Cape Town, South Africa

I attended the African Finance Journal conference in Cape Town South Africa this past week (March 18-19, 2010). I flew overnight from Cairo to Cape Town on Tuesday night, arriving in Cape Town on Wednesday, March 17, 2010. I was surprised at how long the trip was. It was almost 8 hours in the air from Cairo to Johannesburg. That African continent is a lot bigger than you think. I looked it up and the straight line distance from Cairo to Cape Town is 4,500 miles. Compare that to 2,500 miles from NYC to LA and you’ll see what I mean.

While looking up that distance, I saw this interesting article about plans to build an unbroken rail link from Cape Town to Cairo. 

I had to change planes in Johannesburg, and on the flight from Jo-burg to Cape Town I sat next to a Cape Town resident. He told me I should surf at Muizenburg and also recommended some other places to go downtown. He said cabs were expensive and that I should think about renting a car.

So after landing in Cape Town I went to Avis and found that their rate for the car was less than 1,000 rand for the entire 4 days, which is about $120. So I decided to rent the car. They gave me the keys and I headed out to a wonderful Volkswagen. Except the steering wheel was on the wrong side! I went back in and asked, “What side of the road do you drive on here?” She paused, and said, “Let me think…well, it is the opposite of America.” I considered handing the keys back, but then decided that Hey! I am Dr. Williams, Professor at the American University in Cairo, accomplished international man of mystery, and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like driving in the left hand lane stop me from seeing the town! So I kept the car. I’m glad I did, because I couldn’t have done so much without it. The first day with it was tough, however, and I almost couldn’t get out of the parking lot, I made a few wrong turns (actually turning into oncoming traffic once) but by Saturday I had it all figured out. It was also a manual, I might add, which I’m used to but I had to work the gears with my left hand. But as I said, by Saturday I felt like a native South African cruising in the left lane.

I started in the wine country at the Spier Hotel. This place was terrific, my room was like my own private condo, the pools were nice, the staff was nice, and the conference was a nice experience. I presented my paper, got a few notable comments, and saw a few presentations that gave me some ideas about possible future finance papers. Here are some pictures from the conference and the area around the hotel:

Also at the hotel site is area where they have cheetahs that have been raised in captivity. Evidently, cheetahs are under some ecological pressure and they have them here as an effort to raise awareness. So for 10 rand you can walk out on the observation deck and take pictures. For 150 rand you can go inside and pet the cheetahs, and I saw people doing this, but I also heard a lot about that tame killer whale recently deciding he wasn’t so tame and killing one of his trainers, so I decided I would keep a fence between me and the cheetahs. I mean, I’ll drive in the wrong lane, but why be reckless?

I left the conference Friday at noon and drove downtown to the Adderley hotel. I still hadn’t had much practice with the car, and it was Friday afternoon traffic, and I had never been in the city before, so I had a difficult time. I finally found the hotel, but it was in the middle of a busy city block and there was nowhere to park. I finally parked about 10 blocks away, asked a nice young girl on the street how I was supposed to pay (you pay a “marshall” who is walking around on the street). I paid for an hour of parking and walked back to the hotel. I got there, checked in, and asked about parking. She gave me directions to the garage, but I didn’t understand, and it was a lot of turns, and all I could think about was I still am not sure which lane to turn into, and there is so much traffic out there…so I was about to say, “Listen, I’ll give you 500 rand (about $70) if you will have someone go get my car and park it for me.” But before I could offer that, I guess she saw the look on my face, and she said “I can have someone go with you if you like.” And I said that would be terrific. God bless ‘em! I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he cheerfully walked on a hot summer afternoon 10 blocks to my car and patiently gave me directions on where to go and which lane to turn into, and got me parked in the garage. I tipped him 50 rand (about $7), which is a good tip in Cairo but maybe I should have given him more. I saw him later, and it turns out his brother tends bar at the hotel on weekends and his sister works the reception desk. I gave his brother a nice tip at the bar. They are excited about the 2010 FIFA World Cup coming up soon; he said the hotel has been sold out for it for over a year. Here are some pictures from the roof of the hotel, where there is a small pool:

And here are some pictures of the downtown area:

I went out on Long Street Friday night, which is Cape Town’s version of Bourbon Street. I had dinner at a café with this picture on the wall:

I then went out to a couple of other places people had told me about, but it really wasn’t my scene. Everyone was much too young, I hate to admit, and although I did meet some nice people, I ended up just coming back to the hotel around midnight.

The next day I had breakfast at Lola’s Café on Long Street and then drove the car to Table Mountain National Park. I had in mind either walking up the mountain or taking the cable car up, but it was very overcast with a thick blanket of fog covering the entire top of the mountain, so there wasn’t much use going up. I did walk around a bit and took some pictures and video:

I say on the video that it is 720 feet up—it is 720 meters! That is 2,300+ feet, so quite a climb. Maybe I’ll go back next year, but I just wasn’t up for it, especially with all the fog.

From there, I decided I would try to find some surf. My plan was to go down to Camp’s Bay and find something there, because I heard that the swell was on the Atlantic side. But I didn’t see any nice beach areas there. I know they are there, I just didn’t know where to find them. But I got past Camps Bay and decided I would just cut across the peninsula to Muizenburg and try to surf there. I found a route to do this on the map and ended up on Chapman’s Peak Road. I didn’t know it, but I saw later in my guidebook this drive described as “one of the most spectacular stretches of coastal road in the world.” It was incredible, and I was lucky to stumble upon it. Just driving the several miles made the entire trip a success for me. The pictures don’t do it justice, you really need to drive this yourself, so for all of my blog followers out there, put this on your list (especially the Itzkowitzs!). Here are some pictures and video of the drive:

Once across the peninsula I headed into Muizenburg, rented a board at Gary’s surf shop, and headed out into the water. It was fabulous! The water was really cold. I had a wet suit on, but still. My feet got so numb I could hardly feel them. I saw one person out in the water without a wet suit, but everyone else had full wetsuits on. I’m not a good enough surfer to do much in this kind of water, it was too deep for me to go way out and catch the first break, so I stayed back and caught a few smaller waves. I rode a few in, nothing too exciting, but it was just great to be out there with a board and taste the salt water. I surfed until I was too exhausted to paddle anymore and then headed in. Here are some pictures and a video I made on the beach:

I went home exhausted but feeling like I had really made the most of the trip. I slept in Sunday, ate at Lola’s again, and then went to the airport and flew home Sunday night, arriving in Cairo at 5AM Monday. Great trip!

I leave for Amsterdam on Sunday. From the bottom of the world to the top in just 7 days! I love it. I often think, what would the 17^th century explorers think if they could see how we hop across the globe now? I doubt they could ever imagine you could be in Cape Town on a Sunday, spend the work week in Cairo, and then spend the next weekend in Amsterdam.