain, one of the city’s main tourist attractions.
Our driver warned us that the top is often closed due to high winds and that it had been closed most of the week. We checked and found that it was open, so we grabbed an Uber and headed straight over.
Table Mountain
Table Mountain
Table Mountain (Khoikhoi: Hoerikwaggo, Afrikaans: Tafelberg), which forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, is a two-mile-wide plateau edged by cliffs and flanked by Devil's Peak to the east and Lion's Head to the west.
Although the
mountain is often covered by clouds (the so-called "table cloth"), it
was crystal clear when we went. Turns out we were lucky, during our trip we
heard many people say that weather prevented them from visiting Table Mountain.
 |
| Fynbos means "fine bush" |
Although there are a few remnant patches of indigenous forest, most was felled by the early European settlers. Many of the trees you see today are imported.
 |
| Not native |
 |
| Becca and Linda with Table Mountain tickets |
 |
| The summit |
You can also walk up or down, but, ummmm, no.
 |
| At the top |
Their closest relative is the African Elephant, which might explain the nose. Just like Marmots, they love to perch on rocks and outcrops, often over precipitous drops.
Dassies are found across Africa and the Middle East in habitats with rock crevices where they escape from predators. They typically live in groups of 10-80 animals , although we didn't see that many close together. Dassies have been reported to use sentries: one or more
animals take up position on a vantage point and issue alarm calls on the
approach of predators.
They eat a wide variety of plants and, occasionally, insects and grubs. They are preyed on by Leopards, snakes, Caracals, Wild Dogs and raptors, especially Verreaux's Eagles. Like Marmots, Dassies spend approximately 95 percent of their time resting, usually basking in the sun.
They eat a wide variety of plants and, occasionally, insects and grubs. They are preyed on by Leopards, snakes, Caracals, Wild Dogs and raptors, especially Verreaux's Eagles. Like Marmots, Dassies spend approximately 95 percent of their time resting, usually basking in the sun.
 |
| Cute little Dassies |
The last Lion in the area was shot around 1802 and there were Leopards until the 1920s. Baboons, and two smaller nocturnal carnivores, the Rooikat (Caracal) and the Vaalboskat (also called the Vaalkat or Southern African Wildcat) were once common in the mountains and the mountain slopes, but are now exceptionally rare.
 |
| Base of the cable car |
Table Mountain is also home to porcupines, mongooses, snakes, lizards, tortoises and a rare species of amphibian that is only found on Table Mountain, the Table Mountain Ghost Frog. We didn’t see any of these on the mountain, but Caty, Becca and Linda did see a Water Mongoose at the base.
 |
| A striking bird |
We did see lots
of birds, most notably Red-winged Starlings, a beautiful black bird with rusty
red wings (the female has a gray head). They were everywhere.
We also saw Familiar
Chats at the top ...
... and Speckled Pigeons at the bottom ...
 |
| A rare still moment |
 |
| A cute little Chat |
 |
| Very pretty wing and eye markings |
What was most
spectacular, however, was the view. The steep cliffs, ravines and drops to the
ocean on a crystal-clear day was breathtaking.
It was cool, but not cold and we
were spared the rough winds they had experienced all week.
 |
| Late in the day |
 |
| Alexis, Kristen and Linda enjoy the top of Table Mountain |
 |
| Janet and Linda |
On top of the mountain there is an extensive network of footpaths offering hiking opportunities over a wide variety of terrains, and distances which can be covered in 30 minutes to several hours (or even all day if so desired).
 |
| Ummm ... I guess that's cool |
In 2011, Table Mountain was voted one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World." There are so many "wonders of the world" lists that I am not sure what that really means.
On the Waterfront
After our visit, we decide to go to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, built on top of part of the docks of the Port of Cape Town, for dinner.
 |
Linda
|
After some confusion finding each other from our two separate Ubers (hint: have a better idea of where you are going before you go), we walked around, took some photos and had a pleasant dinner on the waterfront, including a “deconstructed lemon pie” served in – for reasons unknown to us – a silver loving cup.
We didn’t stay
out late because we had an early morning date with some sharks. In the lobby
that evening, we met two people who were also going on the dive the next
morning and who happened to be on the same GAdventures tour as we were – just a
few days ahead of us. Matt,
To see more pictures, click here and here.
Trip date: August 25-September 9, 2017
To see more pictures, click here and here.
 |
| What a view |
Trip date: August 25-September 9, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment