Capetown, South Africa

Table Mountain, South Africa

After 4 days in the bush it was time to head back to the city.  Capetown, South Africa!  The first night we made a stop for dinner at the V&A waterfront.  I didn't take many photos; there were lots of restaurants, a mall, as well as a ferris wheel on the waterfront.  It looked like a waterfront you'd find just about anywhere.  Though you could certainly tell a lot of money was invested here.

The first full day was dedicated to Table Mountain.  We were lucky to have amazing weather.  To get up the mountain you can either hike or take a cable car.  Being short on time, we took a zippy ride up on the cable car.  Once up top, as the name suggests, the mountain is pretty flat, so we spent a good amount of time exploring the mountaintop and taking photos.

View approaching the top of the mountain from the cable car

View of the city

You could practically reach out and touch the clouds

Views from atop the mountain

Views from atop the mountain

Views from atop the mountain

After Table Mountain was a stop at Camps Bay, a beach about a 45 minute walk away.  The photos weren't great as it was quite cloudy by the late afternoon.

The next day was spent checking out nearby wineries!  South Africa is known for several white wines and also a red called pinotage.  The weather was great, so it was a perfect day to drink wine and see some of the area just outside the city.  The photos below are from the Babylonstoren winery.

That night we made a quick stop in Bo Kopp, a neighborhood known for its brightly colored buildings and homes.

The main objective of the last day was to the see the penguins down on Boulders Beach.  It took quite a while to get there, but once we arrived it was amazing how many penguins there were to see.  There were hundreds of them along the beach.

I had a good time in Cape Town.  Table Mountain was stunningly beautiful and the wineries were great.  The city has lots of good restaurants and trendy bars and cafes and new places seemed to be popping up around the city.  People were also very friendly and helpful whenever we needed directions and recommendations.  One thing that took me a little by surprise was the level of poverty in the city.  It was more than I'd expected.  The government is in the process of building what you could call tiny houses on the outskirts of the city which our driver pointed out and explained as we drove in from the airport.  The homes are meant to replace an area of adjacent dwellings that were in quite poor condition.  On one evening downtown, we were probably stopped half a dozen times in about 30 minutes for money or food.  We were also stopped more than once and offered coke and weed.  Cape Town has a group of "safety" officers or something like that, I forget the exact name.  They aren't police, but they wear yellow vests and are a very visible presence throughout the city.  At one point when someone followed us for half a block asking for money a yellow vested safety officer told them to move along, and they did.

This of course happens in lots of cities around the world.  It certainly has happened to me in Miami Beach and in New York and even at home in DC, but I'd say I was surprised because it felt more persistent and frequent than in other places I'd been.  Of course if you're in need of food you're going to ask for it –  you certainly can't fault people for that.  I had this image in my head of Cape Town being a stunningly beautiful seaside town, which it is, but seeing that and areas of significant wealth and new development alongside such extreme poverty made it a bit more jarring.  A little embarrassed by my ignorance, I looked up some of the stats and learned that over 35% of residents earn less than $250 a month and South Africa's unemployment rate currently tops 27% which is a 14 year high.  In all cases these stats are even worse among non-white groups.  So while apartheid ended in the 90s, it still has significant impacts.  Of course, I was just there for 4 days, and I'm sure it’s a lot more complex than what I was able to observe, but I at least wanted to share my thoughts and make note of some of what a saw.