Cape Town and the West Coast

I am now situated in the quaint, quite beach town of Jacobsbaai, on the Western Cape of South Africa. I am here with my parents and family for about a week, centering around my cousin’s wedding. Every house here is built in the colonial cape Dutch style, which makes it very picturesque: white houses, brown thatch roofs, and a nice little coastline with spectacular sunsets.

Compare some photos of the houses here to those in Johannesburg, where you feel a bit like a prisoner in your own home, as every house is surrounded by tall, often electrified fences, and guard dogs.

Just for contrast lets show a picture of a more typical house in Johannesburg, in Soweto, where an estimated 1/3 of people in the Jo'burg area live:

I have also spent a few days touring Cape Town, which reminds me a lot of San Francisco: beautiful setting with mountains and oceans, adjacent wine region, and a sort of sophisticated yet more relaxed attitude than Jo-burg or Pretoria. I have been a total, unabashed tourist in the Cape, taking bus tours and seeing the sights, like Table Mountain

and Cape Agullus, the southernmost point of Africa and where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet:

It is interesting to me how the Cape area of South Africa has a more British legacy than the rest of white South Africa. I qualify South Africa that way (white) because that is what I am seeing. I have been to South African several times before and I have seen quite a bit of the country, but only the white parts. Traveling with white people, staying at predominantly white areas, etc. I definitely feel like I am stuck in a bubble that way. I would really like to experience a more real South Africa, which means a more colorful, and more dangerous country. One option, while I was staying outside of Jo’burg, was to take a guided bus tour of Soweto, a predominantly black and historically poor township. There were the same sort of tours available for Kibera in Kenya. I can’t believe people actually do this. It seems very problematic and weird to make a spectacle and a tourist attraction out of a slum. Especially when you can return to your safe home after “experiencing” real, poor Africa. My point is, it is hard for me traveling in South Africa to get away from the rich (white) areas without resorting to things like the Soweto tours. I really am doing my best not to engage in these culturally irresponsible activities.

Anyway, tomorrow I leave for Botswana, so wish me luck in a new country! I expect to have lots of time to read, write and reflect there, although internet connection will be sporadic.