What to see and do in the Western Cape during September 2006
Your contact person is Leisl Brand
Tel (w): +27 21 808 2547; Tel (h): +27 21 852 2290; Fax: +27 21 8083360; Cell: +27 72 222 6624
Email: lmiles@sun.ac.za
We are not organising or providing for a large group travelling and visiting together. There are too many possibilities and variations in individual needs. We will try to help wherever possible. Do contact me with any questions, however trivial. What I do not know, I could very easily find out. But I am not a travel agent, so I cannot make arrangements or bookings on your behalf.
Cape Town Surrounds (partially quoted from the Tourism booklet Western Cape Getaways 2006, and the associated website: www.westerncapegetaways.co.za)
“Cape Town is one of the world’s greatest visitor destinations. It offers a truly diverse experience of outstanding climate, beauty, sport, leisure and shopping. It has a unique location at the extreme South Western edge of the African Continent. Through the centuries the Cape of Good Hope has played a major role in the life of seafarers. Today, the sea on three sides of the city, and the numerous beautiful white sandy beaches, set like jewels in the rusty sandstone layers, huge silvery granite boulders and the clean blue sea, the colours reflecting the mood of the elements. The oceans determine our climate and many of our activities (In fact a famous visitor has remarked that the Cape does not have a climate – it has weather.) The Cape Peninsula has a mountainous ridge, with many bays and valleys. The variation in climate (or weather) makes the Peninsula and the surrounding fynbos biosphere one of the smallest but richest plant kingdoms in the world.
Table Mountain, Cape Town’s defining landmark, is one the city’s greatest tourist attractions. Mostly a National Park, it’s a natural haven in which to hike, explore, bird and sip sundowners whilst enjoying spectacular views and sunsets. A cable car trip to the 1086 m (3563 ft) summit of the mountain takes just six minutes with the gondolas rotating through 360 degrees on the way up. It dominates the city, along with Lion’s Head, Signal Hill and Devil’s Peak. Some suburbs cuddle in amongst the folds of the mountain, while others spread over the sandy Cape Flats into the vineyards and fruit orchards of the smaller towns like Stellenbosch, Paarl and Somerset West, which in turn nestles against the Cape Coastal Mountains. These mountains are the last folds in triple parallel series running around the South African coast. They make for beautiful scenery, wild valleys and rivers, very interesting passes and large variation in vegetation types.
Most of the Clivia growers are in two parts of Cape Town, namely the Southern Suburbs in the vicinity of Kirstenbosch and in the Northern suburbs around Bellville, where the Cape Clivia Show is held. There are a few major growers in Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Hermanus, about 120 km to the East of Cape Town.
Comprehensive information about Cape Town is available in a large number of websites, the central one being Cape Town Tourism:
Email: dale@tourismcapetown.co.za
Web: www.tourismcapetown.co.za
Blog: www.talkingtourism.co.za
Two comprehensive lists of websites are available in the accompanying files, Websites-valuable (in Word) and Web Directory (in Excel).
Cape Clivia Club Show
In spite of the somewhat unfavourable Mediterranean climate (or unpredictable weather) of the Western Cape, the annual Clivia Show has been a highlight of the many floral events in the Cape. Plant displays and exhibits have been excellent quality, with unusual, breathtaking specimens regularly and magically appearing amongst the treasured plants.
Important: All overseas and up-country visitors are invited to the informal little cocktail at about 19:00 of the Friday evening (22 Sept.) for the formal opening of the CCC Show and the announcement of the winners, followed by your private, guided tour of the plants on show. The next day all the sellers, the rest of the Club members and the public will be around. We are also looking into a get-together barbecue with the visitors on the Saturday evening.
The main CCC show is held over 3 days, 23 to 25 September 2006 at the Civic Centre (Voortrekker Road) in Bellville, some 20 kilometres east of central Cape Town. Two additional non-competitive displays of Clivia will be held at Kirstenbosch (some 10 km south of central Cape Town) in the Sanlam Hall on 2-3 September and 30 September to 3 October 2006. In my opinion, the plants at the 2005 supplementary Shows were as good, if not better than the main show. Some really spectacular specimens were displayed. Combined with a relaxed visit to Kirstenbosch Gardens, this was a visit well worth the time and effort.
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens (www.nbi.ac.za) has thousands of Clivia happily co-existing with other indigenous plants and the South African National Botanical Institute maintains an extensive collection of Clivia from the natural habitat.
You could of course try to spend most of your free time with visits to Cape Clivia growers, but it would be difficult for most growers to fit in extensive visits immediately before the Show, as virtually all would be very busy preparing and transporting plants. We will try to set up a roster of available growers closer to the time of the show.
Mirabilis tour
The Mirabilis tour is a private initiative by Hein Grebe and all arrangements are with him. You should set aside at least 2 days for this visit (i.e. one sleep-over). In my opinion it would be best to do this immediately prior to or after the Cape Show.
Extra activities and tours
There are many different possibilities. Please contact your friends in Cape Town or me for advice. Some, in order of general popularity are: Waterfront, Table Mountain by cable car , Kirstenbosch, drive around Cape Peninsula and visit Cape Point, Robben Island, Wine Tasting on any of several wine routes, whale watching at Hermanus (± 140 km from Cape Town via a beautiful coastal road), Visit to historical towns such as Stellenbosch, Franschhoek or Paarl, Township visits, Historical Cape Town and of course, the beautiful, clean beaches (but water temperature 9 to 15 deg. C). All of these are half-day or full day.
Getting to and around Cape Town
First, buy or download a modern map of the Western Cape and Cape Town. This is absolutely necessary. Maps can also be downloaded from here http://www.easymap.co.za/.
It seems there are basically 3 possibilities for your visit, given that you will be attending the Conference in Pretoria (see the main information sheet for the exact dates): You may be coming for the IBSA conference at the end of August, see some wild flowers in the surrounding districts and the West Coast and then go North to Pretoria, either flying for 2 hours or driving some 2 days through the Karoo, which is desolate and dry, but may have good flowers after Spring rains.
Secondly, you may come for the Clivia Conference and then move on to some of the other shows and then to the Cape a few days earlier than our Clivia Show, to see flowers and attend some of the Wild Flower shows held in surrounding towns every weekend in September. You will then fly or drive back to Johannesburg and directly back to your home country. (Arrange a return extension to your international ticket to come to Cape Town.)
Thirdly you may do the full tutti of the Clivia Conference plus the tours, and then travel by rental car in clockwise direction to KwaZulu-Natal and down the East Coast to Cape Town. This is a very scenic route, but you must be careful when stopping along the road, especially in the Eastern Cape. Preferably travel in convoy with a knowledgeable person, who can point out the natural and historical sites. Roads are generally excellent, except for the first section in the Eastern Cape (the old Transkei), where potholes, animals and pedestrians abound. You can then attend the Cape Show and perhaps stay another few days.
Directions from Port Elizabeth
The easiest and fastest route to Cape Town is via Highway N2, which is a wide, well made road running between the coastal mountains and the sea. It is about 900 km and should take about 9 to 10 hours driving. But there are many interesting towns and sights along the way, so I would advise spending at least 2 days. The most spectacular parts are Jeffreys Bay, Plettenberg Bay, and through Knysna to Mossel Bay. To eliminate the rather tedious grain lands in the last 200 kilometres and the heavy traffic in Somerset West, you could branch off at Swellendam onto the R60 to Worcester, where you join the N1 to Cape Town. This is a spectacular, quiet route through gentle hilly country, through extensive vineyards and orchards. Between Worcester the N1 passes through the interesting Huguenot Tunnel of some 5 kilometres, where a toll is required.
Alternatively, you could also take the R62 just past Humansdorp, about 100 km from Port Elizabeth and drive some 7 hours between the first and second mountain ranges to Worcester, 100 km from Cape Town. This road is very scenic, with much less traffic, but not as wide and straight as the N2. The countryside is drier than the coastal shelf, but with mountain ranges accompanying you all the way and magnificent rock formations, it is certainly worth considering.
Finally – ASK!!!
There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
(Compiled by Coen Calitz |
