Getting Rid Of Negativity on Cape Town.

It has been a long time since I have read an article on South Africa that isn't exaggerating about the crime seen there, however the much loved Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear presenter) recently wrote a fantastic - and emphasis on fantastic - column about Johannesburg, calling it the city for softies. The article describes Jo'burg as a beautiful and calming place, perfect for a holiday and perfectly safe. And I plan to do the same for Cape Town. Here's link for article - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jeremy_clarkson/article5821586.ece

I was born in Johannesburg and lived there for a few months until my parents decided to move to South Africa's beautiful capital city Cape Town. I hope you will find me a reliable source, since I'm not writing from a holiday experience but from 10 years experience.

So let's get to the point, everyone is making out South Africa is crime ridden and no-one's safe. Well this is absolute nonsense, and is usually spread around the world from idiots who have been there a couple times and obviously visited the wrong places. The two places that especially get picked on are Jo'burg and Cape Town. Since I only lived in Jo'burg as a new born of course I won't be writing about it, but I will be writing about the beautiful Cape Town. My family and I lived there for 10 years and I can honestly say the only crime I came across was the attempted theft of our car. I'll explain why exactly our car was stolen, the car had the same frame as the minibus taxi's you get in South Africa (for the poorer population who cant afford to have a private taxi so share with the public to go to their destination for a much cheaper rate) and the police said it was expected to happen sooner or later because it happens often. It wasn't even much of a crime or didn't feel like one anyway, they stole the car without us waking up to the alarm - a family of deep sleepers has it's disadvantages, I also slept through the millennium - they then got the car started and drove it approximately 10 minutes away from our house and left it. We got the car back soon after. I know, criminals with a lot of spare time and pointless motives.

I know some of you reading this will be thinking, ''I don't care what a sixteen year old has to say Cape Town is dangerous.'' Well, I am not saying it's not! Cape Town can be dangerous but so are most other capital cities. You would be stupid to say it's not so stop singling out one of the greatest place. Of course, its going to be dangerous, but the danger is almost always only in the rough areas where you will get money hungry people trying to rip off naive tourists with their stolen or fake goods, the odd pick pocketer, and occasional violence or murder. Like any other normal country, no ones perfect. So if you want my advice, its simple -stay away from the rough areas! If you're not sure how to find out about where they are, look online, read blogs, ask the hotels or the friendly public when you're there.

Now I will show you throw my eyes and memories of how amazingly beautiful Cape Town is. The wonderful city is full of laid back happy people who are always taking advantage of what Cape Town has to offer, so its not surprise that they are so happy. The people always give off a good atmosphere and welcome everyone to have fun here.



The beaches maintain lovely white soft sand, clear water and lots of beach bums either catching a sun tan or their dinner, building sandcastles, searching for the adored man selling ice-creams when you need to be cooled down, and of course swimming, bodyboarding and surfing! The beaches are also used for parties and get together's at night. Camps Bay Beach is one of the most beautiful in my eyes, it is a long stretched relaxed and fun beach. It has a beach side road filled with wonderful cafes and interesting shops.

The mountains are brilliant for hikes, and once you reach the top you get the most amazing views that stay with you forever. One of the most famous mountains you'll find in Cape Town is Table Mountain, called this because of the flat top. It is a great climb and at the top the view overlooks the city. Table mountain offers amazing views, hiking, rock climbing and caving. Not you're every day usual activities!

Another beautiful place to go and chill out is the Kirstenbosch National Botanical gardens. Kirstenbosch grows only indigenous South African plants. The gardens cover 528 hectares and keeps everything very natural and forest-like. The gardens proudly show collections of South African plants. Walking around the very large garden and enjoying the exquisite plants is just one of the many things going on, gigs take place, amazing restaurants, a butterfly house, shopping (including environmental friendly gifts and sculptures), conference centre seating over 300 people, garden fairs and much more. It's a great place for families, couples and friends.

Robben Island is an island in Table Bay. Of course, everyone should go to this island filled with painful memories which is now open to the public to view. It is only a short and enjoyable ride on a ferry to visit the island. Robben Island used to be a prison, a former prisoner was Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa but a hero in the worlds eyes. Another president is the incumbent South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, alongside many other political prisoners. The tour is very heart breaking, and you get to visit Mandela's prison cell but all in all it is a great and memorable tour. I highly recommend this if you ever plan to visit South Africa, here's the wikipedia link for more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robben_Island

There is so much more to see and visit in Cape Town which are all brilliant experiences so to everyone who has some thing bad about this great place you clearly have as much intelligence and sense as Kerry Katona.

Thanks for reading, Maxine.