We spent about 10 days in Cape Town last Dec, of which 2 days were largely taken up by air travel time.
We remained in just one location for the entire trip to thoroughly explore the city and more importantly, to allow our old bones to be rested from the long flight time + sleep out any potential jet lag moments.
Travelling with a tired soul gets increasingly frustrating as the days go by and I tend to require a lot more sleep post trip to “recover from a vacation”.
Original Intended Itinerary
This was my initial plans of a very relaxed itinerary.
I call it the original version coz we had to make a lot of changes due to unstable weather conditions when we were there.
The positive outcome was that we did everything we wanted to, and added on a couple more!
Luck plays a really big part in Cape Town. If we did not stay for this long, we would have completely missed visiting the Table Mountain National Park which is the prime reason why anyone should be travelling to Cape Town!
The New Wonder of the World!
| Activity | |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Victoria & Alfred Waterfront shopping and dining all day |
| Day 2 | 1. Cape of Good Hope 2. Cape Point 3. Boulders Beach for Penguins 4. Clifton Beach for Sunset |
| Day 3 | Aquila Safari Game Reserve Tour |
| Day 4 | Constantia Vineyard Tour |
| Day 5 | Robben Island Tour |
| Day 6 | 1. Table Mountain National Park 2. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens |
| Day 7 | 1. Two Oceans Aquarium 2. Drive through City Centre 3. Visit Bo-kaap Historical site |
| Day 8 | West Coast National Park |
| Day 9 | Departure from Cape Town |
Eventual Itinerary
| Activity | |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Victoria & Alfred Waterfront shopping and dining all day |
| Day 2 | 1. Cape of Good Hope 2. Cape Point 3. Boulders Beach for Penguins 4. Chapman's Peak Drive 5. Hout Bay for Sunset by the Beach |
| Day 3 | Aquila Safari Game Reserve Tour |
| Day 4 | Constantia Vineyard Tour |
| Day 5 | Robben Island Tour --(Cancelled due to strong winds causing bad water conditions) Instead: 1. Visit Bo-kaap Historical site 2. Shopping at Canal Walk Shopping Centre |
| Day 6 | Table Mountain National Park -- (Cancelled -- Cable Car closed due to strong winds) Instead: 1. Two Oceans Aquarium 2. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens |
| Day 7 | Table Mountain Cable Car still closed from the gale. Took an hour drive to West Coast National Park Evening: Continue shopping at Canal Walk |
| Day 8 | Table Mountain Cable Car is finally open!! 1.Table Mountain National Park it is! 2. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens again! |
| Day 9 | Departure from Cape Town |
What to expect?
In terms of budgeting, here’s what you can expect to spend:
| Item & Activity | Cost (SGD) |
|---|---|
| Return economy flight on SQ (based on Singaporeair.com for Dec 18) | $1950 per person |
| Portable Wifi (optional for you but there was no discussion on this for me) | $115 |
| Accommodation for 8 days (subjective to your choice of hotel) | $1800 |
| Car Rental from Hertz for 8 days for a Toyota Rav4 | $700 |
| Travel Insurance | $60 per person |
| Safari tour including pick up and drop off from hotel | $225 per person |
| Constantia Vineyard Tour for 2 | $300 |
| Robben Island Tour - Nelson Mandela Prison | $35 per person |
| Boulders Beach Penguins Entrance Fee | $3.50 per person |
| Two Oceans Aquarium Entrance Fee | $15 per person |
| Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens Entrance Fee | $4 per person |
| Table Mountain Cable Way | $36 per person |
| Cash to exchange for spending | App $800 per person |
Food is generally real cheap in Cape Town. Decent restaurants won’t set you back more than SGD$80 a meal.
Average casual lunch outing will be about $20 for the both of us.
The malls accept credit cards and honestly, there was nothing much to shop~
Currency
Source: Xe.com
As you can see, the rand has appreciated against SGD quite a bit since our trip in Dec where we had a pretty good rate sitting slightly above 10.
Cape Town Water Crisis
When we were there, the drought was already quite severe and we definitely felt the impact of it.
According to Wikipedia, the water crisis dated back quite a number of years.
After good rains in 2013 and 2014, the city of Cape Town began experiencing a drought in 2015, the first of three consecutive years of dry winters brought on by the El Niño weather pattern and climate change.[18] Water levels in the city’s dams declined from 71.9 percent in 2014 to 50.1 percent in 2015.[5] Water restrictions, in place at “Level 1” since 2005, were increased to Level 2 on 1 January 2016 and to Level 3 on 1 November 2016.
Significant droughts in other parts of South Africa ended in August 2016 through heavy rain and flooding in the interior of the country,[19] but the drought in the Western Cape remained.
In mid-January 2018, Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille announced that the city would be forced to shut off most of the municipal water supply if conditions do not change. “Day Zero” would be declared when the water level of the city’s major dams reached 13.5%, and Level 7 would be declared, with municipal water supplies largely switched off, and residents relying on 149 water collection points around the city to collect a daily ration of 25 litres of water per person.[30][31] This would further affect Cape Town’s economy, because of employees having “to take time off from work to wait in line for water”.[32] Water supply would be maintained in the city’s CBD, in informal settlements (where water is already collected from central locations) and essential services such as hospitals. At the time of the announcement, Day Zero was projected to take place on 22 April 2018, shortly afterwards revised forward to 12 April.[33][34][35] The Day Zero date is projected based on the fortnightly change in dam storage levels, assuming that this rate will continue unchanged, with no further rainfall or change in water demand.
Source: Wikipedia
The city’s water issues were so evident that this was how the game reserve looked like and those poor animals were not even hanging out anymore.
Overview
I hope this post helps everyone to have a better idea at planning a trip to this amazingly beautiful South African city.
Will be posting the details of the trip in the next few posts~!
-Stay Tuned-
