Aftrica Day 8,9: Townships, Wine Country, Cape Town

We packed up, had breakfast and bid goodbye to Blue on Blue. Our schedule over the next two days would take us to a few of the townships, the shanty towns to which the blacks and coloreds were forced when they were removed from Cape Town proper during Apartheid. We would also explore the rest of Cape Town and visit the wine country.

Our first stop was Langa, the first township to which blacks were relocated. It was a bit sobering to see the houses, some only makeshift shacks, and to hear the stories about how people lived and how the community grew. We heard stories from our guide about residents of the townships that hold excellent jobs yet continue to live there despite the means to leave since that is now their family and community. We also saw the new government housing that is springing up around the area, almost seeming like it's too little, too late.

Despite our concerns about visiting the townships just to gawk at the unfortunate conditions of this community, the visit to the community center was special. They take in local youths and teach them crafts like pottery, jewelry making, and beadwork. This gives them a way to earn a living by making crafts for tourists.

As a stark contrast to the townships, our next stop was the wine country outside of Cape Town. It was a nice relaxing afternoon after several very full days. We visited three vineyards and enjoyed some nice wines. Our guide dropped us off at our hotel in Cape Town in the evening and we explored the area around our hotel. Still under the spell of our safari adventure, we selected Arnold's for dinner which specializes in game meats. We had the sampler which included gemsbok, warthog, ostrich, and crocodile.

We spent the next day touring around Cape Town. We utilized to hop-on, hop-off bus to hit as much as we could. We made stops at the green market, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Hout Bay, and finally the Victoria & Albert Waterfront. It made for a long day and we tried to get to bed as early as we could since we had an early flight in the morning to head off to Zambia.