Gugulethu & Khayalitscha Townships - August 29

From the beauty of the Gardens we headed to South Africa's antithesis - its infamous townships (shanty towns) - home to 1/3 rd of the population or approximately 1.5 million people. The townships were sites of some of the worst violence during the apartheid period. With over 3,000 new arrivals to Cape Town each month (mainly from the Xhosa Tribe and places like Nigeria, Senegal and Congo), the townships are bustling. Andrew provided us with perhaps one of our most moving experiences of the trip - a first hand encounter with people living in townships. We first visited Gugulethu Township, scene of some of the most exterme political violence in the 60s and 70s. This is the township where Winnie Mandela declared that "necklacing would probably be the government's solution to apartheid." Necklacing was the practice of placing a tire around one's neck, dousing it with gasoline and setting the victim on fire. The Gugulethu Seven Memorial memoralizes seven young men killed while protesting government atrocities such as necklacing. This same township is also the scene of Amy Beihl's murder. Amy was on a university internship engaged in social justice and ending apartheid at the time of her murder, 15 years ago on August 25, 2008. Her killers, first sentenced to death but reduced to life and later paroled, were adopted by Amy's parents and brought back to the USA for rehabilitation. Her legacy lives through the two men who played a role in here death. Today, Ntobeko Peni and Easy Nofemela spread Amy's legacy throughout their township. It is their transformation that truly represents Amy's powerful legacy.

We next traveled to Khayalitscha Township (which means "new home") where a saintly black lady named Vivian lives and runs a Safety Home (ILISO Care Society). Here she cares for 12 orphans, runs a soup kitchen that feeds over 200 people every day, and runs an after-school program. Her new home was recently constructed after her last home burned to the ground. The home was small, clean, efficient and bustling with humanity and activites - people roaming in and out bringing their tupperware containers to be filled with piping hot soup. The kitchen was managed by two ladies who were stirring a huge vat of delicious smelling soup. Vivian was expecting us since Andrew had called her the previous day to arrange our visit. She greeted us like a favorite aunt with big hugs and an infectious smile. She took us into her living room where she told us the story of her Safety Home. Andrew had learned about Vivian from two of his clients from New York - Mark Frey and Lauren Cano - who had discovered Vivian and her work through the internet. They wanted to meet Vivian on their visit to South Africa and asked Andrew to track her down, which he finally did after extensive efforts. Andrew has been one of her bigest advocates ever since. When he meets people like us who are looking to experience both sides of life in South Africa, he arranges a visit with Vivian. Todd Warnock, who runs the Food Depository, the soup kitchen of Chicago, has also become one of Vivian's biggest fans and philanthropic supporters. In fact, he took her a car full of groceries before departing from his last visit and he has funded a book keeper and fund raiser to help her run a most cost efficient operation and raise philanthropic funds to support her growing mission. She struck us as the South African version of Mother Teresa. Her model Safety Home is one that can and should be replicated in the many townships in South Africa.

A sight that warmed my heart was seeing Hilary on the floor of one of the bedrooms with a half dozen beautiful little children while they were being read to during their quiet period. It was also fun to see a photo and article about Barrack Obama taped to the wall of Vivian's bedroom! Vivian is well educated at the University of Cape Town and was an AIDS researcher before starting the Care Society in 2005. The AIDS rate among children in South Africa is a staggering 40%. We took lots of photos and several with Vivian, who wanted to put our photo in her gallery of supporters who like us became instant fans! We traded emails so we can stay in touch and made a chartiable contribution before a very warm goodbye from Vivian and the little children waving and displaying big smiles. WOW!

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden - August 29

Today was to be one of extreme contrasts starting in the magnificent beauty of Kirstenbosch Gardens to the extreme poverty of the Townships and ending in the stunning and tasty wine country of Stellenbosch, Franschoek and Paarl.

Table Mountain National Park is the only natural World Heritage Site that includes a botanical garden - Kirstenbosch National Botanial Gardens, considered to be among the world's top three botanical gardens. Established in 1913, the Gardens is one of Cecil Rhodes great legacies. When he died at age 49, he bequeathed the land for the Gardens to promote and conserve the flora of southern Africa. Table Mountain and Kirstenbosch Gardens are the richest corner of the Cape Floristic Region and the single richest floralistic area in the world with over 4,500 plant species in cultivation including many that are endangered. The number of species per genus and family are the highest given for various species-rich regions of the world, and the density of species is also among the highest. It displays the highest levels of endemism (species that occur nowhere else) at 31.9% and has been identified as one of the world's 25 biodiversity hotspots.

Heath, reeds and proteas are found in abundance, including the King Protea, which is South Africa's national emblem. The Gardens also boast an extraordinary display of cycad (tropical plants resembling palms but reproducing by means of spermatozoids). Cycads are the oldest family of plants in the world dating back 250-300 million years. The weather cooperated and the clouds cleared for a marvelous Andrew-guided tour of the Gardens. One can only imagine the Gardens' spring spendor under beautiful blue skies!

Out & About Cape Town - August 28, 2008

The foreboding sky and rain put an end to our hopes for paragliding off Table Mountain. After another great Commodore breakfast, we caught a cab to the District Six Museum, located in a converted Methodist Church in the famed District Six that in 1966, under the Group Area Act of 1950, was declared a White Group Only Area. By 1982, the life of a vibrant mixed community of 60,000 people were forcibly removed to a barren outlying area known as Cape Flats, their houses flattened by bulldozers . The Museum opened in 1994 to work with the memories of those affected by forced removals. We were moved by the story of a former resident and docent who was telling of his devasting life altering experience to a group of uniformed schoolboys.

Several blocks away was the Green Market Square, a vibrant native market of African art and crafts, where we spent a full two hours haggling over prices. We came away with many new African treasures...masks, ebony animal carvings, batik pillow covers, hand-painted bowls, jewelry and trinkets...after spirited negotiations that generally resulted in 40-60% reductions off original asking prices!

Then we were off to Monkeybiz in the Malay District. Monkeybiz, a non-profit micro industry established in a desire to create employment for 450 disadvantaged women in Cape Town, has facilitated a revival of the ancient African tradition of beadwork. Monkeybiz which has been featured on Oprah, supplies richly colored beads to women in the townships. Each woman is paid for every item produced and since they work from home, can look after their children and families and avoid transportation costs. Every two weeks the leaders of each area bring the completed beaded works of animal and people art to the Monkeybiz store in the city centre. Every beadwork produced is a one-of-a-kind piece. We came away with several purchases - giraffe, penguin, christmas ornaments - and gratified knowing the proceeds were benefitting disadvantaged women, many with HIV. Monkeybiz also runs the Wellness Center which provides skills training and HIV/AIDS support for low income HIV positive women.

A fabulous lunch was enjoyed in the courtyard of a local South African deli and followed by more shopping at Tribal Traders where we purchased a Mali sculpture entitled Spiritual Journey. Hilary returned to Green Market Square to negotiate for a beautiful wooden tray and mask. Then it was time for High Tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel - "The Pink Nelly" - as this grand dame hotel is affectionally known to the locals. We returned to the Commodore (a perfect hotel for a Vandy girl) after a day of intermittent rain and sun and were mighty glad that Andrew gave us the opportunity to experience Table Mountain the previous glorious afternoon.

We capped the day at one of Cape Town's top restaurants - 95 Keerom Street - where the chef was recently recognized as one of the world's best in Eat Out Magazine. The restaurant is also listed among the world's top 900. Charlie enjoyed Ostrich Marsella while Hilary devoured her Springbok -guess we were getting our tastebuds gamey for the upcoming safari!

Incomparable Cape Town & Cape Peninsula - August 27, 2008

We woke up to a picture perfect cloudless blue sky day - a rarity in Cape Town this time of the year as they are heading into early spring. Our Commodore breakfast lacked for nothing -yummy! Andrew picked us up at 8:30am for an incomparable day which we spent touring the magnificent Cape Peninsula driving south on the Atlantic Ocean side through Bantry Bay and Camps Bay with the Twelve Apostles Mountains providing a stunning backdrop. We stopped at Hout Bay for a boat excusion to an island of Cape Seals. Due to a rock slide, we weren't able to drive along Chapman's Peak and Long Beach (but we did catch a good glimspe of this stunning drive) after our delightful detour through Constantia, seeing Groot Constantia Vineyard, a favorite varietal of Queen Victoria. She is said to have rarely gone to bed without downing a glass! South Africa started winemaking in 1652 and is the oldest winemaking country outside of Europe. After stopping to see an Ostrich Farm and a Shona Tribe's carved stonework, we re-emerged on the Atlantic coast at Misty Bay where we enjoyed a walk on the beach and a rare sighting of two African Oyster Catchers (indigenous protected species).

We drove all the way to the end of the Peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern tip of the African continent where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. We took the Flying Dutchman funicular to the end of the Cape, just below the lighthouse. We enjoyed breathtaking views of the meeting of the oceans, Dias Beach, Cape Point and False Bay - photo ops galore! Seeing the Cape of Good Hope was one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments (much like Machu Picchu with Clark two years ago). After the inspirational moment on the Cape, we headed for Simon's Town on False Bay for a stupendous outdoor lunch where the Indian Ocean breezes and food were heavenly. The calamari at Seaforth Restaurant is the best we have even tasted. After devouring the fish, we joined our entertaining fish eatting friends on Boulders Beach....the Indian Ocean Penguins. A colony of 4,000 live on Boulders Beach. Continuing north, we arrived at Muizenberg Beach , a great surfing beach where "Shark Spotters" keep a vigilant eye out for the great white sharks that have been recently sighted. Spotters radio lifeguards when they have a sighting to clear the waters of surfers.

Then it was up to Table Mountain, the towering 3,500 foot massif that forms the impressive backdrop for Cape Town. We rode the cable car to the top where we enjoyed hiking on both sides of the mountain to capture the magnificent vistas of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Town. The wild flowers were starting to show their colors as spring begins on September 1. There are six Floristic Kingdoms in the entire world and Cape Town is its own Kingdom with the highest number of species in the entire world - 3% of the world's surface with 10% of its flowering plants; 68% are endemic to Cape Town. As we were leaving Table Mountain, the clouds, which are affectionately called the "Table Cloth" were moving in for the night and, as it turned out, the next two days. Boy, did Andrew make the right call to switch our original itinerary from Kirstenbosch Gardens to Table Mountain. After coming down from the mountain top, Andrew drove us up to Lions Head, one of three distinctive mountains towering above Cape Town (the third being Devil's Peak). We enjoyed seeing Guinea Fowl, the new stadium under construction for the 2010 World Cup, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned) and the site of our paragliding launch the next morning (which had to be cancelled because of bad weather). Andrew then drove us to the beautiful Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to show us the restaurant Baia, where he had dinner reservations. A 10 minute walk back to our hotel to clean up and return for a delicious dinner of Langoustines and the first of many South African Pino Noirs!