Compact Travels - Exploring Places Like Never Before...

After having tasted some of the finest South African wines, the last morning in Capetown we headed for the District Six Museum. For those who have been following the Travel Diary which is being published since May 2004 in Opportunities Today, I had mentioned about the District Six Museum whilst featuring Noor Ebrahim - one of the Founders of the Museum. You can read the back issue of the magazine at www.rbcsgroup.com as well as in the South Africa special segment at www.compacttravels.com .

Just to give you a quick recap, District Six Museum is located at 25 Buitenkant Street in Capetown and is named so after the sixth district of Capetown which was in existence in 1867. In 1966, under the apartheid regime, this suburb was declared a “white area” and by 1982 over 60000 people were forcibly removed from here and their houses were flattened by bulldozers to a barren outlying area known as Cape Flats.

The District Six Museum was born on December 10, 1994 to work with the memories and experiences of those affected. The Museum is one of the must visit attractions of Cape town as it portrays the history of apartheid and its effects on the “ordinary” people through an intimate look at their touching stories. After our visit to District Six Museum we took a short walking tour of the Bo-Kaap on the slopes of Signal Hill which is well known for its colourful Malay homes and mosques.

The "Bo Kaap" or "Cape Malay Quarter" belongs to the culturally and historically most interesting parts of Cape Town. Many of the inhabitants are descendants from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia, who were captured in the 17th and 18th century and enslaved by the Dutch-East Indian Trading Company. Many were Muslims and others were converted to Islam by the Cape Muslim community. The people of Cape Malay have preserved their cultural identity . The old Malay Quarter with its steep and narrow streets, the plain artisan houses, Mosques and Minaretts reaches from the Buitengracht street up to the Signal Hill. The houses were restored and colourfully painted. The architectural style is a synthesis of Cape Dutch and Edwardian. We stopped at Biesmiellah, a traditional Cape Malay Restaurant and Delicatessen to try out some Malay speciality which included samosas as well.

We returned to the Holiday Inn Strand before checking out and having a final glimpse of the imposing Table Mountain from the glass escalator. Thereafter we bid adieu to Zaino and his team at Matthews Tour who were the local agents who took good care of us in the Western Cape region. Thereafter we boarded the South African Airways flight back to Johannesburg.

The Western Cape has so much to offer that the more you stay, the more difficult it is to leave this wonderful region of South Africa. We surely missed out on the Garden Route which comprises of Cango Caves, Ostrich Farm at Outshoorn, Knysna as well as the experience of traveling on the famous Tjoe Choe Train from Knysna to George. Probably we would return again to explore many more exciting places that Western Cape and its environment.

We reached Johannesburg and we checked in at a wonderful property located in the Sandton Area known as the Balalaika Sandton which belongs to the Protea Hotels. The Balalaika is a 4 star property and is located adjacent to the Village Walk an upmarket shopping centre which offers over 70 specialist shops, restaurants and bars and 10 cinemas. It is also in close proximity to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and is a focal part of Maude Street, the new “Wall Street” of South Africa.

After having some fine Italian food at the Village Walk, the following morning we checked out at around 0900 hours to go to the airport to catch our flight back to Mumbai. It was one of the most memorable fam trips that I have taken as it gave us the experience to try out varied cuisine, stay at some amazing properties and made us wonder what the world would have missed during the apartheid days a country full of vibrance, culture, exotic destinations from big cities to game reserves to the best of wildlife that you can see probably anywhere in the world. We experienced varied climate and having seen so much we also missed out on many exciting destinations as South Africa is a vast country and has so much to offer.

We reached Johannesburg and we checked in at a wonderful property located in the Sandton Area known as the Balalaika Sandton which belongs to the Protea Hotels. The Balalaika is a 4 star property and is located adjacent to the Village Walk an upmarket shopping centre which offers over 70 specialist shops, restaurants and bars and 10 cinemas. It is also in close proximity to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and is a focal part of Maude Street, the new “Wall Street” of South Africa.

We at Compact Travels have utilized the knowledge gained from the Fundi programme to prepare some exciting holiday packages in association with reliable and efficient tour operators and there are entire range of packages for one and all right from the Backpackers to Honeymooners, to Families and those who want to experience the wild Africa. We are glad to have also sent travellers who have come out with innumerable memorable experiences and for our readers we have an exciting itinerary covering some of the best places you could visit as well as feedback of one of the families who recently visited this beautiful country which has so much to offer.

Those who have missed out on the earlier issues on South Africa can visit www.compacttravels.com and find out more about various places as well as some of the exciting packages to South Africa.

Concluded
Subhash Motwani
South Africa Fundi (Expert)