Summer In The City
Cape Town. It’s where the country’s richest choose to live, according to Forbes magazine. Not surprisingly. The sparkle of hotel bars, the clink of heels over glass-bottom dance floors, the stream of purified water over the infinity pool lip… it’s alluring. But it’s not what excites us most about having our Rhino Africa Headquarters here.
It’s waking up to a mountain shaped like a table or a lion’s head each morning, knowing it’ll still be there when we turn in for the night. It’s the sea surrounding us, not asking anything of us but letting us play in its waters, day after day. The simple things.
It’s almost Summer in Cape Town – our favourite. If you wake up with just one day to spare in the Mother City, be sure to enjoy the simple pleasures tourists don’t always explore, as well as the glitz. Here’s my suggested itinerary…
MORNING
Hot town, summer in the city/ Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
(“The Lovin’ Spoonful”)
Wake up with a view, mountain or ocean. You’re going to need coffee. If no one’s around to provide said coffee, walk to the nearest coffee shop. Take your flat white with an almond croissant and the Cape Times. Make friends. Maybe you’re not a morning person… keep friend-making for later. If it’s a weekend, visit a market.
Lace up and hike up Lion’s Head. At the top, peer down at Robben Island (where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years during Apartheid). Look out over the icy Atlantic – many crazies, including Lewis Pugh, have swum across it between the mainland and Robben Island. Run down like you mean it. It’ll earn you local respect. Unless you fall.
TIP: You can also do Lion’s Head at sunset, especially at Full Moon. For something outdoorsy but lazy, switch the Lion for Kirstenbosch Gardens or a cable-car trip up Table Mountain. Kirstenbosch Gardens in Summer means Summer Concerts out on the lawn – a local favourite.
A Lion’s Head Sunset Timelapse:
AFTERNOON
Hear that BOOM? It’s the noon day gun. Grab a bicycle, something other than a single speed. Cycle the winding coastal road to the beach – Camps Bay and Clifton, or Llundudno: pick one (OR do it by car). Dip your feet in the sea. Lose feeling in your toes. Borrow beach bats, borrow a dog, borrow a team for volleyball. Wear sunscreen. Tan. Flirt. Get in a car; drive along Chapman’s Peak, windows down. Get out to photograph the view of Hout Bay. Howl and hear the echo.
Drive to Kalk Bay. Buy fish and chips from Lucky Fish. Skip along the harbour jetty to the lighthouse. Run from the ocean spray. Run from seals. Run from sea gulls. Photograph toothless fishermen in dungarees. Grab a cocktail at Cape To Cuba, Polana or Harbour House. Browse the book stores/art galleries/vintage clothing stores. Spend your Rands.
Drive along Boyes Drive to Muizenberg beach. Go surfing (or learn to surf). Get brain freeze. Flee a shark. Lick soft serve ice-cream at Sinful. Drive to Groot Constantia. Walk through the vineyards. Drink wine and eat cheese. Stumble through the vineyards. Take a topless bus ride back along the coast to the city (as in, the bus is topless, not you).
EVENING
But at night it’s a different world/ Go out and find a girl/ Come-on come-on and dance all night/ Despite the heat it’ll be alright
Catch a film at The Labia on Orange, South Africa’s oldest independent cinema and once an Italian Embassy ballroom, opened by Princess Labia (1949) as a theatre. Not a brothel, as the name might imply. Dine somewhere nice. Or vibey. By water or mountain, or in between. Consult our list. Just dine. Have drinks on a rooftop bar overlooking the city. Photograph the city lights. See Table Mountain all lit up. Get all shook up dancing. In a club or at a live music gig. Skinny dip in the ocean your hotel pool.
Get back into bed and do it all again tomorrow…
For more information and to start planning a tailor-made trip to the Mother City of Cape Town – simply contact one of our travel experts.