We awoke after our first night in Cape Town expecting to find a note or phone message providing our plan for the day.
On the way to breakfast, I stopped at the front desk. The receptionist said there still was no word from our tour leader. She said this had never happened previously in her experience. Ditto.
It was still early, so I ordered a perfectly brewed cappuccino to sip while reading my morning emails.
In time, Julie joined me, and we served ourselves from the ample breakfast buffet that spanned several counters. I had fresh fruit and a small serving of South African version of paella made with scampi. It was delicious.
I saw some folks who I recognized as being from the Gate 1 group that had arrived at about 9 PM the prior evening and asked if they had received any updates.
They hadn't, so before ordering made-to-order eggs which I would enjoy other mornings of our stay, I figured that I better call Gate 1's emergency line.
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| The lighting makes my photos look less appetizing than reality. |
"This never happens." I know. Long waits. Emergency services had no luck contacting our tour leader. Wait longer.
I overheard one of the folks from our group say the bus and guide had arrived, which I relayed to the emergency services rep, who was relieved. We ended our call believing all would be well.
However, when I walked down to the bus, the driver said he had not heard from the tour leader yet. He called the local operations hub. He relayed that they were sending out a new tour leader, estimating about ten minutes.
I figured at least an hour, and the new tour guide made it there in under a half hour, which I found impressive. I assumed this boded well for him being a very good cat-herder, which in addition to being knowledgeable about the destination is an important quality for a guide.
By the time we had boarded the bus, our original tour leader Anni had also shown up. She basically took control and sent her younger male colleague away with her thanks. Hopefully he was paid for at least a half-day of work.
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| A photo Julie took out the window once we were rolling. |
There were still four members of our tour group missing, which was not surprising considering no one had received any instructions or presumably wake-up calls. Soon they were shepherded to the bus, and we rolled.
As we pulled away, Anni began giving us rules of the tour, including "no political discussions." Yes, even on a South Africa tour, the subject of DJT creates strong feelings. On the prior tour, when a couple identified themselves as Canadians, another couple joked about Canada becoming our 51st state. The representatives of the 14th Colony didn't let it rest at that, so hence the specific rule.
Oddly, we almost immediately entered the Bo-Kaap neighborhood where the entire front of several pastel houses had been airbrushed with pro-Palestinian murals. "We're pro-Palestine in South Africa," she said.
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| This picture was taken in downtown Cape Town. |
Anni said that South Africa has many Muslims, but none are political extremists who do any bombings. Further, the country is very religious, with about 90% identifying as Christian but with no ostracism of any other religions. Bo-Kaap was originally housing for Malaysian and Indonesian slaves, who were called Cape Malays. Their ancestral homes are primarily Islamic.
Our first scheduled stop was Table Mountain, where we would have the chance to ride the cable car to the top, if we were willing to pay the price for that, which we had planned to do. This being Gate 1, however, there was a higher priority: get to the diamond museum and adjoining store approximately on schedule. I could hear Anni quickly working this out on the phone.
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| This spot we passed later is preferable to stores for us. |
In any case, we only had a quick photo op at Table Mountain. Anni promised she and the driver would take any of us who wanted to ride the cable car back to the Table Mountain base when our Cape Town introductory tour ended at 2 PM. Participants could then take public transportation back to the hotel when it suited them.
When asked who wanted to return, it appeared to be unanimous, but the jewelry store slot allowed no more time right then.
For Julie and me, this had been our second photo op at Table Mountain, so we were disappointed to be rushed past the main attraction of the day.
Anni spent a good deal of the first hour trying to rehabilitate her image as someone who never makes the scheduling mistake that she had made that resulted in her initially being a no-show.
She went back and forth between a narrative about her own biography and specifics about South Africa. Having heard the complete Hop-On tour introduction narrative once already, we had a lot of generic information reinforced, but it was still interesting.
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| Tower of Mocaa Museum we would stop by later. |
A good live guide will add nuances and local color, often based on their own life experiences, and Anni proved quite adept at that.
South Africa had originally been mostly jungle, ruled primarily by wild animals. Two native tribes, the San and Khoikhoi lived there. It is believed the San was the first to live there, but a combination of the two tribes are now referred to as Khoisan.
The San people were hunter-gatherers. With primitive weapons, the San took on all prey, including the Big Five (elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, leopard and lion), beasts so designated because they had about as good a chance of killing the hunters as the reverse. Hunting was a dangerous profession.
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| No real illustration other than showing the city is now a concrete jungle. |
Seeking a sea route to the spices of India, Portugal's explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to navigate around the southern tip of Africa, or what came to be known as the Cape of Good Hope, in 1488.
In 1497, Portugal's Vasco de Gama went ashore near the mouth of the Limpopo River in South Africa where he traded with the Khoikhoi for animals from their herds. This friendly encounter is considered the first by explorers needing to replenish food supplies on long journeys. De Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to India, the first European to reach Asia using this route.
For decades, South Africa served as a fast food stop for explorers.
Anni noted a big concern for sailors was scurvy, leading to the cultivation of South African land for fresh vegetables and fruit to provide vitamin C necessary to avoid this malady.
The Khoikhoi did not like what seemed very much like colonization of their land and resisted vigorously.
This prompted the business-savvy Dutch to develop Robben Island, off the coast of what is now Cape Town, as a one-stop shop deemed safer for mariners than stopping on the mainland. This compromise worked for a few years.
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| The late Nelson Manela is admired by all South Africans. |
If the name Robben Island rings a bell, that is probably because Nelson Mandela served 18 years imprisoned there before becoming President of South Africa after the Apartheid era ended in 1994.
Our tour bus made a quick stop at the Zeist Mocaa Museum, a converted grain storage facility which has won awards for its design.
We were not there to see the exhibits but rather to catch a glimpse of the cathedral-like interior that has won architectural awards. No one in our group paid for admission, but perhaps some doubled back later.
As we drove through the city, Anni shared more information about Cape Town.
We unexpectedly arrived at blocked off streets where a movie was being filmed. Cape Town is a popular location as a movie set.
Fortunately, some barriers were pulled aside so we could pass, because the required right turn was impossible for our big bus, and even our excellent bus driver would have found backing out from that dead end a daunting challenge.
We arrived at the Cape Town Diamond Museum about the time many in our group were ready for a bathroom break.
A docent welcomed our group that barely fit into the small space. He described various photos of the birth of what became the diamond business in the 1800s.
After snaking through the dark halls, we were led into a bright area where diamonds were being cut and polished by skilled jewelers.
We arrived at a showroom, where beautiful diamond and tanzanite jewelry was available for sale. Gorgeous merchandise, but Julie shunned my offers to buy her some new earrings or a necklace.
As often happens at stores on Gate 1 Tours, we were served snacks and, in this case, good South African wine or fruit juice.
As Anni had said on the bus, South Africa makes its own perfect copies of Dutch cheese, French wines, and German breads. Add to that the perfect climate for growing fruit and vegetables, and everything served here for our snack was tasty, as we came to expect in South Africa.
Back on the bus after waiting for a couple of shoppers (also normal on Gate 1). This was a couple buying jewelry to celebrate their 40th anniversary, so we cut them some slack. Anni said our group had set a record, with seven couples ordering Tanzanite jewelry. That was 25% buyers in our group, so pretty darn good results from the store's perspective.
Our next big stop was at the V&A Waterfront market where Anni was going to introduce us a few very special vendors. We would have time to get lunch and shop before getting back on the bus to return to Table Mountain as our final stop.
As we walked, we saw a sign for the Harbor Tour. Our Premium Hop-On pass came with that ride. Not being big shoppers, Julie and I decided to bow out of the rest of our Gate 1 excursion that day, explaining to Anni our plan to take the boat tour and then simply board our Hop-On bus to return to Table Mountain on our own. She sent us on our way with a smile.
We arrived at the harbor boat right behind some sort of young ladies' group, perhaps a bridal shower or birthday where they all had on pink satin gowns, but otherwise our timing was very good. The boat departed soon after we boarded.
The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront is named after Queen Victoria and her second son, Prince Alfred (not her husband Albert).
In 1860, Prince Alfred "tipped the first load of stone to start construction of the breakwater for Cape Town’s first harbour to make it a safe haven all year round for passing ships." Lloyd's of London had prompted this project by refusing to write insurance for ships after 30 vessels sunk in winter storms.
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| View of Zeitz Mocaa Museum (middle building) from the water. |
A boat ride on a sunny day is always pleasant and provided a view of some nice waterfront restaurants.
After our ride, we began the Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus Tour at Stop 1 --- again listening to the narration --- and proceeded to Table Mountain.
We thought we had secured a good place to stand by a window looking down the mountain, but as the gondola began its swift trip up the cable to the top, it began slowly twirling, which itself was a remarkable experience.
Having a drink by the coast tempted us to get back on the Hop-On bus.
We rode past Camps Bay and exited at Sea Point, another beautiful stretch of beach.
After a bit of searching, including taking a seat at an outdoor cafe that had too much street traffic, we settled into the posh Grand Pavillion.
The hostess wouldn't give us our preferred window dining table, because we were only having beverages, but we were directed to a couch area near a window with ocean views, so we were happy.
The Hop-On Bus from there had a long pause at Stop 1, and it soon became apparent that we would not make it back on time for the scheduled Gate 1 introductory meeting with free beverages and snacks at our hotel at 5:00 PM.
Because we were going to buy our Peninsula and Penguins tour at that meeting, we decided based on the quality of this Hop-On Bus that we would just book a similar trip with City Sightseeing, noting the price was less than Gate 1's add-on. Right or wrong, when we got back to Stop 5, we bought tickets at the City ticket counter for the next day.
Back at the hotel, we were the last to arrive at 5:30, but based on the servers still taking drink orders, we weren't that far behind about half of the group. We had the usual round of introductions of the guests, followed by more ground rules about the tour.
Anni also had arranged for a banker to come with South African currency to exchange for US dollars, but we figured we had purchased enough back home, which proved to be true, so we left after having a couple of delicious hamburger sliders and our free drinks (Castle beer for me, white wine for Julie).
Not done for the evening, we walked over to our hotel's Fire + Ice Lounge, where we ordered a South African version of Buffalo wings. Again, delicious. Not quite filled, we ordered some French fries, finishing them off before heading to bed.
