Cape Town arrival

Well the rain wasn't lashing down quite like it was yesterday in London, but the rain and the clouds did conspire to conceal Cape Town's most prominent feature - Table Mountain. Not until we reached our hotel did the clouds clear enough for the mountain to appear in it's astonishing glory. Hopefully I will come up with some better photos. This one is from our hotel room when we first arrived.



Topping out at 1,083 meters it is a little higher than the parking lot at Mount Seymour, however as you can see (or maybe imagine) has a dramatic effect on the city and I was surprised that the elevation was not greater.

Having flown overnight there was no agenda for the day and while most of the group headed off to the waterfront area, six of us decided to find a restaurant within walking distance. This despite the safety warnings: Don't walk down side streets, don't walk home in the dark, take a taxi, but only a certain taxi company, don't have any valuables on your person, stay in large groups. Just the drive from the airport and seeing the shanty town dwellings of the 'townships' was enough to suggest there are large numbers of people living in difficult conditions.

If we passed by any dangerous people on our walk to the restaurant, we didn't notice them. Our hotel had recommended a place called Mother Africa when we asked about an eatery with more traditional African food. It was located not too far away, on Long Street. Now our guide had said DO NOT GO to Long Street, but the hotel said, no problem in the daylight but take a taxi home (but only the right taxi company). Hmmm. En route we passed by several decent looking places and finding one that offered local game we decided to pass on Mother Africa and opt for Arnold's. We certainly had our choice of African food. Here is a bit of the menu.


Who knew that warthog ribs or crocodile tajine would be so tasty? Well, we do now. So was the Springbok, the Kudu and the Gemsbok. It was all really good. Although the top of the menu reads "a taste of the wild side" all of these animals are farmed.


But I ask you: who could let their first African meal pass by without dessert? not us!


Well sated, this meal for 6, with wine was a little over CDN$100 once converted from Rand to dollars. In two days time we will be dining at one of Cape Town's finer restaurants where lunch for just two is going to exceed that total by a wide margin. While I expect the venue and the plating to be exceptional I am hoping we will be served some game so as to compare the taste with what we experienced tonight. We shall see.