Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town

1 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Hotels, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Michael Rowe/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Michael Rowe/cc-by-sa-4.0

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a public non-profit museum in Cape Town, South Africa. Zeitz MOCAA opened on September 22, 2017 as the largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The museum is located in the Silo District at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town. A retail and hospitality property, the Waterfront receives around 24 million local and international visitors per year.   read more…

Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town

13 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Entrance © Bernard Gagnon/cc-by-sa-4.0

Entrance © Bernard Gagnon/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Castle of Good Hope (Dutch: Kasteel de Goede Hoop, Afrikaans: Kasteel die Goeie Hoop) is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally located on the coastline of Table Bay, following land reclamation the fort is now located inland. In 1936 the Castle was declared a historical monument (now a provincial heritage site) and following restorations in the 1980s it is considered the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort.   read more…

Cape Town City Hall

1 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Magemu/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Magemu/cc-by-sa-4.0

Cape Town City Hall is a large Edwardian building in Cape Town city centre which was built in 1905. It is located on the Grand Parade to the west of the Castle and is built from honey-coloured oolitic limestone imported from Bath in England.   read more…

University of Cape Town

3 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  5 minutes

Upper Campus at Groote Schuur on the slopes of Devil's Peak © Adrian Frith/cc-by-sa-3.0

Upper Campus at Groote Schuur on the slopes of Devil’s Peak © Adrian Frith/cc-by-sa-3.0

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest university in Sub-Saharan Africa in continuous operation.   read more…

Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town

4 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Osvát András

© Osvát András

The Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront in Cape Town is situated on the Atlantic shore, Table Bay Harbour, the City of Cape Town and Table Mountain. Adrian van der Vyver designed the complex. The Waterfront attracts more than 23 million visitors a year. Situated in South Africa’s oldest working harbour, the 123 hectares (300 acres) area has been developed for mixed-use, with both residential and commercial real estate. Features in the waterfront are Chavonnes Battery, Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island, Nobel Square (with sculptures of the four South African Nobel Peace Prize winners Albert John Lutuli, Desmond Tutu, Frederik Willem de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela), Two Oceans Aquarium, Breakwater Lodge (University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business).   read more…

Theme Week South Africa

19 June 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  14 minutes

East London - City Hall on Oxford Street © Bfluff/cc-by-sa-3.0

East London – City Hall on Oxford Street © Bfluff/cc-by-sa-3.0

South Africa is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded on the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, on the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and on the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland, and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area, and with close to 56 million people, is the world’s 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa’s largest communities of European (white), Asian (Indian), and multiracial (coloured) ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the constitution‘s recognition of 11 official languages, which is among the highest number of any country in the world. Two of these languages are of European origin: Afrikaans developed from Dutch and serves as the first language of most white and coloured South Africans; English reflects the legacy of British colonialism, and is commonly used in public and commercial life, though it is fourth-ranked as a spoken first language. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d’état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century. However, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a large role in the country’s recent history and politics. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation. After a long and sometimes violent struggle by the African National Congress and other anti-apartheid activists both inside and outside the country, discriminatory laws began to be repealed or abolished from 1990 onwards. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the country’s multicultural diversity, especially in the wake of apartheid.   read more…

Cape Town on the shore of Table Bay

27 January 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

Greater Cape Town © Andrew Massyn

Greater Cape Town © Andrew Massyn

Cape Town is a city in South Africa. It ranks third among the most populous urban areas in South Africa, after Johannesburg, and has roughly the same population as the Durban Metropolitan Area. It is also the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, as well as for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. It is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.   read more…

Pride of Africa

24 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Hotels Reading Time:  4 minutes

Dining Car © David Brossard/cc-by-sa-2.0

Dining Car © David Brossard/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Pride of Africa is a luxury train which is run by Rovos Rail. It is billed as the “World’s Most Luxurious Train”. It travels through South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania. Rovos Rail was established in 1989.   read more…

The Table Bay off Cape Town

3 March 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Table Bay with Robben Island and Cape Town from Table Mountain © AlterVista/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Table Bay with Robben Island and Cape Town from Table Mountain © AlterVista/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town (founded 1652 by Van Riebeeck) and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.   read more…

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