Departure Day

I didn’t think this day would come; I have reached my last day in Africa.

The past few days have been a good end to my time here in Cape Town. This past Sunday Jessica and I made a trip out to Robben Island to visit the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years. It was a beautiful boat ride out and I got some awesome pictures of Cape Town. Once we arrived on the Island everyone from the boat was piled onto buses to have a tour of the island (it is quite a small island). Robben Island has quite the history and contains remnants from all of its uses and inhabitants. It had been used as a prison for criminal prisoners and political prisoners for quite some time, the army also used it at one point as a prison for military prisoners. In the mid 1800’s Robben Island was home to a hospital for people with leprosy, to keep them in isolation from the general population, graves and an old church remain from this period. The island was taken over as a military base in the Second World War for training and costal defense; three extremely large guns remain around the island from this period. Robben Island’s most famous purpose came during the Apartheid Regime when it contained a maximum-security prison for political prisoners such as Nelson Mandela. The entire Island has been now named a World Heritage Site. The only people that now live on Robben Island are some of the ex-political prisoners and wardens of the prison, as well as their families, they were kept on the island for so long that it became their home.

After a tour of the island we were given a tour of the prison by one of ex-political prisoners that was held there. It was amazing to hear about what life was like in the prison and how they managed to continue their political education and discussions behind bars. We were shown Nelson Mandela’s cell, as well as the site where he wrote and hid the manuscripts to A Long Walk to Freedom. It was amazing to see and hear about the conditions that the men had to live in, and to see that racism was even built into regulations of the prison (black men were placed on a different food allowance then coloured and Indian men). It was a very educational excursion, I am so glad we had a chance to see such an important historical site.

The boat ride back to the mainland was not nearly as nice as the way there, the waters had become very choppy and a lot of our fellow passengers were getting sea sick, it was not a pleasant environment, but we made it back in one piece.

Monday morning we woke up bright and early to go on a wine tour through some of the best wine lands in South Africa. A shuttle bus (the backpackers bus) picked us up at our bed and breakfast to transport us to Stellenboch where we met up with the tour group. The first stop on our tour was Simonsig Winery in Stellenboch where we had a cellar tour and our first wine tasting. We then moved on to Fairview vineyards in the Paarl region where we had our second wine tasting and a delicious cheese tasting before lunch. For lunch we stopped at a little restaurant in Franschhoek and had quite a good meal of chicken schnitzel with a mushroom sauce. After lunch we quickly moved on to our third and fourth wineries; Dieu Donne Vineyards and Boschendal. The Dieu Donne Vineyards were high up on the hill providing us with an absolutely incredible view of the surrounding farms (though it was our least favorite stop in terms of wine), and the Boschendal Vineyards are the second oldest Winery in all of South Africa. It was a very fun day of wine tasting, it was nice to be able to taste so many different wines at the same time to really get a feel for the differences between them.

Tuesday was a low key day, it was very very hot so we lay by the pool and caught up on some reading.

Yesterday we went for high tea at one of the oldest hotels and Cape Town (the Mount Nelson Hotel). We had some delicious tea and an amazing assortment of sandwiches and cakes, though it definitely threw me out of my comfort zone again. I couldn’t help but think of Tanzania and the extreme contrast that I had experienced in just two weeks. Despite my feeling uncomfortable I quite enjoyed the tea and food and tried to put my feelings behind me.

That brings me to this today, I am not sure what we will get up to on my last day here, I think I will start by packing up my things before heading out to breakfast. My two weeks in Cape Town went quite quickly and I am both happy and sad to move on to my next stop (Toronto). I cannot wait to get back and see everyone; I have been missing my friends and family a lot over the past few weeks, though I am very sad to be leaving a continent that I have called home for the past four and a half months. I hope to be back soon, I don’t think I can stay away too long.

Kwaheri Africa, Tutaonana Badaaye