Reporting From The World's Most Beautiful City!
Yes, we are reporting from Cape Town, the most beautiful city in the world!
A city so fascinating in its very terrain that it will bowl you over. Also, if it’s your first time in South Africa, this is the city that you would love starting your journey from. We knew it was beautiful; The Times has called it so but we were not ready for what we saw. Here, our Editor digs deeper, sharing exclusive photos from Cape Town, unraveling its magic.
“I looked over the landmass that was slowly taking shape as the plane hovered over the Cape Town International Airport. It looked like an arid, brown landscape until the blue of the Atlantic shimmered under the early morning Sun. It took me a while to realise that the flat mountain jutting out to it from the land was the very famous Table Mountain, draped in the infamous clouds that covered its top, the tablecloth.
Half an hour later, as my taxi sped towards Cape Town, groves of Milkwood tree lined the smooth road and Devil’s Peak loomed over the horizon. These pops of colours and natural beauty started to convince me why Cape Town was hailed by The Telegraph and Timeout as Number One in the World and Best City in the World. Yet, I was scouring for reasons why it is also famous as one of the world’s most naturally-beautiful cities.
It dawned on me as a surprise, with a force that I was not ready for. As my taxi wound down the road towards Camps Bay, the stark blue of the Atlantic glinted from just round the corner. Morning mist rolled over the landscape around, giving it a very surreal look, almost like the Avatar sets. The ocean looked like I could touch it if I do so much as stretch my arm out; plush bungalows looked over this giant sheet of blue.
The driver read my mind perhaps, casually telling me that we were driving through one of the costliest real estate belts in the world! Of course.”
BEST VIEWED ON DESKTOP
World's Prettiest City
A while later, I sat in my room’s balcony, watching Aston Martins, Maserattis, Ferraris slow-wheeling on the road beyond with very neat Alfa Romeo Spiders and vintage Porsches, right by the Atlantic. It was a scene out of a city dweller’s coolest fantasy; yet, I could not fathom why it is also hailed as one of the world's most beautiful cities. The magnificence of Cape Town hit me with this view some hours later as I gaped at the 12 Apostles standing guard over a city lashed by the Atlantic's almost-freezing, deep blue water. This was raw nature, absolutely raw.
You Wish You Had A Home Here!
While there are prettier beaches in the world, the morning magic at Cape Town beaches is beyond words. Mist rising off the cold waters of the Atlantic under the rising Sun had me under a spell.
Imagine waking up to this every morning, for these beach bungalows are the stuff beautiful homes are made of. The backdrop is flanked by the 12 Apostles and the Table Mountain. You have to see it all to believe it!
Of Violet Sunsets
If you cannot choose between sunsets and sunrises, Cape Town can leave you all the more baffled! Look at this, and you'd know what I am writing about.
Wild, Wild City
Out of all the South African marine wilderness, the one that accompanied me on a morning kayak routine was this African penguin. Cape Town is a city like that; you might have a critically endangered species swimming right up to you and beyond. And then, there are the whales (I believe the first sight of a Southern White is a memory that won’t fade from me easily), seals, dolphins and more—right at the city’s coastline!
Winds Of Hout Bay
You might just be blown over for real by the wild winds that sweep over the Hout Bay (I was), a fantastic seaside neighbourhood in Cape Town. It’s probably one of the most unbelievably beautiful places around, with jagged mountains edging out from the ocean.
While one can simply take in the views with a side of snoek and chips at what is famous as one of Africa’s greatest seafood restaurants; I preferred the yacht to Seal Island that is teeming with a very healthy population of seals, free and gleefully soaking in the African sun.
Sharks & Surfs Of Muizenberg
While I loved dipping in the 15°C waves of the Atlantic at Clifton, Muizenberg’s False Bay is where surfers and swimmers hop off for a warmer experience. This is a hub for surfers in Cape Town, with its famous colourful beach huts making it to travel postcards.
I had to contend with just warming my toes thought as there was a shark alert on the beach! Yes, that is how wild it gets here.
Bo-Kaap: Hot Samosas & A Lot Of History
I vividly remember a newspaper photo of Nelson Mandela around these houses in Bo-Kaap. Little did I know that the colourful houses brim with rich history. This is a thriving hub of different cultures and countries. The colourful houses are a celebration of freedom for the residents, who were once barred from using any colour other than white. As apartheid lost its grip on South Africa, Bo-Kaap erupted in colours.
Today, it is also where the very flavourful Cape Malay food is; yes, you do get Faeeza’s famous samosas here. Colourful graffiti, artwork, freedom for all and pro-Palestine slogans are painted over most street walls in the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood.
Look! Look Again
Just a handful of places in the world successfully tread the fine line between wild and developed—Cape Town is one of them. What you see in the photo is a silvery-cheeked hornbill, indigenous to East Africa. And there is more.
It’s a haven for wildlife photographers and if you cannot make it to Kruger, Cape Town has plenty to keep you happy. Even your regular attraction like the tourist-lined Table Mountain is a thriving biodiversity hub and a World Heritage Site. So look, look again, there is a lot happening up and close in Cape Town.
Antarctica, Icebergs & The Cape of Storms
What you now know of as the Cape of Good Hope was originally and perhaps rightly named as the Cape of Storms! It is one of the trickiest and most dangerous regions for ships from around the world.
It was renamed to instill hope in the sailors trying to reach the port; that didn’t work though and you can spot wrecks lying surprisingly close to Cape Town’s shoreline as well. Add to it the thrill of Cape Point’s reported, mostly unverified, sightings of icebergs drifting in from Antarctica.
Headlong Into Zebras, Ostriches & Tidals Pools
That is the Table Mountain National Park if I had to sum up into a few words. I must add baboons too, for there are plenty here. When I write ‘headlong’, I do mean that you can run into an ostrich or two and get chased if you step out onto the pathways so don’t!
Take a pair of binoculars along to spot zebras, dassies, otters, caracals, elands and more. The tidal pools in the park are alluring and a sight to behold; there are no lifeguards though. The place is straight off an adventurer’s fantasy and you’d love it if you are into picnics, bonfires, trail running etc.
Camps Bay: An Oceaner’s Fantasy
On every journey that I go on, there are days when I crave the simple pleasures of beautiful horizons, endless ocean, a slow life, an orange-marmalade sandwich, a bit of salad and some beer. Cape Town, especially Camps Bay, is that place where you can do it all. Book yourself a private yacht or hop in with a sailor for a night out like this.
Since it’s Cape Town, you might spot a penguin float by. Or perhaps, the gentle hissing of a Southern Right whale’s blow and the thought of a Great White Shark scaling the water around.
This trip was a part of our Editorial Experiences. Our tours are based on recommendations made by our travel editors, who go out there and see it all.
If handpicked stays, unforgettable culinary experiences, expert-led journeys, outdoor excursions that will take you back to the wild and more are your kind of a trip, get in touch with us at Editorial@KahaaniStudio.com for details.
Also read: The Reason Why You Should Actually Journey to Japan
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Kahaani Studio is a travel & lifestyle publication. It offers experiential itineraries, curated by its editors. We believe in human intelligence, wit and storytelling rather than AI, and our features reflect that; no recommendations are made unless our Editors have experienced it.
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Kahaani Studio is founded by Shikha Gautam, one of India's leading travel journalists; she can often be spotted roaming around with a bunch of cameras and books!
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