This isn't NatGeo Wild

Africa. For many people it conjures up images of desert plains, of wild beasts, and of a great lack of development. Telling those around me I was coming to huge metropolitan city in Africa was like trying to explain how the world was round, not many people grasped the concept. Americans thought I would be surrounded by black Africans on a dirt road with live stock and goods carried on their heads. Which just simply isn’t the case here. Cape Town was “discovered” in 1488 by the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias. Evidence of human activity in Southern Africa dates back over 750,000 years at various stages in human evolution, though this is rarely mentioned in history books written by white Europeans. In 1652, when the East Indian Trading Co. set up shop in Cape Town as a halfway point for passing trading ships to and from Asia, the “population” and “development” exploded. And by population and development I mean the white settlers and their imported laborers. More and more people flocked to this bustling new port city as there was much work to be found and money to be made on the backs of men with dark skin (more on current racial issues later).

Over 350 years of foreign immigration and population growth has created the second largest city in South Africa and one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. With a population just under 3 million, Cape Town boasts 11 official languages, and innumerable separate yet intermingled tribes and nationalities. It really is a city of the world and representative of nations all across Africa. I have a flushing toilet, paved roads, and drinkable tap water. It’s a foreign land but not the bush. I can get Asian take out across the road and there’s a McDonald’s down the street. Hearing the gurgle of a Maserati’s engine on my morning walk is a far cry from the underdeveloped places showcased by National Geographic. No one comes to Cape Town to dwell on its poverty and misfortunes; the elite come here to play on their vacations and party on Long Street, expats come to live out their days in comfort, and serious travelers come here to learn. It’s a world unto its own. Not without its faults, but with much promise for a new world view.

- Mandy