Table Mountain and last day in Cape Town

Our final day in Cape Town and we had to be away early because the queues to go up the cable car for Table Mountain were a 2 hour wait on average. The crowds were worse because it is currently school holidays and also something about heritage week and all South African residents had free admission to the mountain. It took us an hour and a half of waiting so it could have been worse. Once again we had a beautiful day...quite hot really... and the views were certainly spectacular. Quite windy though, and there was a bit of a mist/fog/haze over the bay and city so the view was not crystal clear.

We were back down the mountain by 11am and spent the next hour on a city tour driving by points of interest such as the colourful Bo Kaap neighbourhood and parliament house where there was a statue of Nelson Mandela as he appeared on the steps. The afternoon was free so we caught the free hotel shuttle too the waterfront and explored.

We liked Cape Town - the people are very polite and friendly and you can wander around the souvenir shops without being hassled to buy, buy,buy! However, there is evidence of high crime in South Africa with houses surrounded by high walls, fences are electrified or have razor wire. Our guide told us that insurance companies would not insure your property unless it had all these preventative measures in place. Unemployment is high and it was common to see people just waiting on the median strips where they may be picked to do a days labour.

Anyway, tomorrow we leave to commence our journey along the garden route,Read more