This morning we were up early at 6:15. It was a particularly crappy night of sleep for me—less than 3 hours. When I peered out the window the view was a fogged in Table Mountain.
Breakfast was available starting at 7:00 and our pickup time for our day’s adventure was scheduled at 8:30. I had papaya juice, tea, a freshly made omelette, fruit salad and a croissant. I had ordered a vegetarian omelette but when I got it, I was mildly surprised to find that a copious amount of bacon added into my mushrooms, tomatoes and onion. The bacon was a happy mistake — it was delicious. Judith had a full glass of orange juice, a couple of pastries, two eggs over easy.
The guide/driver was early so we scrambled a bit and met him downstairs. We learn his name is Ashfar (Ash for short) and he’s coloured. Despite the abolishment of apartheid, the residents continue to reference others as black, white or coloured. It’s how people were defined for so many decades and it continues to this day because many of the government programs are based on racial status. Our schedule has us going to Table Mountain first, but we know it’s all fogged in at the top because we can saw it from our room. Ash recommends changing our plans to visit Kirstenbosch Gardens which is later on in our trip and go to Table Mountain later on in the day when the fog lifts. This is the beauty of small group travel—to be able to change the schedule to accommodate glitches.
We jump into the car (it’s a Toyota SUV) and we’re off to Kirstenbosch Gardens. The gardens were once an personal estate owned by Cecil Rhodes, the same widely hated imperialist guy that Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was named after and continues to provide worldwide scholarships to Oxford University. Our guide took us on a walk through the beautiful gardens pointing out the various flora and fauna.
At Kirstenbosch there is a commemorative section for Nelson Mandela. The gardeners worked on producing a nw variety of Bird of paradise flower that was in keeping with the country’s new flag. The old South African flag was blue white and orange and the Bird of Paradise flower was seen to be a symbol of the flag due it it’s colour. Here are pictures of the old and new flowers.
The gardens were beautiful and gave me the opportunity to take some bird pics I had promised for my sister in law, Margo. Not a great photo but one can’t be picky when you’re in a slight rush to take in the park.
Our guide took us through the protea section as it’s the national flower of South Africa. It’s the same flower that I saw in the lobby and had previously asked Judith whether it was real or not. It’s also known as finbos but we just refer to it a a pin cushion flower because that’s what the flowers looks like.
It’s a quick tour of the gardens because we’re heading to catch the ferry to Robben Island where the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his 27 years of his sentence is located. The prison housed both regular criminals and political criminals and the two types were mixed in the early years until it was discovered that the regular criminals were becoming new recruits for the black resistance movement. As a result, the government formed a new class of criminals known as political criminals and separated this group from regular criminals. The prison was further separated into Blacks and Coloured (non white but not black) and the already meagre food rations were slightly better for Coloured prisoners to create further division and animosity between the two groups. White criminals or Women criminals were never sent to Robbin Island. Regular criminals slept in bunks in large group rooms designed to hold 40 but it wasn’t unusual for these rooms to hold over 100. Political criminals were separated and put into separate cells.
The cells were small—no more than 8x6 feet—and there was a thin (about 1 inch thick) sleeping mat that prisoners slept on. The mat was a later addition after the Red Cross intervened to improve the harsh conditions of the political prisoners. Up until this time, they slept directly on the cold concrete floors. I can’t see the mats providing much comfort. The prison guides are all former political prisoners. It was very interesting to have a first hand account of prison life and to be able to ask questions about his imprisonment.
After the tour we board the ferry to take us back to the mainland. We had agreed that our return meeting time would be 4:00 but we arrive at the dock around 3, so Judith and I look to grab a bite since we haven’t eaten since breakfast. To our surprise, Ash comes up and meets us and said that he re-checked the time after we left for the island and discovered he was incorrect about the arrival time. We were still hungry and got Ash to suggest a place that we could grab a quick snack. Judith got a donut, but it looked more like a cinnamon bun without the cream cheese icing and her comment was that she wouldn’t be ordering it again. I had banana bread, which was a bit dry but still quite tasty.
We headed to Table Mountain and to our dismay, discover there is about an hour wait to get to the top. The line up is really really long and even if we elect to go up the mountain, the line up will be equally bad coming down because the tram closes down in a couple of hours and there will be another long line up to get through.
So we decide to change the plans again to delay Table Mountain until tomorrow morning and take in something new that wasn’t on our itinerary. The Slave Museum was set up to display Cape Town’s role a major commerce center for the sale of slaves. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was granted a charter to monopolize the spice trade from East Asia. This charter allow the company to colonize whatever territory it wanted and enslave the indigenous people as they deemed necessary to achieve their charter. This began a period of all out war on indigenous territories that would not cooperate sufficiently with the company. In the mid 1650’s the company set up a base at now Cape Town for ships needing to stock up on supplies rounding the Cape of Good Hope on their way to and from Holland and East Asia. The colonists expropriated land and prospered using a slave based economy with Europeans/white operating as masters and the indigenous population either decimated or enslaved. Cape Town became the center of slave trade commerce with boats traveling to
other territories (including but not limited to Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia) for new slaves. They would forcibly capture them or trade with territory leaders for captured prisoners of warfare. Most of the slaves were sold to local farmers or other industries that needed manpower. It was a sobering museum. They master/slave economy was the start of European dominance from which South Africa is trying to remedy.
We then drive over to Bo Kaap, a downtown neighbourhood where houses are brightly painted a wide variety of colours. Houses are tightly packed and line narrow streets. The homes were part of former military housing and were assigned to former Blacks slaves in the 1830’s as they became emancipated. They were rental housing and had to be kept white. We’re told by Ash that the colours began when the homes were later owed by the former Slaves and they expressed their rebellion and freedom against the government by painting them bright colours.
After our walking tour through Bo Kaap we came back to the hotel. We elected to go for a bite before having a nap because based on my crappy sleep the night before, I’d be gone for the night. We need up at a local restaurant Da Vinci’s and split a pizza. Thin crust and really good. We learn that arugula is known as rocket in these parts.
After dinner we head home. I am too tired to write anything and sleep solidly for the next 9.5 hours. Tomorrow’s alarm is set for 6:30 am.
The guide/driver was early so we scrambled a bit and met him downstairs. We learn his name is Ashfar (Ash for short) and he’s coloured. Despite the abolishment of apartheid, the residents continue to reference others as black, white or coloured. It’s how people were defined for so many decades and it continues to this day because many of the government programs are based on racial status. Our schedule has us going to Table Mountain first, but we know it’s all fogged in at the top because we can saw it from our room. Ash recommends changing our plans to visit Kirstenbosch Gardens which is later on in our trip and go to Table Mountain later on in the day when the fog lifts. This is the beauty of small group travel—to be able to change the schedule to accommodate glitches.
We jump into the car (it’s a Toyota SUV) and we’re off to Kirstenbosch Gardens. The gardens were once an personal estate owned by Cecil Rhodes, the same widely hated imperialist guy that Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was named after and continues to provide worldwide scholarships to Oxford University. Our guide took us on a walk through the beautiful gardens pointing out the various flora and fauna.
At Kirstenbosch there is a commemorative section for Nelson Mandela. The gardeners worked on producing a nw variety of Bird of paradise flower that was in keeping with the country’s new flag. The old South African flag was blue white and orange and the Bird of Paradise flower was seen to be a symbol of the flag due it it’s colour. Here are pictures of the old and new flowers.
 |
| The standard Bird of Paradise colour |
 |
| The Mandela Bird of Paradise colour |
The gardens were beautiful and gave me the opportunity to take some bird pics I had promised for my sister in law, Margo. Not a great photo but one can’t be picky when you’re in a slight rush to take in the park.
It’s a quick tour of the gardens because we’re heading to catch the ferry to Robben Island where the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his 27 years of his sentence is located. The prison housed both regular criminals and political criminals and the two types were mixed in the early years until it was discovered that the regular criminals were becoming new recruits for the black resistance movement. As a result, the government formed a new class of criminals known as political criminals and separated this group from regular criminals. The prison was further separated into Blacks and Coloured (non white but not black) and the already meagre food rations were slightly better for Coloured prisoners to create further division and animosity between the two groups. White criminals or Women criminals were never sent to Robbin Island. Regular criminals slept in bunks in large group rooms designed to hold 40 but it wasn’t unusual for these rooms to hold over 100. Political criminals were separated and put into separate cells.
 |
| Prison Corridor |
The tour of the prison was sobering. We did an outside tour first which included the limestone quarry where political prisoners were sent. There was no relief from the hot sun, no toilet facilities and the dust and bright rays gleaming off the white sandstone caused damaging lung and eye conditions such as tear ducts no longer working as in the case of Nelson Mandela. Other parts of the bus tour included some of the buildings used to house the residents.
The cells were small—no more than 8x6 feet—and there was a thin (about 1 inch thick) sleeping mat that prisoners slept on. The mat was a later addition after the Red Cross intervened to improve the harsh conditions of the political prisoners. Up until this time, they slept directly on the cold concrete floors. I can’t see the mats providing much comfort. The prison guides are all former political prisoners. It was very interesting to have a first hand account of prison life and to be able to ask questions about his imprisonment.
 |
| Nelson Mandela’s cell |
We headed to Table Mountain and to our dismay, discover there is about an hour wait to get to the top. The line up is really really long and even if we elect to go up the mountain, the line up will be equally bad coming down because the tram closes down in a couple of hours and there will be another long line up to get through.
So we decide to change the plans again to delay Table Mountain until tomorrow morning and take in something new that wasn’t on our itinerary. The Slave Museum was set up to display Cape Town’s role a major commerce center for the sale of slaves. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was granted a charter to monopolize the spice trade from East Asia. This charter allow the company to colonize whatever territory it wanted and enslave the indigenous people as they deemed necessary to achieve their charter. This began a period of all out war on indigenous territories that would not cooperate sufficiently with the company. In the mid 1650’s the company set up a base at now Cape Town for ships needing to stock up on supplies rounding the Cape of Good Hope on their way to and from Holland and East Asia. The colonists expropriated land and prospered using a slave based economy with Europeans/white operating as masters and the indigenous population either decimated or enslaved. Cape Town became the center of slave trade commerce with boats traveling to
other territories (including but not limited to Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia) for new slaves. They would forcibly capture them or trade with territory leaders for captured prisoners of warfare. Most of the slaves were sold to local farmers or other industries that needed manpower. It was a sobering museum. They master/slave economy was the start of European dominance from which South Africa is trying to remedy.
We then drive over to Bo Kaap, a downtown neighbourhood where houses are brightly painted a wide variety of colours. Houses are tightly packed and line narrow streets. The homes were part of former military housing and were assigned to former Blacks slaves in the 1830’s as they became emancipated. They were rental housing and had to be kept white. We’re told by Ash that the colours began when the homes were later owed by the former Slaves and they expressed their rebellion and freedom against the government by painting them bright colours.
After our walking tour through Bo Kaap we came back to the hotel. We elected to go for a bite before having a nap because based on my crappy sleep the night before, I’d be gone for the night. We need up at a local restaurant Da Vinci’s and split a pizza. Thin crust and really good. We learn that arugula is known as rocket in these parts.
After dinner we head home. I am too tired to write anything and sleep solidly for the next 9.5 hours. Tomorrow’s alarm is set for 6:30 am.
No comments:
Post a Comment