Kramat

In 1716 Sheikh Noorul Mubeen was banished from Indonesia by the colonial Dutch government for being a trouble maker and sent to the Cape where he was imprisoned on Robben Island. He escaped and hid on Table Mountain near the present site of Oudekraal, which is on the coastal road between Camps Bay and Llandudno. When he died, he was buried here, and his burial place became a shrine or kramat for followers of the Islam faith. Eventually this building was built over the grave. Shaded by old gum trees, anyone can visit the kramat, which is just off Victoria Road and quite close to the smart Twelve Apostles Hotel but be aware that it is a holy place of quiet contemplation. There are other graves here too - one belonging to his wife or one of his followers, and the other to Sheikh Sayed Jaffer. I and many other Capetonians are extremely grateful for the presence of these graves because they have prevented greedy property developers from building inappropriate luxury houses and hotels here. In front of the kramat building, enclosed by this rustic wooden fence, a spring of sweet, clear water wells up, and Muslims come from far and wide to collect its water. Springs are particularly significant in the Muslim faith as their holiest place is the Well of Zamzam in Mecca, Saudi Arabia where Abraham's son Ishmael, who was thirsty and crying for water, struck the soil and miraculously, water gushed out. Millions of pilgrims visit this well each year while performing the Hajj in order to drink its water.
See ABC Wednesday for more interpretations of the letter K.

Irma Stern Museum

The Irma Stern Museum in Rosebank - close to the University of Cape Town - is one of Cape Town's hidden gems. The museum and art gallery is actually the house where Irma Stern, one of South Africa's great artists, lived and worked. Curated by the University of Cape Town and the Trustees of the Irma Stern Estate, it contains a wealth of information and works of the famous artist, and also has regular temporary exhibitions which are always most interesting. It also has an unexpected, lovely garden to sit and relax and contemplate art in.
This is my interesting "i" for ABC Wednesday.

Happy Birthday

A hot summer's day today in Cape Town - and someone had the bright idea to go to Kirstenbosch to have a birthday party in the cool, shady garden. Happy Birthday! In the background is the building housing the temporary display, Untamed, that I have visited once before.
For more aitches (!) go to ABC Wednesday.

Grow an indigenous garden

The Garden Centre in Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, on the slopes of Table Mountain, sells only indigenous, South African plants. Luckily there are hundreds to choose from.
For more gees, see ABC Wednesday.

Ferraria and flies

Up on Lion's Head this morning I saw this Ferraria crispa flower - also known as the Spider Iris. Its odd shaped, brown, mottled petals are adapted to look like flesh as the main pollinators are various types of fly - inlcuding Flesh Flies (Sarcophaga haemorrhoidalis) that lay their eggs in rotting flesh and faeces. It smelled a bit like vanilla. The flowers are about 3 cm across and the whole plant about 20 cm high.
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Eyes back!

While in the garden enjoying the glorious sunshine today, I came across this Cape Dwarf Chameleon. It was most suspicious of the camera creeping up behind it. These beautiful little creatures, about 20 cm from nose to tip of tail, only occur in and around Cape Town.
For more eees, see ABC Wednesday.

Zebra

Today is misty and cool - a good day to catch up on some reading. We have this intriguing magazine called fullcircle delivered to our door for free each month, and the cover photo of the July issue was very eye-catching! Talk about being eye-balled by a zebra. The photographer is Lee Slabber who is a local Capetonian.

For more zzzzzs go to ABC Wednesday.

Youngsfield

Youngsfield is a military base in Cape Town in Wynberg. The fields of Youngsfield harbour one of the last remaining fragments of the critically endangered Cape Sand Plain Fynbos – a once extensive vegetation type that covered much of the low-lying areas of the Cape Peninsula before urbanization all but wiped it out. This is a group from the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) who, with the Friends of Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area, are monitioring the plants there. Already approximately 120 indigenous species within about 35 families have been positively identified there.
See ABC Wednesday for more posts. Why? For more posts beginning with y.

Top of Table Mountain

This little steam locomotive can be found in a museum on the top of Table Mountain. It was used for the construction of the dams up there, which were built to supply the growing city of Cape Town with water. This old photo in the museum shows the Woodhead Reservoir under construction with the Black Watch Scottish regiment pipers at the laying of the foundation stone of the dam in 1894.

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and for more tees, go to ABC Wednesday.

Starlings

I'll have that one. Starlings Coffee Shop in Claremont is a super swish little eatery in the heart of Claremont - in an ex-suburban house. The coffee is superb and the food consistently delicious. You can sit inside or outside - just suit yourself.

For more scenery, see ABC Wednesday.

Protea

This pretty unusual protea photographed this morning in perfect autumn weather is the Black-bearded Sugarbush (Protea lepidocarpodendron) that grows on Table Mountain and one or two places in the southwestern Cape but nowhere else. It is abundant on Table Mountain and our boys used to call it the "Hot Chocolate Protea".
The protea is not actually a flower but a flowerhead that consists of lots and lots of flowers pressed tightly together.

For more pees - but no queues yet, go to ABC Wednesday.

Opposition

Today is Freedom Day in South Africa - a public holiday to commemorate the first free and non-racial elections held on 27 April 1994. As I drove past the imposing, Virginia Creeper-clad walls - now in autumnal splendour - of the University of Cape Town (UCT) in the shadow of Devil's Peak, I thought a photo of this august institution would be a good way to honour those who opposed the Apartheid state to win the freedom we take for granted now.
In 1959, the Apartheid government passed the Extension of the University Education Act, despite opposition by UCT staff and students, past and present (and also at other universities like Wits in Johannesburg). This act took away the freedom of universities to choose who to admit, a way of barring black students. The university erected a plaque in 1960, the Latin plaque, to mark the shameful day, and the TB Davie Academic Freedom Lecture was instituted to recall this loss every year. In 1968 academic freedom at UCT was further restricted when the state compelled UCT to overturn its decision to appoint a black academic, Archie Mafeje, to its staff. This second restriction of UCT’s academic freedom is commemorated by the 1968 Latin plaque. During the 1970s and 1980s the state’s grip on academic and personal freedoms tightened even more, producing open resistance by numbers of students and staff and bitter clashes with the police. Since 1990 the state’s overt restrictions on academic freedom at UCT have been withdrawn.
To to out and about in other parts of the world, go to ABC Wednesday.

Nerine

A very welcome misty, rainy morning. This is Nerine sarniensis, one of our beautiful indigenous bulbs, growing on the very top of Table Mountain just near the Mountain Club hut. It grows only on rocky mountain slopes in the southwestern Cape, although its common name is the Guernsey Lily because, for some reason, they were found growing on the Channel Island of Guernsey in the 1650s and legend has it they were washed up when a ship from the Cape, bound for Holland, was wrecked off Guernsey. That legend has been debunked though, and it is probably more likely that some amateur horticulturist wasn't very careful about where he or she planted their exotic bulbs. Oliver Cromwell's Major-General John Lambert is widely credited with being the culprit becuase he was known to have specimens of it in his garden in Wimbledon. He was exiled to the island of Guernsey after the Restoration, and it is thought, took some bulbs with him to while away the time.

Kapok clouds

Kapok clouds that kiss the mountain tops. Looking over the Cape Peninsula this morning from the top Top of Table Mountain - back to Cape Point. Kapok is a Malay word that describes the fine cotton-wool that surrounds the seeds of certain species of cotton and wild rosemary, which is used to stuff cushions and mattresses. Today is the first real day of rain we have had this autumn. I sense the fynbos starting to wake up from its summer sleep. For more Ks see ABC Wednesday.

Just Nuisance

Just Nuisance was a Great Dane who was officially adopted by the South African Navy in the 1940s and given the title of Able Seaman Just Nuisance. He used to accompany the sailors to Cape Town on the train, and see them safely home after a night of drinking and carousing. This life-sized statue of him by Jean Doyle can be found on Jubilee Square in Simon's Town.

For more jolly "j"s, visit ABC Wednesday.

India for the intrepid

As the cricket world cup rages in India, we do a different take on India with a walk up Table Mountain on the India Venster route. I am not really sure about the origin of the name but most agree the India comes from shape of the ravine between the two buttresses - Arrow Buttress and Venster Buttress - that looks like a map of India when viewed from below. The Venster part, so it is said, is from the Afrikaans word venster that means window and say that this window in the photograph is the origin of the name.

It is a interesting walk for the intrepid hiker and can be done without ropes but it is not for the fainthearted and several injuries and deaths have occured on its steeper sections. Its a funny thing, but Table Mountain is regarded by many visitors as a theme park and the mountain retaliates by claiming a few human lives each year.

For more interesting "i"s, see ABC Wednesday.

G is for Garden

Gardens are good for the soul. This is Kirstenbosch, Cape Town's gorgeous green garden on the slopes of Table Mountain. All plants in the garden are indigenous to South Africa. The garden is always filled with children having fun - laughing, tumbling on the grass and most importantly, learning to love nature and the great outdoors.

This is one of the rather grotesque statues by sculptor Dylan Lewis that are on temporary exhibition at the moment.

For more gees see ABC Wednesday.

Fairytale home

This is my sister-in-law in her fairytale house in St James. It a wooden house built by Logo Homes and has the most fantastic view over False Bay.
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Ecclesiastic

Enter through these exciting gates to a world of ecclesiastic edification and education. St Michael and All Angels is a large and impressive church in Observatory designed by the illustrious Sir Herbert Baker. The foundation stone was laid in 1898 and the church consecrated in 1906. The services are "high Church" with incense, majesty and awe, and the music out of this world.
The word Ecclesiastic means "of the church" and the root Ecclesia first meant "general assembly" (of Athenian citizens) ultimately from the Greek work ekkaleo which means "summon". Isn't etymology fascinating?
For other E-posts, go to ABC Wednesday.

A -WHAT!

Norwegian family gave us some Aass Christmas beer. The name is for real and is one of Norway's more famous breweries! Its malty taste is designed for cold Christmas climates - but served chilled on a hot Cape Town day, it was very good.

For more Aaaah - visit ABC Wednesdays.