Camps Bay Neighbourhood - Up To Date

About Cape Town

Cape Town is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the City of Cape Town. It is the provincial capital of the Western Cape, as well as the legislative capital of South Africa, where the National Parliament and many government offices are located.

Cape Town was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company as a victualling (supply) station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and the Far East.  Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa.

The city has a population of 4.5 million. Cape Town has a land area of 2,455 square kilometers with a low population density of 1,425 people per square kilometer. 

Cape Town, the "Mother City", is the oldest city in our country and has a cultural heritage spanning more than 300 years. It also has the top five national attractions in South Africa viz;  the ever present Table Mountain; the V&A Waterfront, a unique shopping and holiday experience on a scenic working harbour; the Cape Town Wine Routes, where some of the world’s best wines are produced; Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, internationally acclaimed as one of the great botanical gardens of the world and Robben Island, the former home of Nelson Mandela.

In one of the most famous moments marking the end of apartheid, on the 11th of February 1990 Nelson Mandela made his first public speech in decades from the balcony of Cape Town City Hall, just hours after being released from prison.
Camps Bay, named after an invalid sailor, Ernst Friedrich von Kamptz, who settled there in 1778, is a trendy village, ten minutes from the centre of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.  Set against the impressive backdrop of the Twelve Apostles mountain range, Camps Bay beach is one of Cape Town’s largest and most beautiful beaches.  Camps Bay restaurants and bars line the palm-tree promenade opposite the beach.  Behind them are the luxury houses of Cape Town’s wealthiest residents. Local life is casual and in the evening residents and holiday makers can be found enjoying sundowners at the many trendy sidewalk cafés on the beachfront.

Cape Town’s own constellation

There are 88 constellations in the sky.  Most were identified and named in antiquity and of these a few were sited and named in the southern hemisphere.  In 1751, Louis Abbe de Caix stayed in Cape Town for a few months.
He set up his telescope in Strand Street and sited 14 new constellations.  To honour his location he called one of these constellations Mons Mensa, Table Mountain.  Till today this is the only constellation in the sky to be named after a geographical feature!

Source: Courtesy of South African Tourism Board

Related website: www.southafrica.net