Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

Lion's Head, viewed from Table Mountain.

Cape Town is a beautiful city on the bay, dominated by the instantly recognizable Table Mountain. This city brings up mixed feelings in me. People of different races were forcibly separated under Apartheid, and much of the segregation remains today. It is possible to live in a happy bubble in one of the posh, bayside neighborhoods like Camps Bay or Clifton. Other people live in vastly different conditions, including broad swaths of makeshift housing. Unemployment is high, and people wait at the sides of streets hoping for work for the day.

Bayside Neighborhoods

Camps Bay and Clifton have gorgeous beaches, views, and many nice restaurants and cafés; as an added bonus, these neighborhoods are sheltered from the wind.

Clifton. Houses are built into the hillside.

Nearby Sea Point is also beautiful but the trees tell a different story about the wind.

Tree bent by wind blowing in from the bay and rebounding off the buildings. Sea Point.

Tree bent by wind blowing in from the bay. Sea Point.

Bo-Kaap

This colorful area of Cape Town was a Malay township and is now considered a desirable place to live due to its charm and central location.

Boy walking underneath pigeons and their shadows. Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap.

Orange building with blue door. Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap.

Rose Corner Cafe, Bo-Kaap. Sign advertises a mix for Boeber, a traditional Malay dish.

Man resting against street sign, Bo-Kaap.

Purple and grey buildings. Rose Street, Bo-Kaap.

Bedroom. Dutch Manor Antique Hotel, Bo-Kaap.

White cat on a windowsill. Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap.

Bo-Kaap neighborhood in front of Lion's Head.

Boy drinking a can of Coke. Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap.

Children skating. Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap.

Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap, with Table Mountain behind.

Chiappini Street, Bo-Kaap, seen through an archway.

Do Not Pick Flowers sign, Dawes Street, Bo-Kaap.

Hout street, Bo-Kaap. A man is sitting on the roof at the left.

Paintings showing families and professions of early Bo-Kaap residents. Corner of Wale Street and Chiappini Street.

Blue house with Table Mountain behind. Signal Street, Bo-Kaap.

Cloths hanging to dry, Wale Street, Bo-Kaap.

Hand holding a paper behind burning incense. Tana Baru cemetery, Bo-Kaap.

Downtown

The downtown area is full of tall buildings, but it can feel a little desolate. Most of the action takes place elsewhere. The men at the side of the road are seeking employment.

Downtown viewed from Tana Baru Cemetery.

Downtown Cape Town in the early evening; completely empty.

People standing at the corner, looking for work. Rose Street and Strand Street, Bo-Kaap.

Waterfront

The Waterfront area is popular with tourists.

Waterfront viewed from Tana Baru Cemetery.

Workers protesting against labor conditions at Robben Island.

Townships

Cape Town's townships are self-contained mini-cities within the confines of the larger city of Cape Town. During the Apartheid era, people were required to live in townships if they were not deemed caucasian (I say "deemed" because people were subjected to tests to determine the race printed in their ID booklets). While housing segregation is no longer mandated by law, different racial groups still reside separately for the most part.

Many townships contain both "formal" and "informal" sections. The formal sections contain homes with electricity, water, bathrooms (sometimes shared between families), and telephones. There's a street address on each house, and residents can receive mail. The informal sections lack these basic services.

Vicky's B&B
If you'd like to get the full township experience, you can stay at Vicky's B&B. When I visited, there was a lamb carcass on the dining room table.

Medicine Man
Ndaba, a traditional healer, works in the Langa township.

District Six Museum

The District Six Museum recognizes those who were forcibly removed from their homes in Cape Town's District Six, a neighborhood which was then bulldozed. Many of these people are still alive today, and they have donated photographs and other memorabilia to the museum. The museum shows how "ordinary" these people's lives were -- working as school teachers, getting married, bringing up children. It's devastating to think about how these people's lives were torn apart.

Photography of Nomvuyo, one of the people forcibly removed from her home and relocated to a township. District Six Museum.

Photograph of Mariam Ebrahim, one of the people forcibly removed from her home and relocated to a township. District Six Museum.

Photograph of Peter Esau, one of the people forcibly removed from his home and relocated to a township. District Six Museum.

Photograph of the father of Saras Pillay, one of the people forcibly removed from his home and relocated to a township. District Six Museum.

Street signs from District Six, which was torn down, forcing the residents to move to townships. District Six Museum.

District Six Museum. Pictures of people who were forcibly removed from their homes and relocated to townships.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden

This large, century-old botanical garden at the foot of Table Mountain contains hundreds of indigenous plant species and a collection of Zimbabwean sculptures.

Purple Broom, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Green Tree Pincushion Protea, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Scabiosa Incisa, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Guinea Fowl, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Tufted Pincushion Protea, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Stone path, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Natal Fig, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Zimbabwean stone sculpture, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Silver Tree Protea, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

Hout Bay

Twenty kilometers from Cape Town, Hout Bay is home to many seals.

Cape Jazz

Although originally rooted in American Jazz, the jazz of Cape Town, Cape Jazz, took its own path and drew inspiration from Cape Malay folk music. It tends to be more improvisational than American Jazz. I had the good fortune of spending time in the home of (and singing with) Hilton Schilder, a seminal musician of the Goema subgenre.

Cape Town jazz musician Hilton Schilder playing a bow in his home.

Cape Town jazz musician Hilton Schilder playing piano in his home.

Jazz musicians at a bar in the Observatory neighborhood.

Other

An advert seen in a Metrorail commuter train:

Sign in the commuter train advertising same-day penis enlargement by D.r Sam.

Eve Andersson (eve@eveandersson.com)

Comments

Thank you for an informative website and fantastic photographic collection. As a Capetonian and member of the trivago travel coomunity, I was particularly interested in your article about Cape Town. I have also just recently completed a Cape Town article for our community, which aims to become the world's largest independent information source for destinations, hotels, and attractions. Keep up the good work and when you have a moment, do drop by and view our selection of travel information.
Image: Cape Town 033.JPG

-- Pierre van Eck

Mr. Coley
I am traveling to Cape Town in September and enjoyed your pictures of the Townships and the people. I hope to see many of these sites first hand in September. I am traveling with a church group and will be doing missionary work so I expect to see some the hard facts of life in the under priviledged areas.

-- Ellsworth Coley

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