South Africa 2024 — Another (sort of) Travel Blog:

Blyde River Canyon

I looked at my Medium profile a couple of days ago and realised I had five new followers. As I haven’t written anything in a while, I thought, better do something if people are following. So, where to begin…I have visited many places and later regretted that I didn’t record my thoughts at the time and do a travel blog. I am therefore going to start with my most recent trip and over the coming months, work backwards.

I have now visited Cape Town three times. The first time, I did the two obvious places that will spring to mind for any tourist, Table Mountain and Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated). I wasn’t overly impressed by the city centre and as it was a semi-cloudy day when I visited the mountain, I assumed this was all there was. How wrong could I have been? Hiding in the mists and wisps of cloud on that day were Devils Peak, Lions Head, and ‘The Twelve Apostles,’ all magnificent mountain peaks. I subsequently had the pleasure of visiting all and climbing some of them.

I have now returned twice to Cape Town, with my South African partner and she has shown me a wealth of places I never knew existed. I will mention a few. Within a relatively short drive from the city, you can see places like Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The views and the scenery here are magnificent. And if you want one of the most scenic drives in the world, Chapman’s Bay is up there with the best of them. Now I realise that I’m beginning to sound like an advert for the South African tourist board, but these places are really worth visiting. If you spent your entire holiday within the Cape Town area, you could still have a very fulfilling break. So, if you’re there for a longer spell or have the time, there are numerous other beautiful places that can easily be reached such as Clifton, Camps Bay, Hout Bay and Llandudno; there are very friendly penguins at Boulders beach; you can go wine tasting in the beautiful Constantia valley; Kirtsenbosch botanical gardens are as good as you will see anywhere; Kite surfing at Bloubergstrand is ever present — there is almost always some sort of wind in Cape Town and apparently the conditions there are considered the best in the world. No surprise then that you see those who are the best in the world at their sport give daily exhibitions, all for free.

If you’d care to travel a small distance outside the city, you can visit the beautiful town of Stellenbosch. This is wine country but be sure to visit the magnificent nature park at Jonckershoek. You can taste wines in any of the dozens of wine farms that criss cross the region. As well as Stellenbosch, this includes Paarl, Franschhoek and Swartland. Most of the really good South African wines never get exported but you can spoil yourself here by tasting, drinking and purchasing outstanding wines at very little cost. A good bottle will cost between four and six euro or you can get a really top notch one for seven to eight.

If you fancy going a little further, but still very much a day trip, you can visit Gordon’s Bay and Hermanus and on the way back, see Simonstown and Fishhoek. It is a pity that Medium doesn’t feature photographs because my words do not do justice to the magnificent views that can be enjoyed.

The magnificent Table Mountain viewed from Devil's Peak.

Now, all the places I’ve listed are beautiful in nature but are also well developed, clean and feature nice homes and indeed some very well appointed residences. The only downside is the ever present threat epitomised by signs saying ‘protected by 24 hour security,’ or ‘fence is electrified,’ or ‘armed response.’ I’ll digress a little here — one of South Africa’s ongoing strategic problems is the failure to produce enough electricity to meet its needs. This is no doubt impeding economic growth and leads to ‘breaks’ in the electricity supply a number of times each day in a practice known locally as ‘load shedding.’ Unfortunately the situation is getting worse and the breaks more frequent. It is an enormous brake on a country with so much potential for growth. I mention this because I joked with some of the locals that it was no wonder they kept running out of electricity because they have so many electric fences running around property. I’m sure this isn’t the reason of course but when you see such severe security measures, it does make one wonder why?

Hout Bay, near Cape Town.

All countries have rich and poor people but in some places the gap is more pronounced; south and central America immediately spring to mind. Some would argue that the gap between the very wealthy and the poor is even more pronounced in the USA. Perhaps it is, given the high numbers of billionaires and the homeless, but in the US, there are so many people in between who are comfortably off that the gap is not as apparent. In South Africa, it is. In every town or city, there are the official dwellings and the unofficial, generally known as townships, even though many townships are perfectly legal. Now, I’m just a tourist so I don’t know what’s legal and what’s not. But I did notice, in every town or city that the main part of the town was generally neat and tidy and well maintained and peopled by whites and to some extent, coloured people. On the outskirts of every town, there was what can only be described as a mess; a mish-mash conurbation of galvanized steel and wood (and any other available material) dwellings, all laid out in no particular order, with no apparent divisions. The roads were in the main unpaved; road signs or directional signs were non-existent; basic services such as water and sewage were present but sporadic (as in, not directly connected to dwellings). The one ‘luxury’ which was universally present was electricity and satellite TV dishes. The electrical connections were all done in a very basic and dangerous manner which would suggest that most connections were ‘unofficial.’ Some people blame these unofficial and unpaid electricity users for the failure to produce enough power. So, basically, we are looking at an ad-hoc semi-permanent encampment, populated entirely by black people. I have never visited a refugee camp but I would venture to suggest that some of the townships are barely one step up from them.

Victoria Dam, on top of Table Mountain.

Note: I’m not being in any way racist when I explain that in South Africa there are effectively three types of people: Whites, descended from the original British and Dutch colonists; Coloured, descended from people of Indian or Asian origin, and Blacks, descended from the original tribes that populated the country.

As this article started out as a travel blog, I’m not going to turn it into a history lesson or a political commentary, but in order to complete the blog, I need to mention all parts of the region, not just the picturesque ones. It might help to understand the origins of the contrasting areas. You won’t find the township of Kayelitsha on any tourist brochure but it is as important to Cape Town as Camps Bay or any of the wealthier suburbs. It is here that the vast majority of the workers live. I don’t know how big Kayelitsha is; I don’t know how far it extends. I very much doubt if anyone in official South Africa does either. It is vast. A friend told me that you can only appreciate how large it is from the air. I have no idea how many people live there. The only way I can try to describe its size is to say that it parallels the N2 motorway and when I drove past it on my way to Stellenbosch, it took me almost a half hour to pass it.

The Karoo - unending wilderness - stretches almost from Johannesburg all the way to the west coast - petrol stations about every 150kms.

How did this massive living area develop? Again, it’s necessary to revisit history. Briefly, the white settlers took over South Africa, did massive work in developing farming, industry, mining, communications, transport etc. In reality, most of the organisation was done by the whites and most of the labour by the blacks and the coloureds. This created not just an unequal society but one which was officially based on apartheid and which gave white people greater rights and privileges. Thankfully, that regime has now been confined to the past but its legacy lives on and will continue to do so for generations yet. So, when the dust settled and the country became relatively prosperous, you had white people living in nice areas who needed workers. These were usually black and they also needed somewhere to live. Under the apartheid regime, they lived in official townships. Over the years, lines became blurred, more and more black people came from the countryside to seek jobs in the cities. They usually came with nothing except the clothes on their backs but if they knew someone in a township, they helped them to erect some sort of temporary shelter, which in time became a permanent dwelling. In this way, the township of Kayelitsha expanded exponentially. It’s not the only one of course; there are townships outside every town and city but it, and Soweto in Johannesburg, are probably the best known.

Knysna.

Folk always ask me, what are the people like? In my experience, all South African people are welcoming and friendly. Just because white South Africans lived in a regime which gave them privileges doesn’t make them bad people. Or denying rights to black people doesn’t make them inferior. Thankfully, racial integration is present in most cities now although full equality will take a bit longer. The culture in which we live conditions us; it doesn’t make us good or bad. I think of a story my partner told me about her first trip to the UK. She was amazed to see white men digging roads, collecting trash and doing other menial tasks. It wasn’t that she thought these tasks were beneath her; it was because she had only ever seen black people doing these tasks in SA.

I have met people from Kayelitsha and from other townships and I have found them to also be very friendly and welcoming. In general they get on with life and don’t complain about their lot; at least not to me. But this brings me back to my travel blog and the electric fences. Obviously not everyone in the townships are happy with their lot and many turn to crime. Arguably, settlements like these are potential breeding grounds for crime anyway. Unfortunately in South Africa, in has become very severe in many places. Some tourist indexes class SA as the most dangerous country in Africa. I find this difficult to believe when I see how peaceful and tranquil most of the country is. But beware the hidden dangers. I know of people who have been attacked in their homes and on the streets. There are even signs in some areas saying: ‘beware, hot spot for theft and car jacking.’ Crime is probably South Africa’s greatest problem and the biggest threat to its growth and development. The prevalence of violent crime is encouraging many of its bright young people to emigrate. Those that stay just hope the situation doesn’t get any worse. I have to say that during my three trips, I haven’t experienced anything other than friendliness and I haven’t even seen a crime. Having said that, crime is prevalent and I would urge tourists to be cautious. A policeman in Johannesburg gave me sound advice when I asked him if it was safe to walk round the city. He told me it was perfectly safe everywhere, during the daytime, but not to go out alone at night.

Jonkerschoek Nature Reserve, near Stellenbosch.

But let’s not end on a negative. The lifestyles of the different races are still relatively far apart but they are getting closer. Racial integration is slowly becoming a reality. One thing that binds people together is that they are all South Africans and all love their country. When South Africa play rugby (or any sport) all races cheer for the team, regardless of their make-up or origin. Sport can be a great basis for unity. South Africa’s first black President, Nelson Mandela, was quick to recognise this when he became President and became instrumental in encouraging the rugby team to win the World Cup in 1995. He even went on the field wearing the iconic Springbok jersey on the day of the final and his ability to identify with and bring all races with him made the event not just a victory but an occasion of unification.

Things have moved on since. South Africa have won the World Cup three more times and each has been celebrated with great gusto and, in my view, each has been a unifying occasion. In general, living conditions for people have gotten better but there has been a lot more internal immigration to the cities. There isn’t as much work available now and this has lead to large numbers of people who are completely homeless and are reduced to begging on the street. But, arguably, every country has these problems and it is worse in many other parts of Africa, hence the inward migration of people from other African States.

On the political front, they could do with another Mandela right now. But let’s be optimistic. The country still has so much to offer. This article deals mainly with Cape Town but there are so many other wonderful places to visit, from the Drakensberg mountains to the Karoo; from Blyde River Canyon to the Cederberg mountains, beautiful lakes, endless beaches and of course the climate. Some of the locals will tell you it gets cold down there in winter — it doesn’t really. 16C is not cold; it’s a summer day in Ireland. Go and take a look — you won’t be disappointed.