Cape Town

Almost anyone who has heard of South Africa has heard of its Apartheid past, but as we have always been far from where it happened, it felt like a distant issue. It very quickly became clear that it is not. Arriving in South Africa, you’re confronted by its extremely troubled past as soon your cab leaves the airport. The highway from the airport to central Cape Town and the popular suburbs for visitors are lined on either side with townships, overflowing with tin shanty homes and piles of uncollected garbage. These townships are a widespread remnant of the inhumane laws that shaped South Africa for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, and provide a home for millions of people to this day. As Cape Town was our first stop in South Africa, we thought it was only right of us to try and learn about Apartheid from the people who had gone through it, and are still feeling the consequences of it. We began this education in Bo Kaap, a small community bordering the central business district that was marked as a Malay, eastern muslim peoples, neighborhood under the Apartheid era “Group Areas Act”. During this time, non-Malay residents were forcibly removed, but the neighborhood was spared demolition as the government was (shockingly) sympathetic towards the efforts to preserve the neighborhood's heritage. In the small museum that pays tribute to the histories lost, we learned about the Effendi family, one of the community's cornerstone Persian families. We spent some time looking through old family photos, reading direct accounts of life in Bo Kaap, and discovered an appreciation for how people made the most of what they had. Later, we walked around many of the surviving streets. They are now a vibrant kaleidoscope of color, painted by the community members after Apartheid ended as a way of throwing off their oppressive shackles. From Bo Kaap, we walked across the city’s center to likely the most ravaged part of central Cape Town, District 6. Unlike Bo Kaap, which largely survived Apartheid, very little remains of this one bustling community. District 6 was declared a “Whites only” zone in 1966, and mass evictions began to take place, moving its residents to several townships in the Cape Flats. Once the original residents were gone, the government came in with demolition crews and flattened the whole area, planning to rebuild it into a metropolitan “White” community. Yet, by the time there was nothing left, there was a growing resistance (even among White South Africans) to the Apartheid system. This resistance put purchases from land developers and any new developments on hold. In fact, the majority of the land that made up District 6 is still empty today. Some families have filed past ownership claims and have begun to return, but only in small numbers. While this is a step forward, it will take a long time for the trauma of the past to be undone.

Our final stop on our eye-opening tour of Apartheid’s legacy was on our last day in Cape Town, just before we left to begin our overlanding journey. Meeting with our fellow overlanders in the morning, we all loaded into a small van, with a local guide who took us out to the Langa township. Our tour began at the Langa Heritage Museum, which formerly housed the Bantu Affairs office and a courthouse for hearing Apartheid era race crimes. Leaving the museum, we began an informative walking tour through the various neighborhoods in the township, seeing how housing and the community have changed through the various stages of Apartheid to present day. The oldest part of the township was made up of several two storey buildings that were originally built to be single-sex workers dormitories. Each apartment in these buildings had six bedrooms and was designed for sixteen men, all sharing one kitchen and one toilet. Once Apartheid ended, the men living in these buildings brought their families to Cape Town and each room changed from housing three men to three entire families. Nowadays, these apartments are still homes for many people, but most bedrooms are ‘only’ home to one family each, with the common facilities still shared between six families. Our guide was kind enough to show us his parents room in one of these homes, where his elderly mom and dad were spread across the small twin bed and haphazardly placed chair, leaving barely any space to breathe. We can’t imagine how more than two people ever fit into one of these rooms, let alone three families. These apartments are slowly being renovated by the current government into what our guide called “Phase 2” neighborhoods. In these buildings, the cramped family apartments have been reduced down to only one or two families, with a larger kitchen, bathroom, and living area. While these apartments are still basic, many have more of the modern amenities we are privileged to have, including electric stoves and cable TV. The next step in the evolution of these townships is what our guide called “Phase 3”, or the “Beverly Hills of Langa.” These larger, single family homes are similar to middle class homes in America or parts of Europe. Each home has several bedrooms, a front and backyard, and a garage for multiple cars. While these homes are mixed into the township, our guide was saying they’re still very expensive and not attainable for most people who live in the area. Apart from these distinct, government-approved, types of homes the township is surrounded by, and inundated with, small aluminum shanty homes. These unofficial homes are mainly built by people who have moved from the countryside into the city, or by people who are fed up with shared “Phase 1” homes and would rather opt for a self-built own space. These shacks are not encouraged by the government, but tolerated until a better housing solution can be found. For this reason the government has built over 3 million of the newer “Phase 2” apartments since 1995, but this is only a fraction of what is actually needed. Despite how varied the housing is in these areas, our guide was clear: everyone is family here, no matter where you live.

When not learning about Apartheid’s tragic legacy, we spent our time exploring the rest of what Cape Town has to offer. We had decided to stay outside of the central city during our short trip, to avoid some of the concerns about crime in town, and had settled on the idyllic suburb of Camps Bay. Our AirBnB was a stark contrast to township homes – a clear representation of the remaining racial and social disparities. Camps Bay was in a beautiful location, nestled between Table Mountain and the sea with sunset views over the Atlantic ocean each evening. Walking down the town’s boardwalk reminded us of towns like Carmel in California or Noosa Heads in Australia – full of small shops, interrupted every so often with busy restaurants and cafes. Even though we were visiting at the tail end of winter, dozens of people were braving the cool temperatures, soaking up whatever sun they could find on the beach. A few were even brave enough for a short dip in the cold, choppy waters! This small slice of Cape Town reminded us of a lot of familiar places in the US and stirred some Heimweh in us. Table Mountain rises behind this small suburban strip, dominating the horizon from every vantage point, with its jagged cliffs and constant halo of cloud. We would have loved to hike the stunning mountain walls, but couldn’t due to a strong chance of being mugged or assaulted on the trail. As such, it is recommended to travel in a group of five or more people – tough when you don’t know anyone in town! Instead, most people opt for the rotating cable car that takes you up in just a few minutes, but unfortunately it was just a bit outside of our budget. Instead we drove around the base of the mountain, along the coast and through some more luxurious suburbs, until we reached the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. These gardens are often listed amongst the world’s best as they’re packed full of plants arranged in different ecological zones. The huge grounds are spread out over 1,300 pristine acres, highlighting South Africa’s native flora and preserving many endangered species. It was the lifelong mission of Kirstenbosch’s founder Henry Harold Pearson to preserve native species. When he died in 1916, his mission was passed on to the Botanical Society of South Africa, who dutifully continue this mission through today. Ending our exploration of Cape Town, we spent some time at the V&A waterfront, a popular area to shop, eat, and walk along the sea breakwater. We found the waterfront to be the busiest part of town – bands were playing tribal music, people were dancing in creative costumes, and an Australian TV crew was capturing the whole thing in, of course, their bush hats and tiny cargo shorts. Just around the corner a crowd had gathered to watch South Africa play Australia in rugby on a big outdoor screen. This area felt alive – and safe – like all of Cape Town should, but sadly this is one of just a few little oases.

On The Road | Cape Town to Namibian Border

Now things are going to get a bit different. Starting from here, through the rest of this blog post and the following 4 countries we visit, we will be seeing them as part of the 25 day Cape Town to Victoria Falls & Kruger safari overlanding trip through Acacia Africa. Traveling like this is way out of our comfort zone, as we avoid large group travel where possible. However, since we were traveling to a new part of the world, with very different local customs and laws to what we’re used to, we decided to look for the best way to see many of our top destinations. After some modest research, and the recommendation of a friend, we booked our trip through Budget African Safaris in August 2023, who then outsourced us to Acacia Africa in early 2024. In the time between booking this trip and our departure date, we’ve finished long self-drives through desolate terrain, become more familiar with Africa, and gained more confidence in our abilities to handle ourselves in unknown places. All of this growth has come with a growing regret about booking this trip so far in advance, and being locked into a non-refundable journey which doesn’t really gel with how we like to travel. Already feeling a bit uneasy about the whole endeavor, our first interaction with the driver and guide from Acacia Africa did not improve our mood. The night before we left Cape Town, we and our fellow overlanders gathered for our pre-departure meeting, or I should say 4 of the planned 7 of us showed up. We later learned that an older American couple had decided to just stay home. We would be lying if we said we didn’t feel some envy for them. Our guide began the meeting on a low note, telling us his cooking would keep us alive but wasn’t going to be very good. He also let us know that the tents or sleeping pads hadn’t been cleaned in quite a while, and that we might not see very much wildlife on our trip because we weren’t spending that many days in the parks. We’ve heard of keeping expectations low so people don’t get disappointed, but this briefing was miles beyond that! Feeling even less optimistic about this trip, we took advantage of one last decent sleep in Cape Town and rejoined our companions in the morning.

Our safari overlanding trip began rather plainly as we left Cape Town, and drove into the rolling farmland of the Western Cape. The landscape here is admittedly more beautiful than we expected, but our vehicle has made it more difficult to enjoy. Picking up from yesterday’s meeting disappointment, we were frustrated to learn just how violently the truck shakes as it drives along, even on perfectly smooth, paved roads. This constant shaking leads to relentless noise that makes even talking to your seatmate difficult, and forget about putting anything on the tables, it all rattles itself off after a few short minutes. Thankfully, the only goal for the first two days of our overland was to get to Namibia, meaning we didn’t have to do that much driving on our first day. After 4 “short” hours of clanking, rattling, and silent communication, we arrived at our overnight camping area at the Highlanders Lodge. We halfheartedly listened to the instructions on how to set up a tent and roll out a sleeping bag, then hurried to the main lodge for the day’s optional activity, a much needed wine tasting. We have to admit, the wine at this particular estate, Klawer, wasn’t that terrific, but the bartender brought the best energy and let us pour our own glasses. This wise decision on his part led to five very happy participants at the end of our tasting and ensured our camp dinner tasted fantastic, who knows if it actually was!

Our second day was dedicated solely to driving up to the Namibian border. We broke down our camp as the sun rose over the vineyards of the Cederberg hills, and hit the road still hungry after a light breakfast of bread and air. Over the next eight hours our bus shook itself up the N7 highway, passing through little villages and the town of Springbok on the way towards Vioolsdrif on the border. The drive is very picturesque, the sandstone rock mountains decorated in rich colors after the winter rains. As we drove further and further into rural South Africa, the houses and villages got fewer and farther between, with only the occasional ranch house or herd of cattle along the road. This gorgeous landscape was the definite bright spot of our day, and even though our bus didn’t stop for four hours, we were fine to just sit there and watch the mountains pass us by. Now, we should mention that the overlanding truck we’re on doesn’t have a bathroom, instead you just press a button in our cabin and the driver knows to stop because someone needs to go “bushy bushy.” At some point around the three hour mark, one of our fellow travelers, an older French gentleman, decided he didn’t believe in the button. Instead, he walked calmly to the back of the bus and, at 100 kilometers per hour, simply opened the door. Apparently not realizing that it would be very windy, he was almost thrown from the truck while holding the door as it was whipped backwards in the wind. Of course, this event shocked everyone,even warranting a scream from one of our Australian companions, but the Frenchman just stood there, took care of his business, then calmly closed the door and returned to his seat. We were left buzzing with adrenaline and a fear of what the next 23 days would bring.