| Submitted by: Philip Hazel, United Kingdom |
| Submission Date: 04 February 2005 |
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These notes are a compilation from a number of visits in recent years, with some additional contributions from other people. I've indicated where I have included substantial quotations from others. The rest is written from my own experience.
Please ask if there's something you want to know that I have not included. Numbers in square brackets indicate the year in which the information was obtained; please note these dates, as things are changing quite rapidly in South Africa at the moment. Inflation means the prices get out of date quite quickly too.
I was taken to task on an earlier version of these notes because they contained no political comment. This is quite deliberate. Firstly, the notes are intended as travel information, and secondly, the political situation changes so rapidly that anything I write will be out-of-date very rapidly.
Thanks to Loretta Dunbar (LDunbar@univscvm.csd.scarolina.edu), who contributed the notes about Vergelegen, and Martin Jordison (major@aztec.co.za), who sent some notes about currency, travel and several other things.
Cape Town last visited: Easter 1996
Notes edited: 15 April 1996
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The main tourist information centre is in Adderley Street, just past the railway station as you go towards the docks (north). It supplies a number of different tourist services for the Cape and other regions of South Africa.
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January and February are the hottest months. They are also very windy months in the Cape Peninsula, though I am told that November and December are actually the windiest. The 'Cape Doctor' (southeaster) can blow strongly, though usually only in stretches of a few days at a time. That's why I go in March or April, when it is a bit cooler and often less windy.
June/July are the wettest months, though there are usually fine days in between the rainy ones. As the only heating in the houses tends to be open fires, you can be quite cold, especially at night. Take sweaters if you are going at that time of year. The autumn usually starts in the middle of April, but it can start a couple of weeks earlier, and the evenings are then cool though the days are often still warm, especially inland.
You may find being in the Southern hemisphere disorienting if it is your first visit. The fact that the sun is in the north rather than the south causes some people to get east and west confused. Cape Town is in any case geographically confusing to some people. Study the maps!
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There are hotels and guest houses of every kind in the City and the surrounding suburbs and smaller places in the Peninsula. Some friends of mine have a small one-room flat with its own bathroom and kitchen attached to their house that they let out to visitors. They are situated in Pinelands, which is convenient for the City (10-15 mins drive) and also the suburbs. Contact me if you want more info.
If you are travelling further afield, a good way of finding accommodation is to contact the tourist information offices which exist in most towns. All towns seem to have a camp site, and some of these also have chalets to rent. Accommodation is also available on some farms, either in guest houses or self-catering chalets. All camping and self-catering accommodation that I've seen has facilities for guests to barbecue - though in SA a barbecue is called 'braaivleis' (pronounced b-rye-f-lace).
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Recommended car hire: Vineyard Car Hire, Claremont, phone 641994 [1996]. A small friendly company, but you'll need to make a reservation to be sure of one of their cars. They will meet you at the airport, etc. if required. There are plenty of other car hire companies, but as always, the local ones are usually cheaper than the multi-nationals like Hertz, Avis, etc. You will need to use one of the bigger companies if you want to drop off the car somewhere else. Of the big companies, Budget seemed to offer the best prices in 1993. Drive on the left. Good road maps of South Africa are available at petrol (gas) stations for around R10 [1993] as well as in bookstores. Petrol cost R1.78 per litre in 1995, and self-service stations are unknown. There is always someone to fill your tank and wash your windscreen if necessary. You cannot, however, use credit cards to buy petrol. Unleaded petrol is now becoming generally available [1996].
You can survive in Cape Town without a car, but it is a very stretched out city, being wrapped around the mountain, so a car helps. There are good freeways, but there can be traffic jams at rush hours. Otherwise, there are buses and a suburban railway which are fine provided they go where you want to. If you are using public transport, take a train ride down to Simonstown (see below). The final part is right alongside the sea, with 'no fishing from the platform' at one station.
I have heard of (but not tried) the Cape Town card, which allows foreign tourists seven days of unlimited travel on all Cape Town public buses and trains. The card costs $15.00 and comes with a free guide. Available from the Tourist Rendezvous on Adderley Street in Cape Town.
I have also hear that Rail Travel Passes, similar in concept to the Eurailpass, are now available, and the passes can be purchased for First or Second Class travel. The Spoor Pass allows you to travel on a given number of days during a specified period. It also gives access to special guaranteed B&B hotel rates, through the Tourlink Hotel Pass. With the Spoor Pass, you will also receive coupons entitling you to special rates for vehicle rental from Avis, and a range of full and half-day tours from Durban, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. The Pass must be purchased before arriving in Southern Africa. Translux now also has Coach Travel Passes with the same flexibility as the Rail Passes.
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Go up the mountain. By cable car if you are not a walker, but the queues get very long in summer. You may need to be there at 6 am or earlier. If you are a walker, take care! (I used to be a mountain rescuer on that mountain.) There are easy ways up and down, but it is also easy to get lost and at any time of year a mist can come up suddenly. Preferably find someone who knows the mountain to go with. (Contact the Mountain Club of South Africa, Hatfield Street.) In summer, you can go up by cable car and have dinner and watch the sun set from the top, which is pretty magical. The most gentle route up Table Mountain starts from Constantia Nek (it's a jeep track), but it is a long walk if you want to get to the highest point.
There are miles and miles of paths around the lower slopes of Table Mountain if you want to walk but not climb too much. There are also walks on many of the other mountains of the Peninsula. Look for guides and maps in any good bookshop.
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MUSEUMS & BOTANIC GARDENS
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The National Botanic Garden at Kirstenbosch should not be missed (entrance fee R4 in 1995). It is situated on the lower slopes of the mountain, and is very extensive. The Cape flora is unique, and forms one of the world's floral kingdoms. There are more indigenous species of plant on the Cape Peninsula than in the entire British Isles. The cycad collection at Kirstenbosch is particularly impressive, but the whole garden is spectacular. There are a number of walking trails in the garden itself and on the mountain slopes above it, and you can also go on right up the mountain from there. The restaurant is very popular and is a good place for lunch. In the summer there are open-air concerts at Kirstenbosch.
Also visit the Gardens in the city itself, where you will find the National Art Gallery (not to my taste when last in), a natural history museum, and planetarium. The Cultural Museum at the top of Adderley Street (main downtown street) is worth a visit, as also is the Castle (still partly used by the military, but open to visitors, with some museums in it). Most museums have entrance fees, but they are very modest.
District Six was an area of Cape Town that was razed, and all its inhabitants forced to move out, during the apartheid years. There is now a District Six Museum in the old Methodist Church at 25A Buitenkant Street (which is a former wine store). This contains all the old street signs (saved and hidden by the demolition manager for 25 years) and assorted memorabilia collected by the former residents and others.
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The Victoria & Alfred (sic) Waterfront is recently (last 6 years) re-developed docks; now a tourist trap, but still in the middle of working docks. The name is taken from two separate basins of the docks, which are named for Queen Victoria and her son Alfred (as opposed to her husband, Albert).
Craft markets, shops of all kinds, restaurants, cinemas (including an IMAX movie theatre), theatres, a hotel, the maritime museum, etc. It now claims to be South Africa's top tourist attraction. There is a bus service from the city centre.
If you are interested in crafts, don't miss the Red Shed, which contains a number of different kinds of craft stall (painters, glass blowing, leatherwork, for example). An acquaintance of mine runs a stall selling seaweed art using local seaweeds to make pictures, jewellery, keyrings, etc. |
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| Copyright © - "Philip Hazel" |
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