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Cape Town Revisited

Author: John Spence

The most demanding travel clients are your own family. John Spence takes his wife and five-year-old son to Cape Town, a city he used to call home at the end of the apartheid era. How would the city he remembered live up to his memories?

I first went to Cape Town in January 1992, as a young naïve traveller looking for adventure and fun. Having struggled for a few days to find somewhere to live and work I eventually settled in Rondebosch suburb close to the University of Cape Town.

By day I prowled the beaches and by night I served cocktails. In the twilight of the apartheid era, Nelson Mandela was still incarcerated and the population was about to vote on whether to retain the country’s infamous race laws. It was an interesting time to be in South Africa.

The country was very split. As the most liberal city in South Africa, most Cape Town residents were very hopeful a ‘No’ would bring apartheid to an end and let the country move forward at last. In the North the opposite was true, the AWB were marching with their swastikas and there were predictions that a ‘No’ vote would bring civil war.

Thirteen years later it felt very strange to be flying to Cape Town with my wife Emma and five-year-old son Jack, neither of whom had ever visited South Africa, with no idea myself what to expect. I didn’t know whether Cape Town would still be as I remembered, or how it would look through my older eyes. How would Emma, who’s more used to roughing it on the roof of a Landrover in Botswana, enjoy delicious food and wine, and comfortable beds; and was there enough to stop five-year-old Jack getting bored.

Well, I can proudly report that after 13 years of planning trips all over Africa, I succeeded with my most demanding clients. No refund or compensation of any kind required. At last we had succeeded in having our first ‘real’ family holiday.

Emma effortlessly managed to cope with the fine food and wines, the hotel spa treatments, scaling Table Mountain – and, more difficult, finding the right track down. Jack got used to being spoiled by waiters and waitresses wherever we went, came face to face with rock hyrax (small mammals that look similar to marmots), tried to teach a seal to clap and mimicked the Jackass penguins on Boulders Beach.

Cape Town has changed, but generally for the better. Growth and development seem to have been done very well and tastefully. The city itself feels more vibrant, with plenty of employment evident all around. This surge in growth has attracted people from all around the country desperate for work. The sprawling shanty towns seen on the drive from the airport show that many people in South Africa still fall way short of basic facilities that we all take for granted. My son Jack asked why people did not live in proper houses. After all these years this was still a tough question to answer.

My final impressions were upbeat. As I left I spoke to a porter who was the happiest person I have ever met in an airport anywhere. We spoke for a long time about the changes since my last visit, and it was fascinating to hear his insights into South Africa’s problems and potential, and the issues shaping Cape Town’s future from the position of a Cape Coloured resident.

Being part of the world community and no longer ostracised by other countries has meant a lot to South Africans whatever their colour. Seeing tourists pour in from around the world and fall in love with their city makes these people proud. Long may it continue.

For this visit our two year old daughter stayed at home with her grandmother. But we’ve vowed to take her to Cape Town as soon as she turns five. I can’t wait.



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