Insiders Guide to Cape Town. Written for Virgin Australia inflight
This piece was commissioned by Virgin Australia for their inflight magazine.
Below is my text version, click the image below for the .PDF edited version that made publication.
Table Mountain is flanked by two iconic collaborators: to the left is Devil’s Peak, and to the right, Lion’s Head. If you look at Devil’s Peak from the foot of Lion’s Head, you will see the form of a woman lying in the mountain. And once you see her, you will never stop seeing her.
She’s lying on her back, her dreadlocks flowing into Table Bay at Salt River. She has just given birth, and the baby lies peacefully at her feet, forming the left slope of Table Mountain’s table top. The woman’s head and breast are the two peaks of Devil’s Peak. Take your time to find her, because it changes everything about the city once you see her.
This image is the reason Cape Town is called The Mother City. She is a maternal city, with all the contradictions and power and vulnerabilities of a new mother, having just brought life into the world. Emboldened. Blue. Majestic. Uncertain.
The thing is, that to see the Mother, you need someone to show it to you, like I am now. And it is in that sharing of knowledge, that the key to this city lies. Cape Town is a city divided along numerous, deep social, political and geographic lines. And to overcome these barriers, created by apartheid and colonial empire, and hardwired into our psyches, Capetonians need to be sharing with each other across the boundaries. And the Mother is one of the best places to start. Because once you see her, you start to understand that all the resources we need to make this city the place we want it to be, all those resources are right in front of us. You just need someone to help you see them. I couldn’t see the Mother until my friend Jethro the Ghetto Poet revealed it to me. And from then on, everything changed. I was able to see across the lines.
You as a visitor to Cape Town are fortunate. You have an opportunity, more than most of us as locals, to get the bird’s eye view of the city, to see it above and beyond our issues. And so to make that journey a deep one, I want to introduce you to some of the places that have really opened my eyes. I want to share this city with you, across the lines, between the binaries.
To start with, you have to head to the top of Table Mountain. This is one of the major energy centres of the earth, and an opportunity to get an aerial perspective of the city. From here, you can map out the city. It’s a big city, although as Capetonians we don’t always see it like that. Look across to Table Bay, to the harbour, and then keep moving right. As you scan, you will spot two tall thin brick towers. That is the former Athlone Power station, and just behind it, is Langa, the oldest township in the city, and the geographic centre of the metropole.
Langa was established in the 1920s as a ghetto for black migrant labourers, and today it is becoming a cultural and creative hotspot at the heart of the metropole. Tony Elvin, the creator of the Langa Quarter, together with his colleagues and community members, is creating a new epicentre. The Langa Quarter opens onto the old Athlone Power Station precinct, which, in the next 20 years, is slated to become a major central development, with multi-grade living, recreation, shopping, schools and cultural playground. To get a picture of what the future of the city looks and feels like, visit the Langa Quarter, and hear the future as told by Tony. You can even stay: the Quarter is home to a unique hotel, the Langa Quarter Homestay Hotel, where bedrooms in people’s homes are turned into hotel rooms.
Then head up Washington Avenue to meet Alfred Magwaca at the Langa Pass Museum, and learn more about the history that has shaped black experience not only in Cape Town, but in South Africa at large. The ‘dompas’, literally ‘dumb pass’ was a document that all black South Africans had to carry at all times. Not having it was a direct pass to jail. It literally controlled all black movement, and was one of the central tenets of apartheid rule.
By the time you are done with Tony and Alfred, you’ll be hungry. In the Langa CBD, you’ll find Nomzamo’s Place, a chisa nyama or hot meat bar. This is my friend Viki Mangaliso’s place, comprising a butchery and a barbeque area. Choose your meat, it gets sent to the barbeque, and returns to you on a platter. Viki’s place is high quality all the way, with a portrait of Che Guevara watching everything that goes on. Highly recommended. They also have vegetarian options, try the chakalaka and pap if you don’t eat meat.
Langa is also home to POPLA, Cape Town’s latest pop-up dining concept. Established by local radio celebrity and friend, Africa Melane, POPLA offers fine dining in heritage Langa venues. It’s a concept that is turning fine dining on its head - nobody expects a fine dining concept in a township. And that’s just what the city needs. Follow their Facebook page, and if you are in town when their next event is happening, make sure to book. You won’t get more insider than this.
Back in the historic centre, and the Atlantic Seaboard, there are a few essentials: build on your experience of the Langa Pass Museum by visiting the District Six Museum, one of the most personal museums I’ve ever visited. Have a craft beer (try Citizen and Devils Peak, two of my recommendations) at Neighbourhood Bar on Long Street, one of my favourites because it is one of the most diverse spaces in the city; or try local artisanal gin at The Gin Bar, on Wale Street. In Sea Point, head to the Sea Point Pavilion, next to the public swimming pool. Here you can eat one of my favourites - a Cape Malay prawn curry salomi, served at a tiny kiosk called Chilli Point. You will probably end up eating two of them. Work it off by hiring a bike from Upcycles, and ride the promenade to the Waterfront, via the Green Point Park. In the Park, spend a bit of time in the indigenous garden, learning about our medicinal fynbos plants. And then step into one of the KhoeKhoe huts, the earliest form of building technology in the world, and look across to the Cape Town Stadium, one of the most modern examples of building tech. Where in the world can you look across the full extent of human history in a space of just 700m? This my friends, is Cape Town.
Bio Iain Harris
She’s lying on her back, her dreadlocks flowing into Table Bay at Salt River. She has just given birth, and the baby lies peacefully at her feet, forming the left slope of Table Mountain’s table top. The woman’s head and breast are the two peaks of Devil’s Peak. Take your time to find her, because it changes everything about the city once you see her.
This image is the reason Cape Town is called The Mother City. She is a maternal city, with all the contradictions and power and vulnerabilities of a new mother, having just brought life into the world. Emboldened. Blue. Majestic. Uncertain.
The thing is, that to see the Mother, you need someone to show it to you, like I am now. And it is in that sharing of knowledge, that the key to this city lies. Cape Town is a city divided along numerous, deep social, political and geographic lines. And to overcome these barriers, created by apartheid and colonial empire, and hardwired into our psyches, Capetonians need to be sharing with each other across the boundaries. And the Mother is one of the best places to start. Because once you see her, you start to understand that all the resources we need to make this city the place we want it to be, all those resources are right in front of us. You just need someone to help you see them. I couldn’t see the Mother until my friend Jethro the Ghetto Poet revealed it to me. And from then on, everything changed. I was able to see across the lines.
You as a visitor to Cape Town are fortunate. You have an opportunity, more than most of us as locals, to get the bird’s eye view of the city, to see it above and beyond our issues. And so to make that journey a deep one, I want to introduce you to some of the places that have really opened my eyes. I want to share this city with you, across the lines, between the binaries.
To start with, you have to head to the top of Table Mountain. This is one of the major energy centres of the earth, and an opportunity to get an aerial perspective of the city. From here, you can map out the city. It’s a big city, although as Capetonians we don’t always see it like that. Look across to Table Bay, to the harbour, and then keep moving right. As you scan, you will spot two tall thin brick towers. That is the former Athlone Power station, and just behind it, is Langa, the oldest township in the city, and the geographic centre of the metropole.
Langa was established in the 1920s as a ghetto for black migrant labourers, and today it is becoming a cultural and creative hotspot at the heart of the metropole. Tony Elvin, the creator of the Langa Quarter, together with his colleagues and community members, is creating a new epicentre. The Langa Quarter opens onto the old Athlone Power Station precinct, which, in the next 20 years, is slated to become a major central development, with multi-grade living, recreation, shopping, schools and cultural playground. To get a picture of what the future of the city looks and feels like, visit the Langa Quarter, and hear the future as told by Tony. You can even stay: the Quarter is home to a unique hotel, the Langa Quarter Homestay Hotel, where bedrooms in people’s homes are turned into hotel rooms.
Then head up Washington Avenue to meet Alfred Magwaca at the Langa Pass Museum, and learn more about the history that has shaped black experience not only in Cape Town, but in South Africa at large. The ‘dompas’, literally ‘dumb pass’ was a document that all black South Africans had to carry at all times. Not having it was a direct pass to jail. It literally controlled all black movement, and was one of the central tenets of apartheid rule.
By the time you are done with Tony and Alfred, you’ll be hungry. In the Langa CBD, you’ll find Nomzamo’s Place, a chisa nyama or hot meat bar. This is my friend Viki Mangaliso’s place, comprising a butchery and a barbeque area. Choose your meat, it gets sent to the barbeque, and returns to you on a platter. Viki’s place is high quality all the way, with a portrait of Che Guevara watching everything that goes on. Highly recommended. They also have vegetarian options, try the chakalaka and pap if you don’t eat meat.
Langa is also home to POPLA, Cape Town’s latest pop-up dining concept. Established by local radio celebrity and friend, Africa Melane, POPLA offers fine dining in heritage Langa venues. It’s a concept that is turning fine dining on its head - nobody expects a fine dining concept in a township. And that’s just what the city needs. Follow their Facebook page, and if you are in town when their next event is happening, make sure to book. You won’t get more insider than this.
Back in the historic centre, and the Atlantic Seaboard, there are a few essentials: build on your experience of the Langa Pass Museum by visiting the District Six Museum, one of the most personal museums I’ve ever visited. Have a craft beer (try Citizen and Devils Peak, two of my recommendations) at Neighbourhood Bar on Long Street, one of my favourites because it is one of the most diverse spaces in the city; or try local artisanal gin at The Gin Bar, on Wale Street. In Sea Point, head to the Sea Point Pavilion, next to the public swimming pool. Here you can eat one of my favourites - a Cape Malay prawn curry salomi, served at a tiny kiosk called Chilli Point. You will probably end up eating two of them. Work it off by hiring a bike from Upcycles, and ride the promenade to the Waterfront, via the Green Point Park. In the Park, spend a bit of time in the indigenous garden, learning about our medicinal fynbos plants. And then step into one of the KhoeKhoe huts, the earliest form of building technology in the world, and look across to the Cape Town Stadium, one of the most modern examples of building tech. Where in the world can you look across the full extent of human history in a space of just 700m? This my friends, is Cape Town.
Bio Iain Harris
Iain is a Cape Town resident and the founder and Creative Director of award winning tour company Coffeebeans Routes. Trained as a theatre maker, film maker and journalist, Iain created Coffeebeans in order to use the canvas of tourism to tell a wide range of Cape Town stories. He also created the Cape Town Creative Emporium, a general dealership in original creative products from Cape Town. Coffeebeans stages monthly cultural events at the Emporium. See coffeebeansroutes.com for details.
EAT
POPLA
Venue changes for each event
+27 72 112 7466
15 Washington Street, Langa.
0216954520
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/south-africa/cape-town/restaurants/other/nomzamo
Chilli Point Cape Malay Kiosk
Chilli Point Cape Malay Kiosk
Sea Point Pavilion (next to the Sea Point public pool)
Beach Road
Sea Point
DRINK
Sea Point
DRINK
Neighbourhood Bar
Corner Long and Dorp Streets, Cape Town
+2721 424 7260
64A Wale St
076 765 8306
https://www.facebook.com/The-Gin-Bar-847590305329248/
STAY
STAY
iKhaya Lodge 3 *
Dunkley Square, Gardens
+2721 461 8880
http://www.ikhayalodge.co.za/
Cape Heritage Hotel 4*
Cape Heritage Hotel 4*
90 Bree St Cape Town
+27 21 424 4646
http://capeheritage.co.za/
Langa Quarter Homestay Hotel
Langa Quarter Homestay Hotel
Ndabeni Street (cnr Rubuasna) Langa, Cape Town
+ 2721 694 3717
http://ikhayalelanga.co.za/index.php/home-stay-hotel-lqhh
SEE
SEE
The Langa Quarter and Ikhaya le Langa (the home of Langa)
Ndabeni Street (cnr Rubuasna) Langa, Cape Town
+ 2721 694 3717
http://ikhayalelanga.co.za/index.php/typography/ikhaya-le-langa-hub
The Langa Pass Museum
The Langa Pass Museum
Corner Washington Street and Lerotholi Avenue, Langa, 7925
(084) 9492153
http://www.virtualsouthafrica.travel/capetown/tours/langamuseum/index.htm
The District Six Museum
The District Six Museum
25A Buitenkant Street Cape Town
+27 21 466 7200
Tafelberg Road, Gardens
+27214240015
Sea Point Pavilion
Beach Road, Sea Point
076 135 2223
upcycles.co.za
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