CAPE TOWN & CAPE REGION / South Africa

01.-08.12.2001

"This is the most beautiful Cape we saw on our travels around the world"  Sir Francis Drake, 1577 

Cape Town and the Cape Region belong to the most beautiful areas in the world. 

The position below the Table mountain, surrounded by the Atlantic waters is unique. The city is a mixture of Africa, Europe, California and the Caribbeans. At the Waterfront, the heart of the city, you can shop till you drop. Street-musicians give you a brief journey through african music, hundreds of sailing-boats from all over the world jostle in the harbour and uncountable cafes provide the seats to enjoy this street-life. The Table mountain is always in the background of this colourful scenery, sometimes with, sometimes without its famous "table-cloth". Sea-food fans feel like in paradise. The whole variety of the cold ocean is offered fresh every day and the cooks really know how to prepare it. At Long Street you can stroll from one music-bar to the other to find out why this is one of the main cities of African Jazz. But lovers of Caribbean music, "Disco-Bum-Bum" or Classic will also find their favourite site. By foot or by cable-car you can climb up to the top of the Table mountain to enjoy the view over the city bowl, the harbour and the surrounding beaches.

On the way to the Cape of Good Hope you'll find lots of deserted beaches. There and in the dunes, which are covered with the fynbos-vegetation you can hike for hours. Boulders Beach is home of one of the two african penguin-colonies. If you prefer the busy beach-life you have to go to Clifton or Camps Bay. Kite-Boarders, surfers, sea-kajakers, beach-volleyballers and jugglers are looking for some audience. Like at the Waterfront the street-cafes are the ideal place to enjoy it. And if it gets to hot, the very cold atlantic waters will cool you down in a second. Blouberg beach is the place to be for an excellent view of Cape Town and the Table Mountain. The right place for a sun-downer!

The lovely wineland is only a 30-minute carride away from the city.  Here you'll find the best south-african vineyards, protected by jagged mountains from the cold winds. Beneath enormous oak-trees you can taste noble wines directly from the producers. The prices at the vinery are  - compared to Germany - very cheap; it was a pitty we couldn't bring more back home with us.

The so-called Cape Floral Kingdom is one of six botanical regions in the world. It covers only 0,04% of the earth' landmass, but the variety of plants is the biggest. More than 8500 different species can be found here and 6000 of them are indigenous. Sometimes the area they cover is not as wide as a footballfield. 

The Cape Town Area is very, very crowded. It is said, that more than 3 Mio. people are living here. The houses, the concrete buildings and the slum-huts spread out more and more into the Cape flats.  Workers and housekeepers have to walk and drive by bus-taxis for hours to get to work and back. Most of them spend a good part of their earnings for transportation. Here the ride from the first to the third world takes only an hour for a tourist. Economical problems (to many people, less work) and the Aids epidemic are the main problems. Take a look at  the following  articles to get more information (The urban poor   John Abott, the city stitcher  The Aids Epidemic in South Africa)  

One week is definetely not enough to visit all the interesting places at the southern tip of Africa. The following slide-show presents some of our impressions and the list gives you a brief info about what you see and where we pictured it. 

ENJOY IT!!!!

As it always is, when presenting photos at the web, loading time is a bit longer than usual. If you're not in the mood or out of time  to wait.... have a look at OUR THUMBNAIL-LIST to get a quick overall view. But be sure, the real fun is to the show!!!

START the show

If you interested in some more information about Cape Town and the Cape Region have a look at www.cape-town.org  (virtual tour is recommended) or www.capetourism.org.