Chapter 12 – Audio Script

Hi everyone. Today I would like to tell you about a city I know and love, Cape Town. Do you know where Cape Town is? It’s in South Africa, and it’s very far away from my home in Kitchener. In fact, it took me 17 hours to fly there. I couldn’t book a direct flight, so I had to take 2 different planes.

I went to Cape Town in the year 2000, and I stayed there for four months. The seasons are opposite, so although it was summer here in Canada, it was winter in South Africa. The weather was a little cold, but not cold enough for snow like our winters. I travelled there with my best friend from high school. My friend found a job selling gold and silver jewelry, and I worked at a travel agency. I talked to South Africans about their plans to live or work in Canada. The people in South Africa were very friendly and open, and they enjoyed learning about Canadian culture, too.

Now I want to tell you about three interesting things people can do when they visit Cape Town.

First of all, I want to tell you about the animals. Some people enjoy the beautiful wine tours in Cape Town, but I preferred the animal tours. There are so many wild animals there! The first time I went for a car ride in Cape Town, I saw zebras out my window. It was amazing to see wild zebras right in the city.  Another kind of animal that I saw was baboons. Baboons are a kind of monkey with long, sharp teeth. Baboons live outside of the city. We also spotted some of those huge birds called ostriches. Have you ever seen an ostrich? I think they are very funny looking!

Cape Town is famous for its water animals, too. For example, many tourists like to see great white sharks when they are visiting. I actually didn’t see any sharks, but did you know that South Africa also has a different kind of water animal?  Beach penguins live near Cape Town. It’s true! Thousands of penguins live in the sand on the beaches, and they are actually very friendly.

The second thing to see in Cape Town is the waterfront. It’s a place with many restaurants and boutique stores, and of course there are beautiful views of the water. The waterfront has more than 450 stores, and it is popular with both South Africans and tourists. As for restaurants, there are about 80 restaurants at the waterfront to choose from. Of course, there are fast food joints like KFC and McDonalds, but they also have fancy restaurants. You can find traditional South African foods in these fancier restaurants, such as seafood dishes, grilled beef or lamb, and ostrich meat served with mango.

The third thing to see in Cape Town is Table Mountain. It’s more than 1000 meters tall, and more than 3000 meters long. This long mountain next to Cape Town is flat on top, just like a table. When I visited Table Mountain, I didn’t want to hike or climb up 1000 meters, so I took a cable car, or a gondola. It’s like a big car that has a cable over it, and the car is pulled up the mountain with this cable. It had a beautiful view of the city and of the Atlantic Ocean.

Next let me share some of the differences between Cape Town and Kitchener.

First, Kitchener much smaller than Cape Town. There were about 3 million people in Cape Town when I lived there, and, in addition, Cape Town is a capital city. In Canada we have one capital city, Ottawa, but South Africa has three capitals, and Cape Town is one of them.  Kitchener, on the other hand, is smaller, and it is not a capital city.

And second, Kitchener is more expensive than Cape Town. Most things cost about double, or twice as much in Kitchener. For example, it costs about $5 to eat a meal at McDonalds in Cape Town, but it’s about $10 in Kitchener. Food is more expensive in Kitchener, and so is the rent. If you rent a small apartment in Kitchener, it costs about $1,400 a month. In Cape Town, that same apartment costs about $800 a month. The cheaper prices in Cape Town makes it easier for Canadians to visit.

One thing that Kitchener and Cape Town have in common is that they are both multi-cultural, and you can hear people speaking many languages on the streets and in the stores. In Kitchener, I hear a lot of English, German, Portuguese, and Chinese. In Cape Town, most people speak English as a second language, and their first language is Xhosa (“CO-sa”) or Afrikaans (“a-fri-KONS”). I love that both Cape Town and Kitchener are multicultural.

So, in conclusion, Cape Town was a very fun place to visit because of the different cultures and African animals you can see there.

Thank you for listening. I hope you have a chance to visit the city I know and love, Cape Town, South Africa.