South Africa Day 1 - The Waterfront & the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa three days after leaving Namibia. We arrived in the early morning so like in previous ports, I get up for breakfast and get ready for the Diplomatic Briefing. The officials didn’t end up showing up for the Diplomatic Briefing so that was cancelled. Getting through customs was not an issue because they didn’t even end up stamping our passport (tear). So the ship was cleared really early (around 9:30am) and we were free to disembark.

I had a trip with Semester at Sea to the Botanical Gardens at 1pm so I had some time to go explore before leaving. Our ship was docked at the beautiful Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. I went with some friends to walk around the dock area and immediately, you could tell it was a major tourist destination. It had a bunch of little shops with postcard stands outside of them. There was also a craft market, an aquarium, and some statues of major activists like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. The dock area reminded me a little bit of San Francisco because a ferry-ride away, it had an island that also used to be a prison, which Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in. This reminded me of Alcatraz. However, when the ship arrived, we were lured by Table Mountain in the landscape. Table Mountain is visible from almost everywhere in Cape Town and it’s this beautiful mountain that has a flat area (hence, Table Mountain). This mountain (among other things, of course) is what set it apart from SF.

We then went to the Waterfront Mall. In the pre-ports, they told us that it was a really nice mall and that we would be able to shop till we dropped. Well, yes, this was true. But only if you had quite a bit of money to spend. They had designer stores like Gucci and LV among other independent designer stores. We window shopped and then stopped at the food court for lunch. By now, everyone is sick and tired of the ship food and most of us like to eat out when possible. I had some fast food Thai food and I was quite disappointed. I was really craving Thai food and we saw a fancy Thai restaurant but it was closed so I had to settle for the food court. But I ate it and then we went back to the ship.

I ran to my cabin to grab my video camera for the Botanical Gardens. We took a motor coach to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. We stopped at the Compton Herbarium to look at some dry plants, then we went inside the actual Gardens. These Botanical Gardens are one of the most beautiful and abundant in the world, and it was clear why. It had a beautiful landscape and Table Mountain in the background added to its picturesque scenery. We were accompanied by a tour guide and he explained the plants and flora. There was medicinal plants, scented plants, and lots of other pretty things! We ended our tour and I stopped by the gift shop to get a few little things.

That evening, we had dinner at the City Grill (also in the Waterfront) and I had a very interesting dish! I had a skewer which had impala, kudu, ostrich and warthog!! A lot of the students have had zebra, springbuck, and alligator and I had yet to try these new foods. They were interesting. I ate all of them except for the impala which I didn’t like too much. Other than that, it was a nice dinner!

Day 1 in South Africa was only the beginning of an incredible visit.