It is hard to think of another city in Africa that has quite as much to delight children as South Africa’s Cape Town.
Firstly, there is that strangely flat-topped mountain in the middle of the city that is never out of sight. It forms part of the remarkable Table Mountain National Park, with mountain walks and trails, forests, gardens and a revolving cable car that whisks you to the top for spectacular 360-degree views.
Secondly, there is the Cape Peninsula to explore, all within easy travelling distance by car, bicycle or tour bus. The peninsula extends 75km south from the city into the Atlantic Ocean, and you will find glorious beaches some with wild, windswept sands like Noordhoek on the west coast, and some with great surfing, particularly in Muizenberg in False Bay in the south and Hout Bay on the west coast. There are also small, rocky coves like St James in the south, ideally protected for young swimmers.
Then there are animals – an enormous array of fascinating creatures from ostriches to bonteboks (a type of antelope) to rare tortoises. And Capetonians themselves create a kaleidoscope of culture and history; visit a township to explore Xhosa heritage, wander the Malay Bo-Kaap area of the city, find out about the San people at the !Khwa ttu cultural centre just north of Cape Town or take a short boat trip to Robben Island for a slice of Nelson Mandela’s life.
Creatures great and small
There are plenty of seals sunning themselves at Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred Waterfront , but inside the waterfront’s Two Oceans Aquarium you can meet 88 other denizens of the deep, such as ragged-tooth sharks. Get up scarily close and personal at an 11m by 4m acrylic window and watch the sharks being fed each afternoon at 3 pm. There are also penguins, a frog exhibit, a kelp forest and a children’s centre featuring puppet shows and art activities…
Read more: BBC
