Gay press trip, May 2004
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Cruising, hiking and sunbathing in Cape Town

A city not only for party people: visiting Africa’s single gay metropolis Cape Town

By Dennis Klein

If you expect an exotic Africa feeling, you will get a slight shock at first in the three-million-inhabitants-metropolis Cape Town: The city centre combines Victorian architecture from the late 19th century and the skyscrapers of a modern major city. Kapstaad was founded in 1652 by the Dutch immigrants and today is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world – and at the same time it is the most un-African city because of its colonial past.

The Table Mountain is the landmark and you can see it from almost any place in Cape Town. It towers 1,000m over the city and offers an incredible view. This is the best point to look at the city that is surrounded by the Indian and the Atlantic Ocean. On the other side you can dimly see the Cape of Good Hope, the southermost point of Africa, when the weather is fine. The best way to go up there is by cable car. But pay attention: If the weather is bad in the morning, the cable car does not drive the entire day. Climbing up the Table Mountain on foot will take about four hours. But even people who do not like hiking do not mind to spend the day in the nature here.

The sunset from the 350m high Signal Hill is legendary. You can get there via the Kloof Nek Road by car easily. From here, the sun sets bright red into the sea, right next to the world-famous Robben Island where Nelson Mandela has been captured for 18 years by the apartheid regime.

The gay milieu in the Cape metropolis has developed well. During the last years a gay hotel and amusement centre that is unique in Africa has developed. There are trendy cocktail bars like the always well attended Tank (72 Waterkant St.) and the traditional gay pub with the not quite adequate name Manhattan (74 Waterkant St.). If you rather like dancing, you should go to the Bronx, Cape Town most favourite gay club (35 Somerset Rd.).

If you expect a real multicultural milieu, you will be disappointed: The party people mostly are white – the black people mostly live in poor circumstances and thus can hardly afford the expensive gay party life. Furthermore, it is very difficult for them to come out because of their traditional culture. In clubs like the Bronx, the black people generally look for tourists in the darkrooms, but they expect a financial reward for sexual courtesies.

Cape Town’s population is miscellaneous: Approximately one half of the population are coloured people, one quarter are black and one quarter white people. South Africa has got eleven official languages. Most South Africans speak English as a second language and almost all information signs are in English, too. The second most important language to the white and coloured people is Cape Dutch, which some inhabitants call “farmer’s Dutch”.

Most of the black people still live in so called Townships, which the apartheid regime strictly separated from the white population in former times. When you go from the airport to the city centre you will pass these settlements for kilometres. The conditions for the non-white population has improved a lot since democracy has been established ten years ago, e.g. there is almost everywhere electricity.

Nevertheless, the difference between poor and rich in South Africa is the greatest in the world. By day, these black settlements mostly are safe for tourists and some tourism providers even offer township tours. But by night, you should not go to the settlements or to the city centre, because there often are robberies.

Nevertheless, the city at the Cape is worth a trip: long beaches, a fancy nightlife and a breathtaking nature for cheap prices. Travellers will have no problems with the jetlag, because in summer, there is no time difference between Cape Town and Cologne. And even in winter (May until July) the weather is agreeably warm – even if a jump into the ocean is only recommended to the hard-boiled persons. And if you leave the city, you will be among lions and giraffes within an hour or two.