Its nearly time for the 2007 Cape Town Festivall. The dates are from 3 March - 24 March and comprises of hundreds of shows (Many of them free) all over Cape Town.
There is live music, plays, comedians, film, fashion and all sorts of performance and static arts. An extensive schedule as well as general information can be found on the official website.
Tickets for the non-free events can be booked at Computicket.
There is no better way to see such a cross section of the huge cultural diversity and artistic styles that South Africa has to offer. It …
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If South Africa had to name a national drink, it would certainly be klipdrift Rooibos tea. This golden-red brew discovered by the Khoisan and popularised by Benjamin Ginsberg is a flavour as indigenous as licking the sweat from a Kudu’s snout. It contains no Caffeine and is brimming with bio-flavenoids and antioxidants. It is also commonly given to infants to help them sleep and relieve colic.
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(The Crystal pools are a beautiful place to visit and relax, please do not let my experience, (or the smell of the rangers) put you off visiting and enjoying them. With a permit!)
It has been such a long time since I visited the Crystal Pools in Gordon’s Bay that I had forgotten the inane fact of needing a permit to enter. Bad idea! There are a number of the usual signs and one of them (which no-one sees) mentions the permit.
Gordon’s Bay is about an hours drive from Cape Town, along the N2 highway, you can either turn off at Strand or carry on to the GB turn-off. Once there, keep going along the coast road until you come to a bridge which spans the river mouth. This is where to park your car AND BUY A PERMIT AT THE GUEST HOUSE.
Sarah is by no means the most adventurous of sorts and I had explained to her not to bring anything heavy due to the walk up to the pools. I had distinctly remembered the rock pools as being about a 15 minute walk up the ravine…. Apparently they have now been moved and are now actually closer to 40 Minutes, or an hour with flip-flops and a 6 year old. Add to this 35 degree heat and me being a bit of a slave master, we have a very unhappy wife. Talulah was loving it, bounding up the rocks like a little goat, but we were all getting very hot and (me carrying al the bags!) were looking forward to the cool mountain water that awaited us……BUT NO.
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If you are planning a trip to South Africa this summer/winter, you could do a lot worse than tune in to Cape Talk radio and get a feel for the hot topics affecting daily life here. You can tune in over the internet to get live streaming topical radio and get a head start adjusting to our guttural accent 
Lisa Chait, John Maytham and Barry Ronge are my favorites although I do suspect John Maytham as not being a real human, you be the judge. You can see their website here.
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I am of the persuasion that words of foreign origin ought to be, or at least attempted to be pronounced correctly and not Anglicized, Americanized or contorted in general. Samoosas are no exception and by no accounts should be called samozas. With that out of the way, I would like to introduce you to the best Samoosas in Cape Town
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I have been seeing more and more of these “Rent a Mercedes Benz” cars driving around, that I thought it must be a good deal and sought to find out more.
Series 123 Mercedes are a firm favourite of long-stay visitors, students, surfers and motor mechanics. Basically they run forever and require little or no maintenance (I own one). They cruise along in stately comfort like a land Yacht and fear nothing in the way of crunchy Japanese cars that may get stuck in the grill.
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I would hate to compare Cape Town with Ibiza, mainly because I have never been there, but also I think I have a pretty good idea what it’s like. Red sweaty yobs on ecstasy at 200bpm. Anyhoo some people are touting Cape Town as the next Ibiza, namely the “industry experts” at DJ magazine, UK (The red sweaty ones). Cape Town has so much more than Ibiza, history, heritage, culture and, many more varied/scenic places to throw up.
Ibiza or not, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that Sir Norman Jay was to be playing at Caprice in Camps Bay!! Jay kicks ass. The last time I heard him live was at Bondi beach pavilion 12 years ago, before vinyl was even invented.
His appearance is part of a tour called Global Breakthrough, which by the looks of it is an extremely ambitious project: With unbelievable sounding venues like “The Predator tank” at the V@A Aquarium! and a Wine Cellar at the Bloemendal Estate. Cynic that I am, something tells me this is too good to be true… My hunches are itching further at the fact that
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Having lived for over ten years in England, I have developed what is more than a penchant for Indian Cuisine. After all the most popular dish in England is no longer fish and chips, rather Chicken Tikka Masala. Whether it be the ingredients or the method, I have found it hard to locate an Indian restaurant in South Africa that can emulate the flavour of the curry houses in the UK. (UK curry is quite different in fact from authentic Indian cuisine which is generally dryer and less hot)
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The world famous Mount Nelson Hotel sits amongst the trees at the top of the company gardens in Cape Town. Renowned for its stately elegance and charm, it is as iconic and historic a hotel as South Africa has.
The “Pink lady” opened her gates same year as the start of the Anglo-Boer war in 1899 and was modeled on the finest hostelries in London. It has hosted many a visiting dignitary (even a young Winston Churchill) and installed the first heated swimming pool in Africa. As things go, the rates are quite frightening: a high season double room starts at R5540 ($750) and climb seemingly to the stratosphere, when you start looking at suites etc.
Fortunately there is a way to enjoy the pleasures of the Mount Nelson without a bond, and that is to attend the celebrated and salubrious high tea on the terrace or gardens. Voted “Best Tea in the World” by Michael Winner (author and UK Sunday Times columnist) it is a truly grand affair and although the dress is informal, the crispness of the linen and scent of crustless cucumber sandwiches is thick in the air.
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Spend a day in South Africa and chances are you will come across Biltong in some shape or form. Any shop that sells food is likely to have some biltong, be it chopped, in sticks, in a big hunk or its poorer cousin droewors (dry sausage). Many haute-cuisine South African restaurants try to incorporate it into their tourist freindly menus.
Biltong (from Dutch Rump-Strip) is made from strips of meat. Generally beef is used, but also kudu, ostrich, springbok and just about anything with a heartbeat. Fish Biltong is known as Bokkoms. The meat is dried with rock salt, coriander seeds and vinegar, but as with any traditional delicacy there are many variations.
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