Edinburgh to Cape Town
Trip Start
May 21, 2008
1
20
52
Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Cape Town,
Western Cape,
South Africa
Friday, July 11, 2008
Wednesday morning, I arrived early to the hostel and decided to do a Township tour on the Cape Flats. Part of the tour involved going to a shebeen, which involves visiting an iron shack with a blazing fire, and passing around what looks like a paint tin for everyone to drink the "home-brew". In terms of flavour of the beer.... lets just say no one in the group went for more than a sip... but as per my photo, a local showed us how we were suppose to drink it all in one go.
1. Table Mountain
Also on the tour we visited the local healer, who uses various plant and animal products to cure his patients. When asked what he does when he is sick, his response was "visit the local medical clinic where the health services are free".
Thursday morning I did a sightseeing bus tour around the city centre, and took the cable car up Table Mountain. The view can only be described as cloudy, as unfortunately the clear start to the day didn't last very long. In the afternoon I joined another bus tour that drove around the base of Table Mountain and along the trendy bays.
Friday I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to Robben Island, as it is normally sold out 10 days in advance. The ferry across takes approximately 45 minutes, where I joined a bus that toured around the island. It ends at the high security prison, where ex-prisoners take you around. We had a very good guide who was a political prisoner held on Robben Island for 5 years in the 1980's. The tour finished with C-block, where the leaders of various political groups were held in individual cells, including Nelson Mandela.
Tonight I have a pre-departure meeting with my tour group, then we hit the road first thing tomorrow.
