The Qatar Airways flight brought us straight to Cape Town.
We stayed in a nice hostel called Penthouse of Long. It is on Longstreet, right in the city center.
Next to the dormitories there were different sitting areas and a big, fully equiped kitchen.
The 9 days we stayed in Cape Town, we concentrated on visiting the touristic sights and Matthew and Robin met various teenagers who participate in Mike Horn's Young Explorers program.
But to start at the beginning:
Fort de Goede Hoop, or now called Castle of Good Hope, dates back to Jan van Riebeeck . The Dutch merchant who arrived here in 1652. It is a museum now and the military presence and history are explained here.
We stopped at the slavelodge, the Dutch ships of the East India Company passed at Cape Town to go to the East. They started the slave trade.
Prison where Nelson Mandela stayed on Robben Island.
Time for a lighter subject, we went to the Company Garden, a nice garden from the East India times. Matthew had his hair done, African style.
The coast near Cape Town is very nice. Just swimming might not be the best idea. South Africa has a very high amount of sharks, even close to the shore.
Visiting a pinguin colony. There were more than just one :-)
And on to the Save Our Seas (SOS) shark center to learn more about the sharks in South Africa.
Shark egg! Found during a biology session with SOS.
We stayed in a nice hostel called Penthouse of Long. It is on Longstreet, right in the city center.
Next to the dormitories there were different sitting areas and a big, fully equiped kitchen.
The 9 days we stayed in Cape Town, we concentrated on visiting the touristic sights and Matthew and Robin met various teenagers who participate in Mike Horn's Young Explorers program.
But to start at the beginning:
We passed by the old city hall and various ofther buildings dated back to the 17th and 18th century when we walked to the fort.
We stopped at the slavelodge, the Dutch ships of the East India Company passed at Cape Town to go to the East. They started the slave trade.
More history at the District Six museum. Long after the slavery time, the Apartheid started. Separation of people in a very cruel way. Whole districts were moved to make space for the white citizens.
The 4 South Africans rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.
Table Mountain seen from the popular Cape Town Waterfront. From the Waterfront the boats leave to Robben Island.
In front of the ticket office to Robben Island a demonstration took place. No yelling and screaming or fighting but peaceful singing and dancing. Clearly stating their message though.
The boys discussing 'stuff' on Robben Island.
And here a rooms for some 60 prisoners. They slept thin mats on the floor.
And then, finally freedom. Whereby... the problems seem to be far from resolved.
One of the SOS programs. Shark spotting and danger-status signs at the beach, to warn swimmers and surfers.
And believe it or not, there was a living (premature) shark in the egg!!! The egg was laying on the rocks, far from the sea and would have died if we would not have found it. Was it right or wrong to pick it up? We did not know it was alive. And guess what... it is still alive, 10 weeks later, doing well in the SOS aquarium.
Matthew and Robin met 5 Cape Townian young explorers on 2 occassions during our stay in Cape Town which was fun. We met loads of people in the hostel, especially interesting 2 people who do research work for Nourishing the World.
The kids starting working on their first official AcTV program. Link to Youtube:
Not bad for a start and with limited material!
We are leaving Cape Town and start slowly moving up to Johannesburg in Part 2 of this blog.
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