Wish We Were Here: Cape Town

Iain Martin — Sat, 22 May 2021 05:00:00 GMT

The first time I left Cape Town, it was on an ocean liner, the Windsor Castle, and we sailed for 11 days before reaching Southampton docks. It was the 1960s, I was three, and we were never supposed to return. A photograph of our family appeared in the Cape Times, under the heading ‘Hjuls depart for a new life’. My father had been banned (under the Suppression of Communism Act though he was just a troublesome Liberal) and was given a one-way exit permit. Standing on the deck, my parents, clinging to us three children, were dry-eyed but looked wistful.

I have only been back twice; first, shortly after Nelson Mandela was freed and the exiles were unbanned. It was in 1993, before the inaugural democratic elections and before Desmond Tutu coined the phrase ‘rainbow nation’. The redeveloped Victoria and Albert Waterfront on Table Bay was still a tourist novelty, the N2 route from the airport across the Cape Flats laid bare apartheid’s legacy, and the new South Africa was a more optimistic concept than reality.

My second visit, in 2017, was to attend a conference from which I managed to abscond after a couple of days. Everything and nothing had changed. Some housing had sprung up in the townships, and the prime hillside real estate was not exclusively white, but the city remained largely segregated.

I took the Red Bus – a hop-on, hop-off double-decker – to try to reimagine scenes from my past, specifically our bungalow at the foot of Signal Hill, between Green Point and Sea Point. Not exactly a landmark in itself, I disembarked to track down the house and got lost walking around, perhaps the best way to discover the city. Later, with other conference escapees and a hired car, I ventured out to the vineyards of Constantia and to the Cheetah Outreach conservation centre in Somerset West where you can, if you want (and I did), cuddle a big cat.

Things to do:

Take a trip to Robben Island

Take a boat trip to desolate, bleak Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years in captivity and where you probably won’t now be escorted by an ex-prisoner.

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Climb Table Mountain

Climb Table Mountain or take a cable car. It’s only 1,086m (3,500ft) and should take under two hours, depending on the track. From the top, you will see the full glory of the coastline and understand why Cape Town is often called the most beautiful city in the world. Look out for the earless rock rabbits, or ‘dassies’, furry creatures that jump about the boulders and are obligingly photogenic.

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Visit the Grand Parade

Visit the Grand Parade, the main public square and gathering place for protests during apartheid. It is also where Mandela addressed the nation when he was released from prison in 1990.

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REACTION: Import Jenny Hjul

Wish We Were Here: Cape Town