Marie and Toms World Cruise: Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa has been one of the ports we’ve been most anxious to visit since the beginning of the trip. According to Frommers travel guide, Cape Town is considered ,by many, to be the most beautiful city in the world. We would agree with that assessment. It’s the 3rd largest city in South Africa and lies at the foot of Table Mountain (3,750 feet) and on the shore of Table Bay. Most of the former dock area is now a commercial and tourist waterfront area with museums, craft markets, and restaurants. Cape Town is the tourism capital of South Africa with the largest number of tourists of any South African city.

We encountered rough seas since leaving Durban which got worse as we rounded the Cape of Good Hope on our way to Cape Town. We were scheduled to spend 2 ½ days there (longer than any other port) but upon arrival the Port Authority would not allow the ship to enter the harbor because winds were gusting to 60 knots. So, we rode at anchor in the bay from 10:30 AM until 9:30 PM when we were finally allowed to enter the harbor. That simply meant that we had some time to make up, which we did.

Our first day in Port started out with a visit to Robben Island, a former prison for political prisoners and now a museum. Actually, what this means is that it was a former prison for Blacks that were campaigning against Apartheid. Among the most famous of these inmates was Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison for spearheading the African National Congress (ANC) as a legitimate party. He was released in 1992 and became President of South Africa in 1994 with the ANC becoming the majority party. Robben Island is 9 miles off the coast of Cape Town which you reach by boat. The ride out is quite beautiful and takes about 30 minutes. Once there we were given a tour of the island by bus, after which we were introduced to a former prisoner, who was our tour guide for the remainder of our internment on the island. We were brought inside the prison and shown how he and others had lived. They lived in 8 by 10 foot cells with no mattress and only 2 thin blankets. There was no toilet, no desk—no anything. They only had a bucket which they emptied out in the morning. One of the cells we were shown is Nelson Mandela’s, which I have included a picture. During the day they were driven to a limestone quarry where they worked at hard labor all day. Many went blind from the light of the limestone and others have severely damaged eyesight, as does Mr. Mandela. This reminded us a bit of Alcatraz which we had visited a number of years ago. It’s within sight of Cape Town (vs. San Francisco) which prompted some of the prisoners to attempt escape. There were a few attempts but no survivors. The only residents left on the island (other than the employees of the Museum) are a Penguin Colony that has been there for years.

After returning to the harbor we decided to attempt to get to the top of Table Mountain (over 3,000 feet) which had been closed in the morning because of wind. You get to the top by Cable Car and luckily it had reopened. The cars rotate 360 degrees on the way up the mountain which gives you a spectacular view of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula. Once on top there are stone paths to walk for various view points. Actually, it’s pretty extensive since Table Mountain is over 3 miles long and ¼ mile wide with a mostly flat top (hence “table” mountain). The winds were howling and it was pretty cold (it’s late Fall here) but we managed to walk most of the paths and after 90 minutes took the cable car back down to the base of the mountain (which is still halfway up the mountain from the harbor). From there we went back to the harbor to visit some craft shops and have our first local beer of the day (Castle).

For our second day in Cape Town we hired a private guide along with 2 other couples to visit the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Peninsula (about 2 hours away). This is the Southern tip of Africa and is where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic meet. The guide, “Niels” was half the fun because of the stories he told. The short version is that he is a white South African who was orphaned at the age of 2. He mostly looked after himself and lived just outside Kruger Game Reserve, South Africa’s largest. His early occupation was “Poacher” in the park and later Poacher of Abalone and other illegal sea life—pretty nice guy huh? Well, he claims that after a few days in Jail as a young guy he learned his lessons. For sure he had a lot of stories to tell and knew the area really well. On the way to The Cape we stopped at Boulder Beach the site of the largest Penguin Colony. These are Jackass Penguins and were a lot of fun to watch. Once at the Cape of Good Hope a Cable Car takes you to the top. You then get to climb another 160 steep steps to the Lighthouse on top (what fun). The pictures I’ve posted show the fantastic views. In fact, Marie and I can’t remember a more beautiful setting. On the way back to the ship we stopped at a Winery for some tasting and even though it was early we decided to follow Niels direction that, in South Africa “we drink when we’re thirsty.” The wine was good and Cape Town a highlight of our trip. We left for Namibia later in the afternoon where we’ve rented 4 wheelers to tour the Namib Desert. We’ll let you know how that goes in our next Post.