Day 6 South Africa - Cape Town Museums

We slept in today - a whole half hour later than usual and were ready to head out just after 9 AM. It was a cool, cloudy morning when we set off on foot with map in hand.

Our first stop was the District Six Museum. District Six was established as a mixed community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants. In 1966 it was declared a white area under the Group Areas Act of 1950, and by 1982, the life of the community was over. 

More than 60,000 people were forcibly removed to barren outlying areas aptly known as the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers. The museum shared the memories of the District Six experience and the experience of the forced removals.

Next, we walked over to the Iziko Slave Lodge, a building dedicated to educating people about the terrible history of slavery in South Africa. The building was later remodeled and used as government offices, then again as the Supreme Court.

By then it had begun to rain, just lightly. We had to be at our hotel by noon so we made our way back by way of the Company Gardens, home to many tall trees and beautiful architecture like the South African Parliament Buildings.

At noon we left for the airport and our 2 hour flight to Johannesburg. Enroute I sat next to a nice couple from Joburg. They were thinking of emigrating to Canada and asked which was better – Toronto or Vancouver. I laughed and said ‘Neither!’ but gave them advice on the differences between the 2 very different parts of the country.


The flight was smooth, the luggage arrived too, and we were picked up by the owner of Malikana Guesthouse nearby. What a nice change from a big hotel. We enjoyed a delicious traditional barbeque, called a ‘braai’.  

We have an early morning so we’ve all hit the hay early as well.