Cape Town is a magnificent coastal town first colonized by the Dutch traders who settled here as a stopping point en route to the spice islands and trade of India in the 17th Century. The city has grown significantly over the past few centuries and has played a major role in the economic development, cultural history, and dynamic revitalization of post-Apartheid South Africa. Due to its western European heritage involving primarily Dutch, French, and British immigrants, coupled with the immigration of Indians, Malaysians, and Indonesians brought to the colony as workers, Cape Town is a melting pot of cultures, cuisines, and traditions.
The vista from the ocean is magnificent, with Table Mountain rising 1 km into the stratosphere within a few hundred meters of the port. Not only is Cape Town’s port one of the busiest in southern Africa, with an annual estimated gross tonnage of 51,000,519-gt. during the 2011/12 financial year. This amazing amount of material was handled by only 2,775 vessels! Cape Town’s port, known as the “Tavern of the Seas,” also is the principal site where construction and repair of offshore drilling rigs are undertaken before being floated to an exploration site and placed. This drilling rig was being fitted in 2005 for transport into the Indian Ocean.
The influence of the Dutch and British settlers are evidenced in the construction styles found throughout the city. The first building on the site of DeTuynhuys was built in 1674 and has undergone several renovations over the past centuries. In the latter part of the 18th Century, the building used as the Governor’s summer estate in the middle of, what then, were the public gardens used to grow fresh crops for the sailing ships en route either to or from The Netherlands. Today, it serves as the Cape Town office of the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa and exhibits both Neo-classical and Baroque architectural elements.
The vista from the ocean is magnificent, with Table Mountain rising 1 km into the stratosphere within a few hundred meters of the port. Not only is Cape Town’s port one of the busiest in southern Africa, with an annual estimated gross tonnage of 51,000,519-gt. during the 2011/12 financial year. This amazing amount of material was handled by only 2,775 vessels! Cape Town’s port, known as the “Tavern of the Seas,” also is the principal site where construction and repair of offshore drilling rigs are undertaken before being floated to an exploration site and placed. This drilling rig was being fitted in 2005 for transport into the Indian Ocean.
Although the policy of Apartheid, the policy to separate Black and Coloured from White citizens, is now history, its signs still can be witnessed in the city. This is particularly true in the case of District 6, the Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town established in 1867. Originally constructed as a mixed community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, laborers and immigrants, it played a key role linking the city and the port. But, by the start of the 20th Century, a policy of moving communities and marginalization of “undesirables” had begun. This culminated in the complete destruction of the area in 1966 when it was declared a white-only area under the Group Areas Act of 1950. At that time, some 60,000 people were forcibly removed to barren outlying areas aptly known as the Cape Flats, establishing the first townships.
On the other side of the city and social spectrum is the area adjacent to the Seven Sisters, seven peaks along Table Mountain’s escarpment, below which are some of the wealthiest and exclusive communities in the province. Enclaves here generally are named after the beaches that front them, including Clifton Beach, Table Bay Beach, and Camps Bay, to name a few. Beach sands are white, very reflective, requiring significant amounts of protective sun screen, and composed of broken shell material. This is because very little quartz, sand-sized clasts are weathered and transported from Table Mountin down to the shoreline due to the low rainfall in response to the area’s Meditterrean climate.
In 2005 we lived adjacent to Mouilly Point, along Three Anchor Bay, where this lighthouse became functional when southern ocean fog spread across the area, requiring the fog horn to begin its call. Anyone living in close proximity to an active fog horn, with the capability of being heard for kilometers out to sea, will never forget being awakened at anytime of the night. Lions Head, the prominent peak adjacent to Table Mountain, lies behind Mouilly Point and Three Anchor Bay, offers spectacular views of the city and coastal zone from its peak. But, to get there, you not only need to climb a metal rung ladder, but also scale the vertical expanse using a knotted rope and chain.
The most spectacular views of the city and coastal zone are seen from the top of Table Mountain, an Ordovician-Silurian sandstone sequence recording nearshore and estuarine (tidal) deposits that accumulated at high southern latitudes some 400 million years ago. There are several ways to scale Table Mountain, with an altitude of 1085 m (1175 ft). Hiking trails originate from a number of parking lots around the city, but most visitors opt to take the cable car up to the top. And, the number of visitors who have used this service tops comes to McDonald’s numbers, more than 20-million visitors over the years!
Cape Town serves as the center for South African arts, with a wide variety of musical, craft, and art opportunities throughout the area. Kirstenbosch, the city’s Botanical Garden, offers live entertainment each Sunday afternoon in an open air venue. The gardens operate an amphitheater fronting a wide expanse of lawn where, for a nominal entrance fee, visitors can bring their own wine-and-cheese hor d’oeuvres or purchase a picnic basket, spread out on a blanket, and enjoy the sunshine and music before heading back to work on another Monday morning. The entrance fee also allows you to enjoy the wide variety of plantings in the gardens, including an extensive display of the Cape’s own biome, the Cape biome, and other African vegetation. You just have to watch your step because of the number of goose, peacock, and pea hens that call the area home.
The fine arts call Cape Town home, with the National Gallery acting as the fulcrum for exhibitions. Across the city and into the surrounding environs one will find a multitude of art galleries, hosting paintings, mixed media, and sculpture to encompass any taste, highlighting the abilities of established, up-and-coming, and local artists.
Day or night, the Cape Town environs offers spectacular scenery, culinary delights, cultural experiences, and insights into the accounts of South Africa’s development and continued growth. The city offers something for everyone. And, contrary to the popular notion that African cities are “dangerous,” Cape Town can be considered no more dangerous than parts of the United States including, but not limited to, every major city you can think of in the next 10 seconds. Travelers, in South Africa or abroad, have to be aware of their surroundings, be vigilant in maintaining an eye on where they are and what’s around them, and understand that tourists are easy prey if acting unaware.