A Full Day in Cape Town
We’ve done a number of Adventures By Disney tours and all of them have been spectacular. For the next several days we will be traveling around South Africa being immersed in the culture and the country. The map at the bottom of this page shows the paces we will visit.
Our tour started with a group meeting after breakfast where we officially met all of our traveling companions. Our family makes up 1/3 of the tour with the rest being groups of two. Jameel explained what we will be doing for the next several days and provided details for today. One of our stops is a cable car ride up to the top of Table Rock but the morning is pretty overcast so our guides have switched the day’s itinerary a bit in hopes of taking the cable car when it is sunny.
Our first stop was to the District Six Museum housed in a former Methodist church in District Six of Cape Town. District Six was destroyed by the South African government in the 1960s when forced apartheid displaced thousands of residents because of their skin color. The government moved the residents of this thriving community miles outside the city to what can only be called ghettos. Our docent at the museum, Joe was a resident of District Six in the 1960s and explained how people were forced from their homes, families were separated and non-white residents were forced to carry documentation, or be jailed or deported to countries they never lived in. Homes in District Six were bulldozed in hopes of building housing for affluent white residents. The museum told heartbreaking stories through pictures and some recovered artifacts. Joe who was born in 1939 said that while some things have changed, there are still thousands of people living in poverty and suffering in South Africa as a result of the actions of the South African government in the 1960s. Joe has dedicated his life since then to making sure the stories continue to be told. While it was a difficult story to hear, it is part of South African history that should never be forgotten so the tour makes it a point to include this stop on the tour.
Our second stop for the day was to The Company’s Gardens near District Six. As we walked up to the gardens and though it, Jameel talked about the history of Cape Town, the Dutch settlers and the influence of Great Britain. We also learned about the many different cultures and religions represented in Capetown. The garden was just getting ready to bloom (it is early spring in South Africa) and there were tons of school children enjoying some play time from school in an open area of the park. The animals were all very friendly and Charlie for to get up close to a squirrel and a family of ducks.
Our lunch stop was at a family restaurant in the Bo-Kap section of Cape Town up some hills on the way to Table Rock. The area is known for its colorful houses. Lunch was buffet style and provided some delicious dishes including Bobotie, a sweet spiced ground beef dish served with chutney that is a traditional South African dish. Many of the dishes had an Indian flavor. Before leaving we had a chance to spend a few minutes on the small deck attached to the restaurant looking out over the Bo-Kap area.
The clouds had begun to clear as we finished lunch, just in time to head to the cable car up Table Rock,
We made a short stop to an area where people were tandem para-sailing and got to watch someone take off. The area had some nice views despite some partial cloud covering and people took the opportunities to take photos of the area below.
Thankfully when were arrived at theTable Rock cable car, the area was not crowded and we were able to board the cable car shortly after arriving. The cable car turns 360 degrees on the way up and down so we got to see the entire surrounding area. By the time we got on the cable car many of the clouds had disipated so we got some great views, At the top we had time to walk around on a few trails. On one side of the mountain the views down to the ocean were pretty spectacular.
While we were on the mountain we saw a number of birds and some small rodent looking animals called dassies or hyrax. While they look nothing like them, we learned that dassies are the closest relative to the elephant.
By the time we returned to the bus it was time to head back to the hotel where we had about an hour to get ready for dinner.
Our dinner was at a locally famous restaurant called Gold’s which serves traditional African food and serves up some wonderful entertainment. Before dinner everyone got to try their hands at traditional African drumming under the instruction of a terrific African drummer. Throughout the meal there were additional music performances and dances performed just for our group. We all also had the opportunity to have our faces painted with a traditional African motif. The meal was served family style and included 17 different items including ostrich (which was quite tasty and tastes nothing like chicken), springbok and antelope,I tried almost everything and everything I tired was very good. Everyone had a terrific time but by the end of dinner we were all pretty tired. Tomorrow will be an early day.
