My final day

Thursday 22nd April 2010

I had today by myself and decided to make the most of my final day. I had lunch in the cafe in Company's Gardens and afterwards I visited places I didn't get round to seeing when I was last here, the Slave Lodge and the South African Museum, the latter being a natural history museum.

The Slave lodge was once used to store slaves, hence its name. It is now a museum remembering such times when the Dutch East India Company set up a refreshment base in Cape Town for ships travelling around the cape between India and Europe. This is how Cape Town was founded. Once the company discovered the resources and possibilities of the area, millions of slaves were brought in from Madagascar, India and Indonesia in the 18th Century. This event began the centuries of racial oppression that would follow.

The museum also houses the round table around which William Wilberforce and others discussed and penned the bill to end slavery in 1808. There is also a good Mandela exhibition on at the moment.

After this much time in the country I do not feel as though I am in a foreign country anymore, but walking through Company's gardens again reminds me of how different everything felt all those weeks ago when I first stepped into the park.

I was again reminded of the diversity and dangers of South Africa as I walked through the park. I was approached by an old, white Jewish lady who commented on squirrels drinking water cleverly from a fountain before launching into a tirade against the black majority Government here. I was on guard but after a short time I decided that she was no danger to me, just eccentric. She claimed that the Government are not interested in whites, only requiring their intelligence and expertise. She also complained about the Government's failure to provide what the country needs, and while I agreed with her on this point I was keen for her to go away, which after about 10 minutes she did.

The South African Museum was also interesting. Before reaching the expected stuffed animals there was a section concerning African diseases and medicine. In a surreal manner, this morphed into the animal sections with cabinets containing both creatures and medical equipment. For instance, there was a rabbit wearing an oxygen mask and a llama with a bandaged head. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos. As much as I tried, I couldn't rationalise this transition but I soon found normal exhibits more conducive to a natural history museum.

I returned to Ashanti to scribble all of this down! In the evening Callum arrived with one of our favoured Cape Town cabbies Charmaine and we went to Long St. We met Karen and Kelly (who is staying at Ashanti too) and went to Mama Africa, a restaurant on Long St followed by our old haunt Neighbourhood. It was a nice night, I kept my memory and Callum took it easy! He told me that things have quietened down a bit now and only two people are staying with the Bagleys.