Follow the Duke and Duchess’s lead and step off the tourist trail in Cape Town
Claire Webb - 15 October 2019
On their recent tour of southern Africa, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex didn’t follow the standard tourist itinerary. The ten-day tour started in Cape Town, South Africa, and was their first as a family, with a four-month-old Archie Mountbatten-Windsor in tow. During that time, Prince Harry also flew to Malawi, Angola and Botswana, and the couple had more than 30 engagements with charities, community initiatives and conservation projects. The royals’ tour also put the spotlight on Cape Town’s vibrant neighbourhoods and marine life – here’s how to follow in their footsteps and explore alternative Cape Town.
GET A TASTE OF CAPE MALAY CULTURE
To mark Heritage Day – a celebration of the country’s cultural and religious diversity – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle paid a visit to Cape Town’s most colourful district, Bo-Kaap (“above the Cape” in Afrikaans), which has steep, cobbled streets of pastel-painted little houses that climb the slopes of Signal Hill. It’s a Cape Malay neighbourhood – a predominately Afrikaans-speaking and Muslim community descended from slaves and labourers from South East Asia and East Africa. Some say that when the freed slaves were finally allowed to buy their houses, the owners painted their homes bright colours to demonstrate their freedom. Bo-Kaap’s oldest building is a history museum, and you can sample fragrant, mild Cape Malay curry in family-run restaurants such as Bo-Kaap Kombuis. While in the area, the royals had a tour of South Africa’s oldest mosque, the 18th-century Auwal Mosque.
VISIT A MUSEUM OF APARTHEID
Harry and Meghan began their tour with a trip to Cape Town’s District Six Museum and its Homecoming Centre, a project that reunites members of a community forcibly relocated during apartheid. In 1966, this neighbourhood was declared “whites only”: 60,000 of its residents were evicted by the government and their homes were destroyed. The powerful museum shows what life was like in District Six before this, and tours are given by former residents.
EXPLORE ARTY WOODSTOCK
While the Duke’s engagements took him further afield, the Duchess stayed in Cape Town and met female technology entrepreneurs in trendy Woodstock. This area used to be full of textile factories that went bust when the Chinese market boomed. Artists moved in, and Woodstock is now famous for its street art, with more than 100 murals. It’s also popular with foodies thanks to places like the Old Biscuit Mill, a former factory with hip cafés and boutiques. Its most famous eatery is the Test Kitchen, named best restaurant in Africa in 2016.
DINE OUT IN A TOWNSHIP
The couple visited Cape Town’s largest township, Khayelitsha, to learn how surf therapy is helping deprived young people. Enterprising locals are also countering “misery tourism” by giving guided tours, and MasterChef South Africa contestant Abigail Mbalo, who grew up here, has opened a gourmet restaurant. Named after the standard township four-room-home, 4Roomed eKasi Culture’s menu includes Xhosainspired dishes such as steamed bread, slowcooked chicken stew and a maize mash called umngqusho – which was one of Nelson Mandela’s childhood favourites.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about South Africa is that you mustn’t go to townships because they’re unsafe,” says Mbalo. “We’re working hard to change people’s expectations. With our cuisine, we want to tell stories about growing up in a neighbourhood like this.
GO SEAL AND SHARK-SPOTTING
Prince Harry, who is Captain General of the Royal Marines, hopped on a boat to a rocky islet, Seal Island, to learn how Cape Town’s marines are combatting the poaching of abalone – a shellfish considered a delicacy in Asia and elsewhere. Seal Island owes its moniker to its Cape fur seals, but most tourists who venture out here are hoping to see the great whites who hunt the seals.
You can get up close by going shark cage-diving, but there are more relaxing ways to discover the Western Cape’s rich marine life. At Boulders Beach, less than an hour’s drive from the city centre, you can swim with dinky African penguins. Further south, off the coast of Hermanus, there’s whale-watching from June to December, and you can even spot whales from the town’s seafront. It’s possible to spot South Africa’s marine “Big Five” on a cruise around the Dyer Island system: sharks, African penguins, whales, seals and dolphins.
GET A TASTE OF CAPE MALAY CULTURE
To mark Heritage Day – a celebration of the country’s cultural and religious diversity – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle paid a visit to Cape Town’s most colourful district, Bo-Kaap (“above the Cape” in Afrikaans), which has steep, cobbled streets of pastel-painted little houses that climb the slopes of Signal Hill. It’s a Cape Malay neighbourhood – a predominately Afrikaans-speaking and Muslim community descended from slaves and labourers from South East Asia and East Africa. Some say that when the freed slaves were finally allowed to buy their houses, the owners painted their homes bright colours to demonstrate their freedom. Bo-Kaap’s oldest building is a history museum, and you can sample fragrant, mild Cape Malay curry in family-run restaurants such as Bo-Kaap Kombuis. While in the area, the royals had a tour of South Africa’s oldest mosque, the 18th-century Auwal Mosque.
VISIT A MUSEUM OF APARTHEID
Harry and Meghan began their tour with a trip to Cape Town’s District Six Museum and its Homecoming Centre, a project that reunites members of a community forcibly relocated during apartheid. In 1966, this neighbourhood was declared “whites only”: 60,000 of its residents were evicted by the government and their homes were destroyed. The powerful museum shows what life was like in District Six before this, and tours are given by former residents.
EXPLORE ARTY WOODSTOCK
While the Duke’s engagements took him further afield, the Duchess stayed in Cape Town and met female technology entrepreneurs in trendy Woodstock. This area used to be full of textile factories that went bust when the Chinese market boomed. Artists moved in, and Woodstock is now famous for its street art, with more than 100 murals. It’s also popular with foodies thanks to places like the Old Biscuit Mill, a former factory with hip cafés and boutiques. Its most famous eatery is the Test Kitchen, named best restaurant in Africa in 2016.
DINE OUT IN A TOWNSHIP
The couple visited Cape Town’s largest township, Khayelitsha, to learn how surf therapy is helping deprived young people. Enterprising locals are also countering “misery tourism” by giving guided tours, and MasterChef South Africa contestant Abigail Mbalo, who grew up here, has opened a gourmet restaurant. Named after the standard township four-room-home, 4Roomed eKasi Culture’s menu includes Xhosainspired dishes such as steamed bread, slowcooked chicken stew and a maize mash called umngqusho – which was one of Nelson Mandela’s childhood favourites.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about South Africa is that you mustn’t go to townships because they’re unsafe,” says Mbalo. “We’re working hard to change people’s expectations. With our cuisine, we want to tell stories about growing up in a neighbourhood like this.
GO SEAL AND SHARK-SPOTTING
Prince Harry, who is Captain General of the Royal Marines, hopped on a boat to a rocky islet, Seal Island, to learn how Cape Town’s marines are combatting the poaching of abalone – a shellfish considered a delicacy in Asia and elsewhere. Seal Island owes its moniker to its Cape fur seals, but most tourists who venture out here are hoping to see the great whites who hunt the seals.
You can get up close by going shark cage-diving, but there are more relaxing ways to discover the Western Cape’s rich marine life. At Boulders Beach, less than an hour’s drive from the city centre, you can swim with dinky African penguins. Further south, off the coast of Hermanus, there’s whale-watching from June to December, and you can even spot whales from the town’s seafront. It’s possible to spot South Africa’s marine “Big Five” on a cruise around the Dyer Island system: sharks, African penguins, whales, seals and dolphins.