Cape Town
Regretfully we left Stellenbosch for Cape Town. We could have spent a week there but then how
would we get all that wine home? On the way, we did stop at the Stein Winery,
but not for the wine. They had a bird sanctuary - mostly owls, that they had rescued and nursed back to health. It was interesting to see the birds up close, and the stop carried us
in the early afternoon before we finally got back onto the highway and pointed
in the direction of Cape Town. Like virtually all towns in South Africa, Cape Town has shanty towns as well as low income housing on its outskirts
where poor blacks live. This country is
truly a white man’s world built on the labor of the native population.
This stop’s lodging – the Braeside
B&B was old with high ceilings (15 feet if
they were an inch) and coal fireplaces in the bedrooms. According to Michael,
the host and owner of the B&B, the structure was built in 1903 and was one
third of the Harbor Master’s immense house.
While not in peak shape, it has character, a history and a great
location, with some peek-a-boo views of the bay. Staying in B&B's has definitely enhanced our trip. We've stayed in some wonderful places and it has also allowed us to learn a lot about the country we might not have otherwise been able to do. I truly recommend it if you choose to visit this beautiful country.
Checked in, and with inclement weather predicted, we
decided to take what might be our only chance to visit the top of Table Mountain. We dumped our bags, moved our wine under the
trunk’s “bonnet” and took off in search of the cable car.
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| Larry and Patrice on Table Mountain |
The cable car to the top of Table Mountain holds up to 64
passengers and rotates 360° on the way to the top. It’s a great opportunity for everyone to get
the photo they want, just wait until it rotates to that vista. As we had hoped, the views at the top were unimpeded and visibility was great. It was a
great place to spend a couple of hours.
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| A View From Table Mountain |
The next morning we
ate a leisurely breakfast and talked at length with Michael over a wide range of
topics. He said that the national
government was corrupt but local politics have turned deadly. Housing has been a major issue for years, as
we have seen in our drives, and the national government has allocated money to
fix the problem by 2015. He thought that
was a mere pipe dream as the local governments are in charge of implementing
the program, and if possible were even more corrupt. Operating a bit like the mafia, the locals allocate
housing to one person but then solicit bribes from others for the same residence; once their palms have been greased,
they deed the house to the paying party and the original person is literally
left out in the cold. Whistle blowers
seldom come forward, however, because, like the mafia, the local politicians
have a code of silence. Those who break it are quietly and summarily
eliminated. I asked if it was really
that bad; Michael just shook his head sadly in the affirmative.
Sobered by our breakfast conversation, we headed out for our tour of Robben Island. (This is the prison island Nelson Mandela was held at for so long and where he wrote Long Walk To Freedom.) It was still misting as we pulled out of the harbor, but by the time we docked at the island, it was a nearly all blue sky, only a beard of clouds on the far horizon and Table Mountain remained shrouded in clouds. We have been very lucky with the weather!
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| Nelson Mandela's Cell |
Our tour started by bus - taking us around the island to see the fortifications, buildings and stone quarries. For most of its sordid
past, Robben Island was a place of incarceration. Early on it became a prison, but this was
supplanted when the island became a Leper colony. For a time after the lepers
were removed, a group of Scotch settlers moved onto the island leaving a mark of
churches and buildings, many of which still remain. During WWII the island was fortified and
became a bastion against tyranny although the large guns were not installed
until 1946 and none were ever fired in anger.
It was not until 1951 that the first political prisoners arrived. This brought us out of our tour buses and to
the second phase of the tour – a tour of the prison with one of the previous
inmates as our tour guide. Having been
to Soweto, his mention of being arrested and brought to the prison resonated
with us. His description of conditions
was uncomfortably blunt even as he attempted to keep the mood light with smiles
and welcoming gestures to keep the group close.
However, it was at the last stop where his deep voice, much like James
Earl Jones, rose to passion, almost the fire of a preacher, and his
presentation became more of a sermon on freedom and tolerance than the
summation of a dispassionate tour guide.
His enthusiasm for Mandela’s words on the way apartheid should end –
with “reconciliation, peace and hope,” resounded in his conclusion and a slight
spin on Mandela’s words – “we are free and we are a nation of hope.”
We've had a good time in South Africa and have seen and experienced
many things. We continue to be perplexed
by the legacy of apartheid, the drift from Mandela’s “hope” expressed in the
1994 end to apartheid and the rapid decline into corruption that we have heard from
many, especially in the white community.
Another interesting thing is the diversity of reaction to the blacks
since the demise of apartheid; there is a wide swing from “they would like to
murder us all” to a noblesse oblige
view that the country is still in its development stages and its best promise
lies it the youth. After twenty-one days
I feel that we’re a little closer to understanding the country than when we
came. It’s a country with huge problems
– kids wandering the streets rather than attending school, shanty towns without
a modicum of public services, vast gaps in wealth between the white and the
black communities, and we have been told of rampant corruption. If these things aren’t addressed and answers
found, I think the hope Mandela preached will end up collapsing into civil unrest.
On the brighter side, however, I am impressed
with the apparent optimism in the black community; it seems that despite the
issues, they retain the hope that the country will come out from under the cloud of apartheid and everyone will be on an equal footing at last.
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