Around the Cape of Good Hope

One of the most popular excursions from Cape Town is a nearly daylong trip around the Cape of Good Hope with several stops along the way. Many people do it by bus tour. We decided, not being big fans of bus tours, to hire a guide for the day. The hotel referred us to Franklin. It was interesting just to ride with and talk with him during the drive. I told him we'd been to the District Six Museum. He said he lives in the district. He drove us past his apartment building. Much of the area had been rebuilt with business buildings after the desecration. And some new houses had been built to rehouse and recompensate people who the government had displaced years earlier. There have been some reparations made, but not nearly enough and it sounds like a complicated process. I am not sure whether Franklin's building was part of that, but don't think he had been due any recompensation. We drove through a number of townships and towns, some poor, some affluent, and in at least one case, one of each on facing sides of the road. Although actual apartheid ended decades ago, the contrast and inequities between races is striking. Whites comprise 7% of the population, and more than 90% of the wealth. Some of the towns close to the city are extremely affluent, with large fancy houses built into the cliffs facing the ocean. And then there are literal tin shanty towns. One of the many forms of local art consists of little tin houses made from soda cans, with a painted background. They range from about 6 inches square ( I bought one, of course) to huge works of art with incredible details. I asked Franklin if the elite neighborhoods welcomed black neighbors. He laughed and said that money talks. It sounds like money is more important than race in determining acceptance. Franklin was frank(haha) about thoughts about Mandela. He said that many South Africans do not consider him a hero because he didn't go far enough in demanding and implementing equal rights. But he himself did admire Mandela. He talked about many things, including his daughter, who is autistic and non verbal. That came up when he showed us his favorite beach, which he prefers to take his daugher to because it is quieter and a little harder to access than most of the other, more popular ones. We stopped at another spot famous for its penguin colony. We could have paid to enter at one spot for a supposedly better view. But Franklin indicated that we could get virtually the same view for free. We saw a few penguins, just at the side of the path, and they were neat to see. Maybe we were jaded by all of the wildlife we had seen the week before. My feelings about the tour in general were that I am glad we did it, just to get more of a sense of the area. But the stops were all overtouristed, although I can't really complain as I am one myself. It is a shame to have to wait in a short line to take your picture of the Cape of Good Hope sign. And we opted not to take the gondola to the top of Table Mountain, which provides and impressive view of the city. But it is not far from the city, and on a sunny day when there is a view, it is overrun with visitors. Their website gives a wait time for the trip up, and the trip down. It was over an hour each direction. We decided to wait and perhaps do it on another day on our own. But in the end, although we did have another sunny day, we decided to forgo it. Overtourism is not an issue just here. We have encountered it frequently in recent years, in places as disparate as Vietnam and Bar Harbor, Maine. It's partly due to the rise of the internet and influencers, and then those influenced, needing to document and share the perfect image of themselves. We've seen people posing and preening on beaches, for hours in some cases, and also sometimes narrating their experiences outloud as they pose. It's not just the influencers and influenced, I know, but the internet has certainly changed the way we travel. I did thoroughly enjoy Cape Town, although the typical tourist parts were the least of it. Franklin did take us to one neighborhood that was famous for its artists and its colorful houses. The story was that Bo Kamp householders painted their houses once they acquired ownership, to indicate their pride and achievement of ownership. It was touristed, too, but less so, and I found it more interesting. Partly due to the art, I'm sure. The center of the city is more visually attractive than I expected. There is a variety of architecture, including that influenced by the Dutch and the British. (the British fought and kicked out the Dutch.) There are a number of Victorian style buildings from the turn of the 20th century, including our hotel. Many are decorated with gingerbread adornments, and many are also painted in bright colors. The waterfront area, another tourist destination, is very modern and still growing. Lots of construction. It is where most of the large modern and chain hotels are located. There are also many large apartment buildings that are probably condos. It is not what I'd consider a neighborhood, and I am very glad we didn't stay there. All in all, an interesting city, one I am glad to have visited, despite my reservations about overtourism.