Monday 25 February 2013

Day 145- Cape Town 25/2/13


So, back in CT again, after two days on the bus. Passed by the sign for St Albans - near Blue Horizon Bay. Sounds better than near Watford! Interestingly, as we passed Nelson Mandela's house again, two Afrikaans ladies (in their 60-70s so presumably from the apartheid era) said what a great man he was. Alongside the N2 road just outside CT there is a huge township which, in the gathering gloom, looked to be everything that such townships are reported to be. Think bad, and then think worse.

Thought today that I would climb the Lion's Head (next to Table Mountain) but it was so hot that I had used over half of my 1.5 litres of water before I was even half way to the top, so decided to retreat! Instead, made a long detour to the foot of the cable car where I had the most delicious butterscotch ice cream on my last visit, and so had another one today, followed by a second just to revive me. No one else seems to sell these, although the "soft twirl" from KFC is an acceptable substitute.

Back in town, visited the Gold Museum - best part was the film illustrating part of the history of gold. I knew of course that the Boer War was caused by the discovery of gold in SA, but did not know that Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of Little Big Horn was caused by the discovery of major gold deposits in the Black Hills of Dakota. These were sacred to the indians (sorry, native Americans) but of course that did not stop the "whites"/ US government from getting at the riches underneath them. Guess who was moved on? The US government has offered to pay for the land but has always been refused as no price could pay for the loss of their ancestral sacred lands.

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