Hout Bay to Cape Town – 19 July

After a rainy windy night and a beautiful breakfast we headed off for our last day in the car. The weather did not do justice to the scenic coastal drive into Cape Town which was only about 10kms. As we checked into the hotel in the pouring rain with a very scant awning over the entrance I removed one of the 4 stars. After we settled into the room we drove up to the historic and vividly painted low roofed houses along narrow cobbled streets of Bo Kapp. Initially a garrison for soldiers in the mid 18th century and later where freed slaves started to settle after emancipation in the 1830s and is now a predominately muslim area, with the oldest mosque in South Africa. We visited The Slave lodge which is a large retangular building with a large court yard in the middle. It is one of the oldest buildings in the city dating back to 1660. Until 1811 it was the “so called” home
to as many as 1000 slaves, who lived in damp, filthy and crowded conditions where up to 20% died each year. We had lunch in the Eastern Food Bazzar which is the oldest eatery in the city. The food was cheap, plentiful and it was a hive of activity. We strolled back to V&A waterfront for a afternoon bev at the Irish Style pub.We had dinner at Karibu restaurant which is superb South African cuisine. My favourite was the biltong salad and Ros had a delightful filet of Ostrich with chuka chuka.
Saturday 20 July
After buying a couple of giraffes and boxing them up with the help of staff we posted them at the local post office and then headed down to The Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island. The trip took about 1/2 hour on a pretty rolling swell. We sat next to an off duty ferry captain who was returning home after further studies for his job in Durban. When we arrived we were put into buses for the 1 hour guided tour around the island before being shown around the prison by an ex political prisoner who was a member of the ANC underground. He was there at the same time as Nelson Mandela and spent a little time with him one day when he swapped clothing and after passing the guards delivered meals to B block and spent 2 hours talking with him.
Sunday 21 July
Finally we had a beautiful clear winters morning and Tabletop Mountain was out of cloud. It was the last day of operation before closing down for maintenance for several weeks. We took a cab up to the cable car to save time where the place was manic and it took 1 1/2 hours to get going, which wasn’t too bad considering the volume of people. Each car carries 65 people with a rotating floor which gives everyone a shot at the view as it shoots up at 10mtrs per second. They process 800 visitors per hour. We spent about 90 minutes up there with great 360 views. We then jumped on the Hop on Hop off bus for the trip back to town via the beaches and around the historic part of town. After the walk back to the waterfront we stopped off at the pub for a 1/2kg of BBQ prawns and chips with some very welcomed afternoon drinks. It was a beautiful after noon with a band playing country rock music next door as the sun went down.

We have travelled some 2400kms down from Durban over 11 days, initially over roads less travelled to areas reasonably remote and eventually into a very sophisticated, diverse and friendly society. We saw no road rage no words in anger from or to anyone and only 2 car accidents. Considering the speeds everyone gets along here, that was a miracle. They have a unique way of passing in South Africa, if you are chugging along at 140 and a car slides up behind you, it is customary to move to the edge of the road if it’s safe to do so where you will receive 2 flashes of the emergency lights as he passes. Sometimes when it’s you doing the death defying manoeuvre and you do the flashing you get the thank you flash with their headlights, I guess for not killing them on the way through. While your dealing with the left hand side of the road you have to be mindful off the same thing happening with the oncoming traffic. The level of accommodation, the service and friendliness of the people has been outstanding. Like the start of the trip, wi-fi was in short suppy as it will be from here on. We leave on The Rovos Rail today which pride themselves with travel from a bygone era, where mobile communication is forbidden in public areas. I’m sure if you arrived on the platform with your trunks and a small cage with a couple of pigeons and a set of bongo drums you wouldn’t turn a head. So from here on the dispatches will be few but I hope still enjoyable to read.