Day 6 Cape Town and Bo-Kaap by Matt

We woke up to a very gloomy looking Cape Town, matching our safari come downs. Breakfast lifted out spirits with a tropical selection of fresh fruits, pots of bircher and chia pudding, yoghurts, multiple honey varieties, nut butters, as well as the obligatory full English spread and egg cook. We filled out boots, even accompanied by an old chap tickling the ivories, and headed to our first destination, the South African museum.

Pulling into a space near the museum, we were accosted by a 'parking guard', who wanted R50 to let us park in her patch. As we weren't sure how official these people are, though they seem to hang around in their grubby parking hi-vis every few hundred yards, nor the consequences of not paying, we handed over the cash and went in. We soon learnt that they inhabited every carpark, street corner, dark alley and popped up as soon as you got out of your car, welcoming you to 'their office' and expecting tips. To be fair, having someone look out for your car is usually a welcome peace of mind.

The museum is divided into coloured zones, and we wondered into the nearest one. The subject was human evolution, race and privilege. Videos of South Africans people discussing their backgrounds and views on race ran on one wall and casts of skulls in chronological order (in Millions of Years Ago) covered another. Apparently the collective term for bipedals (walking on 2 legs) is hominins, which have evolved into multiple species, the only one remaining being Homo Sapiens.

A disturbing theory that many white paleoanthropologists believed was that Africans, and other cultures, were further down the evolutionary chain than Europeans and sub-species. Many were used for scientific studies, often in zoo like conditions, their skulls being infamously measured using callipers.

The next zone was much bigger and held a seemingly random collection, consisting of whale skeletons, astrology facts (our nearest galaxy, Andromeda, is 2.5 million years away!), bee facts (they communicate by performing dance moves!), Antarctic research (SA has a long-standing involvement), various curios and the family tree of Charles Darwin (who married his cousin, Emma Wedgewood, daughter of Josiah).

Finally, we entered the rock art zone and learnt that the SA emblem is made up of the secretary bird, rising sun, protea, spear and shield, elephant tusks, human figures, ears of wheat and a moto that translates to 'diverse people unite'. Very impressive how much they squeezed in!

Directly outside the museum is the 'Company's Garden', originally created in 1650 by European settlers to provide fresh vegetables to passing ships. It was a quiet little oasis in the heart of Cape Town, home to a few albino squirrels, which Arushi found very unnerving!

From there we drove to Bo-Kaap, famous for it's brightly coloured buildings and multi-cultural society. Situated at the base of Signall Hill, the rear end of the Lion's Head escarpment, it was used to house slaves from East Asia, who were then emancipated by the British in 1834 (in which Josiah Wedgewood had been instrumental). As a celebration of their freedom, the population of Bo-Kaap painted their houses bright colours, when previously white had been enforced.

It's cobbled streets and artistic vibes gave it a bohemian feel, and the funky cafe we ate in met expectations, but we couldn't help feel there was a edginess to it, not helped by some random car driver warning us there was an opportunist thief at the bottom of the street we were on. In the cafe we tried koesisters, a local sweet treat a bit like doughnuts, but not as dense and dipped in coconut flakes.

As the Lion's head trail was not far away, we headed to the carpark at the base of it, which ordinarily would have had stunning views of Cape Town, False Bay and Table Mountain but all we could see was some of Cape Town and the cloud, mist and rain sweeping over us.

Kloof St is lined with restaurants and cafes, and we curb crawled in our van in the pouring rain looking for somewhere with some life but space for 5. We settled on Zuney Wagyu Burgers, which was a big hit. The chips, fried in (Wagyu) beef dripping were particularly delicious. The rain seemed to playing havoc with the sensitive car alarm, which the park guard cheerfully kept us updated on, so we headed back to the dry confines of our hotel (and hotel car park!).Read more