Cape Town

Kadar se pogovarjam s tukajšnjimi domačini, me radi sprašujejo, kje vse sem že bila in kaj sem si že ogledala v Južnoafriški republiki. Pogovor se vedno konča z njihovim nasvetom, da moram nujno videti tudi Cape Town, saj je tam menda prekrasno. Žal za daljše potovanje ni bilo priložnosti, zato sem se tja odpravila čez vikend, z nizkocenovnim letalskim prevoznikom Kulula. Sicer je tu več nizkocenovnih letalskih prevoznikov, saj je država zelo velika in ljudje ogromno potujejo, tako v službene kakor tudi v privatne namene. Mnogo domačinov ima namreč sorodnike v več mestih v državi in se pogosto obiskujejo. Zaradi ogromnih razdalj (recimo med Johannesburgom in Cape Townom je okrog 1400 km), je v pomanjkanju časa pot z letalom največkrat edino smiselna.

Whenever I talk to local people, they usually ask me where I have been and what I have seen so far in South Africa. The conversation always ends with their suggestion that I have to visit Cape Town because it is supposed to be beautiful. Unfortunately there was never an opportunity to go there for a longer period of time, so I decided to make it a weekend trip using the low cost airline Kulula. There are several low cost airlines in South Africa as the country is large and people travel all the time, both for business and pleasure. Many local people have relatives in various cities around the country and in order to visit them across the huge distances, flying is often the most sensible choice (for example, the distance between Johannesburg and Cape Town is around 1400 km).

Moj prvi cilj v Cape Townu je bil obisk Mizaste gore (Table Mountain), peš, se razume, čeprav gor pelje tudi vlečnica. Glede na dolgo kolono čakajočih turistov pri spodnji postaji vlečnice sem verjetno prej prišla gor peš (slabi dve uri), kakor bi se načakala za prevoz. Razgled z vrha je čudovit, morda se mi je tako zdelo tudi zato, ker sem prvič po dolgem času spet videla morje oziroma ocean oziroma natančneje dva oceana (Indijskega in Atlantskega, ki se tu stikata). Imela sem srečo z vremenom, saj pravijo, da se zaradi vlažnega zraka na gori pogosto zadržujejo oblaki in takrat seveda ni razgleda.

My first destination in Cape Town was to ascend Table Mountain, on foot obviously, although there is also a cable car. The queue of tourists in front of the cable car was so long that I probably made it to the top on foot (it took me less than two hours) sooner than if I had waited for transport. The view from the top is magnificent, probably more so because I saw the sea or rather the ocean or rather two oceans (Indian and Atlantic) again after such a long time. I was lucky with the weather as often there are clouds at the top of the mountain when there is no view.

Na pobočju Mizaste gore je botanični vrt Kirstenbosch, katerega sem šla pogledat zlasti zaradi velikega nasada avtohtonih rož iz skupine Protea. Te vrste rože uspevajo le na jugozahodu države in nikjer drugje na svetu. Menda jih je zelo težko gojiti izven njihovega naravnega okolja, zato jih recimo nimajo v botaničnih vrtovih v okolici Johannesburga.

The slopes of Table mountain host the Kirstenbosch botanical garden that I visited especially for the vast plantings of Protea flowers. These flowers grow only at the southwestern tip of the country and nowhere else in the world. They can't be cultivated away from their natural habitat and are therefore not found in botanical gardens, not even in Johannesburg.

Odpeljala sem se po Kapskem polotoku (Cape peninsula) do rta dobrega upanja. Sicer tam ni nič posebnega (sploh ni najjužnejša točka afriškega kontinenta, kakor sem prej zmotno mislila), razen nekega mogočnega občutka ob pogledu na dva oceana in misli na vse pomorščake, ki so skozi zgodovino obpluli ta del sveta. Na polotoku leži kar nekaj ostankov ladijskih brodolomov iz starih časov in z zanimanjem sem šla enega izmed njih pogledat, no, kup starega železja pač. Videla pa sem tudi pingvine in tjulnje, ki tam živijo v naravnem okolju, saj je cel polotok naravni rezervat.

I drove down Cape peninsula to the Cape of good hope. There is actually nothing special to be seen (it's not even the southernmost tip of the African continent as I had mistakenly believed) except for a grandiose feeling when overlooking the two oceans and thoughts of all the seafarers who went that way through history. There are a few shipwrecks on the peninsula and I walked to look at one of them. It's just a heap of rusting iron. I saw penguins and seals that live there in their natural environment sine the entire peninsula is a national park.

Zanimivo, da se v Cape Townu najpogosteje govori v afrikanščini, saj je to domač jezik številnih potomcev sužnjev in ljudi mešanih ras, katerih predniki so bili tam že od samih začetkov naseljevanja. Prvi beli priseljenci, ki so prišli na celino skozi Cape Town v 17. stoletju, so si pripeljali sužnje iz Malezije. V okolici namreč ni živelo prav veliko črncev, ki bi bili primerni kandidati za sužnje, tam so živeli le pripadniki ljudstva San oziroma bušmeni, ki pa so bili prebrisani in se belcem niso pustili podrediti, še več, celo medsebojno so trgovali. V Cape Townu tako še danes obstaja Malezijska četrt, imajo restavracije z malezijsko prehrano, med tem ko se je malezijski jezik skozi generacije pozabil.

I found it interesting that the most common language in Cape Town is Afrikaans. This is the language of the descendants of the many people of various ancestries and races that have lived there since the beginnings of foreign inhabitation. The first white people to settle Cape Town in the 17th century were slaves from Malaysia. There weren't many black people in the area who could be used as slaves, there were only the San people, also referred to as bushmen, who didn't allow themselves to become enslaved, in fact, they even traded with the white people. There is a Malay quarter in Cape Town to this day, there are restaurants serving Malay foot, only the language has been forgotten through the centuries.

V enem vikendu je bilo to vse, kar sem si ogledala v Cape Townu in na koncu je to mesto ostalo še eno izmed tistih na mojem spisku, kamor bi bilo treba oditi še kdaj, si vzeti več časa in pogledati še vse tisto, za kar tokrat ni bilo časa.

This was all I was able to see and do in one weekend in Cape Town. The city remains on the list of those places that, time permitting, I would want to visit again and see everything else that didn't get my attention this time.