My third trip back to The Motherland, and my first time in southern Africa: South Africa! I started my trip with a 24-hour leg in Johannesburg, spent a couple weeks in Cape Town, and then traveled further north to Malawi (which is a separate post). From my experience with, and observance of, different African cultures, I believe there is a beautiful congruency, yet distinctness. I would say this has been accurately reflected in my trips: each place provided a strong sense of familiarity but also uniqueness.
Jo’burg was a quick trip. We stopped there for a day to take a travel break from the exhausting 50-11 hours we had already traveled and to see the city (in actuality, it was three flights spanning 27 hours). We stayed in the Melrose Arch area. Based on the architecture and the shops, it felt like I was somewhere in Europe. Given colonization, not sure why I was surprised, but it was much more prominent than I expected. We ate some crocodile pies and oxtail, met with a friend, went to Rockets, which is a spot playing South African house music, then ended the night at an edgier spot, Cubana (which is actually a chain) playing afro beats. The music might have been my favorite part of the whole experience in Jo’burg, but I was only there one day.
Cape Town is where I spent most of my time, given it’s the location of our company’s site we were visiting for the audit. We spent two workweeks plus the weekend there, which means my most frequent experience was dining. We went to lots of restaurants (Marcos African Place in Cape Town Central, Melissa’s Café in Camps Bay, and Mzoli’s in Guguletu were faves) and tried many South African cuisines: springbok, ostrich carpaccio, impala, crocodile, etc. We made great effort to see all of the natural attractions in the city with our native Southern African tour guide (self-proclaimed). We visited Table Mountain, which had sickening views with the clouds hovering low below the mountain’s peak and pouring out into the city, Lion’s Head for the most vertically intense hike I’ve experienced, Cape of Good Hope, the most southern point of Africa, Hout Bay, Boulders/Penguin Beach. In addition to the natural attractions, we went to places like Bo Kaap with the colorful houses, a few shopping markets including V&A Waterfront, and Vergenogd vineyard for wine tasting (and some for the ducks). We did almost everything within two days, except Table Mountain! So needless to say, we were exhausted, but very full. I did so much, but I must return for a visit to Robben Island and the accents.
All photos taken with Nikon D5100.
Jenai M. Davis 