Mother City Matters – Water Activities

Cape Town, a city nestled by the sea is magnificent. Table Mountain is a majestic presence overlooking the city – protective and proud. It was named as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in 2012.

As promised on Saturday I am starting a series of guides to Cape Town called Mother City Matters. Each guide will focus on different activities to be experienced in Ikapa (Xhosa word for Cape Town). I will group the activities into various themes for convenience but there will be overlap.

In this guide I’ll be focusing on Water Activities:

1. Swimming

The beaches in Cape Town are beautiful. You can even choose your temperature! For the more adventurous chill seekers out there the beaches on the Atlantic seaboard will get your blood pumping and thumping. Clifton Beach and Camps Bay Beach are two are my childhood staples. Die wind waai (The wind blows) but it is totally worth it for spectacular sunsets. The warmer beaches on the False Bay coastline include Muizenberg, Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town.

2. Surfing

Surf’s Up Dude! Cape Town has some epic surfing spots. If you’re a young renegade wanting to literally test the waters or an experienced sea dog – there’s a place for you.  Surfer’s Corner at Muizenberg is a popular spot for beginners. The more brave and advanced can try Scarborough Beach and Llandudno. Here is a great article about where to surf in the Mother City.

3. Canoeing and Kayaking

This is a great way to experience the beautiful fauna and flora of Cape Town. Be it ocean, river or lagoon that you explore – this experience offers a new perspective of a place that is filled with natural wonder. This article offers in depth information on these particular water sports.

So whether it’s swimming, surfing, canoeing or kayaking – the water awaits!

Mother City Matters

Here in Cape Town – Spring is in full force. The jasmine smells sweet and the air hangs hot. There is much to do in the Mother City – a smorgasbord of activity awaits.

In celebration of The Big Blog Exchange 2014 and the intrepid traveller who will be visiting our magnificent shores, I have put together a colourful and diverse guide to Kaapstad (Afrikaans word for Cape Town). I will be running this guide under themes over the coming days. Expect to hear about hot live music spots, great gourmet delights and outdoor wonder worlds!

 

 

Unmute – A Dance Theatre Review

Zama Sonjica and Andile Vellem in motion. Photo Credit: Dex Goodman

A stark church hall was the setting. Arriving, I chose to sit in the front row. Four silent dancers greeted me – a woman (Nadine McKenzie)  in a wheelchair was foregrounded. From the moment the music started, the energy was explosive – there was an urgency as these mobile messengers flew above any physical limitation. The words that sprung to mind afterwards were dialoguing about disability through dance. Andile Vellem’s choreography shows great thought and sensitivity – always questioning the boxes society puts people with disabilities in.

This group of differently abled dancers was reclaiming personal power by taking all preconceived notions and perceptions that audience members arrived with and smashing them to pieces.

The Unmute Cast. Photo Credit: Dex Goodman

There is a particularly vivid segment when Andile, who is deaf, tries to speak using sign language. Another dancer (Themba Mbuli) behind him keeps preventing the flow of language by physically stopping his hands and arms from moving. This as a metaphor for the silencing of people with disabilities – all disabilities – threw me into turmoil.

My soul was unsettled. Not because I was being confronted by other peoples’ disabilities but by my own. For far too long I have played it safe – not wanting to ‘rock the boat’ so to speak. Living with a disability but remaining silent. In everyday activities it remains hidden. If you look hard enough you can see it but most people don’t. When I explore activities that I love like dancing, playing the guitar or swimming it becomes more apparent. So I tread two worlds. Knowing who I am and knowing what the world would like to see or not see.

So when four amazing differently abled dancers bring these two worlds together I am inspired and hopeful. For the first time I see my potential reflected in their brilliance and ability.

Perhaps this is the crux of the performance that left me spellbound. That being disabled does not mean stay still and don’t move. It means dance your heart out! That skill, energy, agility and physicality are not confined to the able bodied. They’re in every single one of us.

Unmute can been seen at The Artscape Heritage Festival from 24-27 September 2014.

Didi

Didi at Truth Coffee

I storied and connected with Didintle Ntsie. She was the South African winner in the inaugural Big Blog Exchange. Didi travelled to Belgium in June 2013.

We met in the busy and bustling design quarter of Cape Town at Truth Coffee in Buitenkant Street. The weather was hot and sultry. Truth is a legendary Capetonian. The theme is steampunk. The design is industrial. The coffee is top class. In a leather bound booth we sipped juice.

Photo Credit: Shanna Jones

Didi offered fantastic and insightful advice regarding travelling and blogging. Coming from a journalistic background, I tend to craft my words with precision and it takes time. For me it is quality over quantity. She emphasised the importance of blogging everyday as people from around the world are following your journey. They will want regular updates. So that’s my goal – one post per day. Whether I win or not blogging each day will create a good discipline within me.

“Take photos of everyone and everything”, Didi encouraged me. I grinned – this I can do for sure! When I went to India in 2001, analogue cameras were still in fashion. Over the course of three months I managed to shoot 24 spools of 36 pictures. That’s 864 photographs in total!

Didi’s enthusiasm and approach to life is infectious. I asked her to tell me how the Big Blog Exchange has influenced her life and present action. She relayed her commitment to travel outside of South Africa at least once a year: expanding her horizons and falling forever in love with this country again and again. It takes leaving a place to really appreciate its beauty and diversity. And South Africa is wonderfully diverse.

Please take time to read all about Didi’s Big Blog Adventure to Belgium over here. It is beautifully written. She had amazing adventures such as hot air ballooning and jivin’ to jazz in Ghent.

Ulysses

 

I have been ruminating about travel over the past few days. The excitement and anticipation of potential travel adventures have set my soul stirring. I have turned to the writers, poets, novelists and lyricists alike, to find the expression of all I’m holding inside. For today I have settled on a bona fide classic –Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

This extract frames a time when travel was voyages across the oceans and adventures were epic and grand battles for survival.

 

‘I cannot rest from travel: I will drink

Life to the lees: All times I have enjoyed

Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when

Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honoured of them all;’

 

 

Ubuntu and The Big Blog Exchange 2014

 

I am excited to announce that I am a Finalist in The Big Blog Exchange 2014. I have made it into the Top 100 as well as finishing at Number 1 in my region of Africa and Middle East. Here is the list of The Top 100 Finalists. Congratulations to everyone.

The winners will be revealed on Tuesday 16 September 2014. It is a fantastic concept for a competition. A genuine ethos of ‘Changing the world using the power of blogs’ underpins all that this project is about. 2013 saw the first Big Blog Exchange take place and it was a roaring success. 16 bloggers from around the world exchanged lives and blogs for 10 days.

I am so thrilled by the possibility of stepping into another person’s physical country as well as their online home. Negotiating these two spaces side by side would be amazing. It is through really listening to one another that we truly see the humanity in each other. This leads to genuine change. This is Ubuntu.

Photo Credit: Daniel Hewson

   ‘’…Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.’’ – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

This word of Nguni origin encapsulates what I feel The Big Blog Exchange Team from Hostelling International is achieving through this endeavor. Ubuntu is a positive ideology that strives for change in a collaborative manner. Read more about this uniquely African philosophy here.

Hostelling International

This blog began as a competition entry into The Big Blog Exchange 2014. I began Seeking Story on Friday 15 August. It has been a remarkable journey since then. I have watched my blog climb the ranks to the Number 1 position in my region where it has been since Tuesday 26 August. This has been exciting. Even more exciting has been the interaction with other bloggers participating in the competition and learning more about last year’s exchange.

I want to tell you more about the organisation behind The Big Blog Exchange. Hostelling International was started in 1909 by Richard Schirrmann. This post sheds light on the fascinating history.

The philosophy underpinning this organisation is important and relevant to travellers everywhere.

“Youth hostels are so much more than just a place to stay; they are the perfect base to discover new places, learn about different cultures and make lifelong friendships.” – Edith Arnoult-Brill – HI President

Youth hostels are therefore a springboard towards experiencing these 3 things:

Discovering New Places

Travel is totally about walking into the world and finding out who we all are. On my first overseas trip I went to England. Misty London skies greeted me as the plane swirled down towards Heathrow Airport and I was hooked. Yet travel is local as much as it is grand expeditions over the oceans. From walking around my neighbourhood to exploring other areas of Cape Town I love being a tourist in my own town. Armed with my pen, notebook and camera – I can wander for hours.

The Door to Adventure is open

 

Learning About Different Cultures

It is in our diversity that we are united. Learning a new language and tasting a different culinary combination are two ways to open the mind. Talking to people in their mother tongue is always rewarding. I travelled to India as a 16 year old school student and it was thrilling. The cultures represented in colour, smells, textures and sounds were sense – sational. I loved immersing myself in a place so rich in story.

Local is Lekker

Making Lifelong Friendships

The world is but a global village. Extraordinary friendships are built with people who begin as travel buddies. The adventures and escapades you share cement a lifelong connection. Meeting because you both missed the bus or sat next to each other on the train. These friends have seen you at your most stressed (missing your passport) and your most joyful – on top of the Eiffel Tower. You connect with the everyday people of the country who cross your path as well as fellow travellers.

Staying in youth hostels is a sure way to discover more, immerse yourself in new cultures and make great friends.

Talking Travel

 

Rockville 2069: A Review

Rockville 2069

Rockville 2069 had its World Premiere on Saturday 30 August 2014 at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town. To be part of this momentous occasion was a privilege indeed. The creator, composer and librettist behind this epic rock musical masterpiece is Johnny Ray. He worked in collaboration with Bruno Paiola.

To write and publish a story is no mean feat. To write a script, compose a 22 song album, stage a music extravaganza complete with live orchestra and rock band is simply incredible.

A 100sqm daylight LED screen, 3D animation and 12 digital cameras complement the futuristic time space (2069) that serves as the setting. The opening images of the natural environment help to foreground the central theme of the story – the destruction of nature and where this leaves humanity. Music in this production is the catalyst for change. The philosophy of peace and love of the legendary Woodstock 1969 festival flows throughout.

The Drummers – Photo Credit: Jesse Kramer

As Joni Mitchell herself so eloquently put it in her own ode to Woodstock:

‘We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden’

For me, these words echo the message that is at the centre of the Rockville story. We need to pay serious attention to the ongoing destruction of the planet and come together as humanity to save our earth.

The singing and the dance routines burst with energy, passion and soul. The characters have a likeness to the musical icons who embodied the counterculture movement.

Opening Scene – Photo Credit: Jesse Kramer

Pappa played by Joseph Clark is part of the hippie group. He has the insight of Bob Dylan, the rough and rouge energy of Bruce Springsteen and the fierce commitment to change that Bono is all about. Mamma (Vicky Jayne) has the quintessential earth spirit of a woman like musician and activist Joan Baez. Also leading the cast are Danielle (Josie Piers) and Johnny Reb (Stephan Van Huyssteen). It’s an ‘opposites attract’ scenario. Danielle is the peace loving flower power child of Mamma and Pappa. Johnny Reb is the rocker.

Supporting the lead quartet are a cast of characters as rich and varied as the signature psychedelic colours that symbolise the revolution. The drummers are the reggae maestros keeping the beat and rhythm. The rockers are Johnny Reb’s crew – living life with electric passion. The hippies are joyful and positive earth spirits.

I think the core message that Rockville offers is important.  We need to look after the environment and restore our relationship with each other. If all we do is frantically tap for the latest app, we forget to look up and smell the flowers. A person born at Woodstock would have just turned 45. As we race towards the future, failing to remember, Rockville reminds us who we are and where we have been.

I repeat:

We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden’

Rockville 2069 is on at the Artscape Opera House from 29 August to 7 September 2014.

For More Information And To Book Tickets: Rockville 2069 

Photo Credit: Keri Lee Dobbie