Cape Town will forever remain my favourite city in the world. A lot of it has to do with the fact that the city became my home for 8 years. I left for Cape Town straight after Matric to go and study. I then got my internship and first job there. It was in 2008 when an opportunity presented itself for me to move back to Gauteng. I love Cape Town so much; I jump at any opportunity to travel there. When a friend mentioned Kraak Tafel, I reserved the ticket without thinking twice.
Coming straight from the Podcast with Tebogo Pin-Pin on sustainable travelling. I wanted to be intentional about decreasing my carbon footprint for this trip. This was my contribution to easing the burden on Mother Nature.
Getting to the Cape Town
The prices of Cape Town flights are so sky high, enough for one to consider alternative transport. The price we used to pay for a return trip is what we now pay for a single trip. It’s INSANE. Driving was NOT an option. Catching a bus or train would be a greater and greener option, not to mention cheaper, but I didn’t even have the luxury of time. There are limited comfortable travel options for a Johannesburg to Cape Town trip. So flying was the default option.
I always fly from OR Tambo International, because I have different options to get there. The main drive for my decision is the Gautrain option. I am a big fan of Gautrain because 1. I am not a big fan of driving and 2. I have a bus stop just outside my gate. It’s convenient for me. I hope that I don’t have to point out the obvious, that it is a greener mode of transport. Public transport is always the better option than driving alone in a car. Unfortunately, days leading to my departure date, I was bombarded by SMS’ about power cuts affecting Gautrain travel times. I did not want to risk it, so I drove myself to the airport. Sad, I know, but that is a story for another day.
When I landed in Cape Town, I had to make up for my footprint and consciously decided to use the bus to get to our accommodation in the city centre. I used MyCiTi Bus for the first time because… say it with me…. “Public transport is green”. The process of buying and loading the card was easy and the lady behind the counter explained the process really well. The website is also a great resource for information. The little snag was that we got stuck in traffic on the N2 when I thought buses had an express lane on the highway. When I’m in Cape Town, nothing gets me down, so I rode it out. It just dawned on me that MyCiTi is My CT (my Cape Town and my City).
Finding Eco-Friendly Accommodation
This part of green travelling is the tricky one (even for me) as it’s difficult to check how eco-friendly your accommodation is unless it is explicitly stated before clicking the “reserve now” button. Establishments should make an extra effort to use green features as an extra selling point for people like us who want to book green accommodation. The popular app has a “travel sustainable” link under your chosen options. This helps to assess if an effort is put in to be more eco-friendly. What lies behind that link always leaves me feeling like they can do better, but I guess they need to start somewhere. I will write a separate blog on how to source eco-friendly accommodation and how to be a green guest.
My friend Lelo, booked us an apartment in the city centre – another thing I love about Cape Town, is the city centre has good accommodation spots. I could tell the apartment had some green elements to it – Shem they tried. They had a sticker on the shower door about water preservation. They also had the body wash and shampoo in big dispenser bottles and not the tiny ones. It being an apartment, there was no recycling option, I separated the waste but the lady who came to clean on check-out day threw my recyclables in the main bin. So much for me washing all the recyclables and separating them.
Taking part in Eco-friendly Activities
Another layer of the sustainable travel weekend was the activities we took part in. Kraak Tafel is an event where you enjoy curated meals and bottomless wine with old and new friends. Just breaking bread in the middle of a wheat farm in the Winelands, catching the sunset and the moon rise. There is no better way of experiencing nature. I will write a blog about the experience and all the details you need to know. We had a foodie weekend and enjoyed trying out 6-course tasting menus and wine of course. I had to ditch my Ocsober plan because darling, I was in the Winelands and a girl loves her wine. We visited a wine estate in Stellenbosch and a restaurant situated inside Table Mountain National Park right in front of the Atlantic Ocean. A perfect way to seal off a great weekend.
Hope I’ve inspired you to not just go in blindly next time you plan your holiday.
Are you a sustainable traveller? Or at least try to be? Please share your experiences or comments below.
