Cape Town
Cape Town, internationally known for the majestic beauty of Table Mountain, is the 'Mother City 'of South Africa being the site of the first European landings and settlement in Southern Africa. The subtle interplay of sea and mountain, which characterises the Cape of Good Hope, moved intrepid explorer Sir Francis Drake to call it 'the fairest Cape in all the circumferences of the globe,' a description which settles rapidly into the consciousness of all visitors.
It is here, beneath the 1086 metre high (3562 feet) sandstone face of Table Mountain, that Jan van Riebeeck dropped anchor on 6 April 1652. He established a refreshment station for the Dutch East India Company to replenish the ships en-route to and from the spice islands of the East Indies (Indonesia and Malaya).
Before Van Riebeeck landed others had long lived in the blue shadow of the mountain. They were the Khoikoi pastoralists (old name: Hottentots) with flocks of fat-tailed sheep and the San Hunters who lived off game animals. These ancient remains of Mankind's Stone Age childhood were innocent onlookers who by 1713 had been all but decimated by the Great Smallpox Epidemic.
Black tribes were encountered for the first time by eastward migrating white farmers after 1702 about 700 km (420 miles) east of Cape Town around the Great Fish River - a meeting of two divergent cultures, the consequences of which are still unfolding today.
Close to Cape Town, the vegetation is either tinged green by the winter rain of the Western Cape, a region, which enjoys a Mediterranean climate, or burnt brown during the long hot summer. In winter, the vines shed their autumn leaves baring their gnarled limbs. A few months later as spring moves into summer, the vineyards are richly covered in fruit. Some of the best wines in the world are made from the grapes harvested from these prolific vineyards.
It is here, beneath the 1086 metre high (3562 feet) sandstone face of Table Mountain, that Jan van Riebeeck dropped anchor on 6 April 1652. He established a refreshment station for the Dutch East India Company to replenish the ships en-route to and from the spice islands of the East Indies (Indonesia and Malaya).
Before Van Riebeeck landed others had long lived in the blue shadow of the mountain. They were the Khoikoi pastoralists (old name: Hottentots) with flocks of fat-tailed sheep and the San Hunters who lived off game animals. These ancient remains of Mankind's Stone Age childhood were innocent onlookers who by 1713 had been all but decimated by the Great Smallpox Epidemic.
Black tribes were encountered for the first time by eastward migrating white farmers after 1702 about 700 km (420 miles) east of Cape Town around the Great Fish River - a meeting of two divergent cultures, the consequences of which are still unfolding today.
Close to Cape Town, the vegetation is either tinged green by the winter rain of the Western Cape, a region, which enjoys a Mediterranean climate, or burnt brown during the long hot summer. In winter, the vines shed their autumn leaves baring their gnarled limbs. A few months later as spring moves into summer, the vineyards are richly covered in fruit. Some of the best wines in the world are made from the grapes harvested from these prolific vineyards.
Labels: African Collage, Cape Town to Dar Es Salaam, Cape Town to George Journey, Pretoria to Cape Town Journey
posted by African Luxury Train Destinations at
7:36 AM
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