"IS IT SAFE?"
The Comfort Of South Africa
“
Is it safe there?” the usual
response when we told people
we were going to South Africa.
Even suggestions of the region
heading for civil war were
received.
There was only one way to find out.
We crated the Transalp 650, booked
our tickets and off we went.
As you approach Cape Town by air
the view is stunning, Table Mountain
towers over the city, a city of over 3
million and in the grip of a severe
drought.
Leaving the airport for the city
centre, the first thing we passed was
a huge shanty town; a town that is
just corrugated iron shacks built right
next to each other over a huge dust
bowl of an area. They would be cold
in winter and very hot in summer.
It was a confronting welcome to the
city.
Our hostel was not far from the
‘Waterfront’, as it’s known, which has
many tourist shops, restaurants, bars
TRAVERSE 89
TRAVERSE 93
and is still a working harbour with
plenty of seals swimming around.
Before exploring the city, we thought
we’d find out where our bike was,
after a couple of phone calls we were
told it was yet to arrive. We tracked
the ship and found that it was on its
way to Bangkok.
Remembering we’d met a guy on
the plane who had given us a phone
number of a shipping agent he knew
in Cape Town, a call and lucky for us
he was able to help. Apparently, the
shipping company in Melbourne had
printed the wrong consignment num-
ber on our paperwork.
With the bike sorted we decided
to catch the ferry to Robben Island
where Nelson Mandela had been
incarcerated. Walking around the
island jail you can’t help but think of
the prisoners who were kept there
and what they were thinking as they
looked across the water towards Cape
Town with Table Mountain in the
background, wondering about their