Accommodation

ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR CAPE TOWN’S TENT TOWN

Katja Hamilton

 * Soccer World Cup tent towns: On the beach in France, and on the sidewalk in the USA

Take a lush plot of land in Klipheuwel, 17km from Durbanville, add a big screen for live transmission of the 2010 FIFAWorld Cup games, and mix in 600 passionate football fans from around the world and you have a recipe for an experience of a lifetime.

With 72 eight-man tents, a few beers, live music and an open night sky with the smell of potjiekos wafting around the campsite at dinnertime and you’re in for a cosmopolitan backpackers’ party of the year – South African style – right on your doorstep.

Offering a unique football and camping experience, tent town which will be up and running from June 3 to July 14, is a self-sustainable village comprising among other things, a commercial centre with an internet café, shop and takeaway services, First Aid facilities, a laundry, parking facilities and a central marquee.

And with so many nationalities on site, it will be the world united, brothers in arms (or maybe not if there are opposing factions watching a high-profile match) as visitors looking for affordable accommodation during the World Cup venture off the beaten track and explore what Cape Town has to offer. Thanks to an office and tourism centre on site they can make their tour-group bookings or hop on a free shuttle services running to and from Blouberg, Durbanville and Cape Town.

Oh to be a fly on the wall (or should that be tent?) at such an event. It reminds me of when I stayed in a Buddhist monastery in Kathmandu for two weeks with visitors from all four corners of the globe. The experience of sharing a small room and temple space with so many nationalities: Australians, Welsh, English, Germans – there was such a mix of cultures united by a common purpose. So yes, if only to be a fly at Cape Town’s tent town when it is launched, to observe the final dish that is served up from the cultural mix.

“Tent towns are common the world over during Fifa World Cups. In Germany in particular they were seen everywhere – on soccer fields, pavements and beaches, some hosting 200 000 tourists at a time,” says Des Kieswetter, founder of Cape Town’s tent town.

“A friend and I arrived in Germany during the 2006 World Cup and we didn’t know where to stay. While we were sitting at a pub having a beer someone said if we needed accommodation we could hire and pitch a tent in a field close by and it would be ours for as long as we wanted. We did.

“Like me, most of the people there never had a chance to buy a ticket to a game to see the football live, but we used the tent town as a base and enjoyed the games at the fan parks. Just being there and seeing what goes on and how it’s run was amazing. The atmosphere never stopped from morning until night – it was great.”

Back in South Africa Des was inspired to recreate his experience in Germany for SA’s World Cup, and he started the ball rolling. Owning the plot of land in Klipheuwel, he knows he is sitting on a goldmine. His business plan approved, he has since been in negotiations with the City of Cape Town, tour operators from Brazil, America, Canada, England and Australia who are arranging group bookings, and he has sent tenders outs to suppliers of mobile showers, flush toilets, tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows and blankets (which will be donated to charity at the end of the event).

He also embarked on a mass recruitment drive to employ temporary staff during the World Cup to keep the grounds clean, to book trips and shuttles, to staff the internet café, shop and laundry and to organize and attend to the day-to-day activities of the camp site.

Eight months later and bookings have been slow but, says Des, he is not giving up despite many challenges he has had including some tour groups having trouble securing visas with SA’s Home Affairs (Cameroons have had this problem apparently) and neighbours insisting on time curfews for live band performances due to the loud sound levels.

But the show will go on, says Des as the demand for accommodation from international visitors  is “growing thick and fast” the closer we get to the kickoff date.

In the meantime, the i’s and the t’s on the itinerary for the lineup of entertainment are being dotted and crossed.

In addition to the live screenings of the World Cup football games, there will be themed dinners each night of the week, if not a spitbraai, then either a potjie, steak and fish. There will be live entertainment on non-match days: music on a Friday and Saturday night and karaoke on Wednesday. There will also be pub quizzes and SA’s top comedians are also set to take to the stage (names will be confirmed).

And the cherry on the top: a five-a-side inter-camp football tournament. “The camp will be divided into zones and each of the zones will have their turn at competing against one another,” says Des.

Judging from the large music festivals we’ve had in the Western Cape before, Ramfest and Rocking the Daisies springing immediately to mind, I cannot but foresee this experience being a huge success. “We hope visitors who come here have a wonderful time and that they come back to Cape Town for more of what this beautiful country has to offer,” adds Des. “We want the World Cup to be a success and if it is it will be a feather in our cap.”
For further inquiries on Cape Town’s tent town visit http://www.capeentertainments.com/

A WARM TOWNSHIP WELCOME

Katja Hamilton

The first thing you’ll notice about Vicky Ntozini is her warm handshake, her big wide smile and her hearty laugh that makes you feel right at home. We’re sitting in her lounge on the top floor of her double-storey house drinking tea.

On the one wall is an array of business awards and newspaper cuttings with Vicky’s face beaming from the corners. Some articles are written in Dutch, some in German.

There’s the sound of children’s laughter coming from the street. I look out from Vicky’s verandah and see row upon row of shacks.

It’s laundry day in Site C Khayelitsha and clean, colourful clothes on washing lines catch the wind while a group of women crafters chat cheerfully on the street.

It’s a good day for Vicky because very soon a tour-group operator will drive by, dropping off more guests to her home, made famous as Vicky’s B&B.

“During summertime the whole street is full of tourists who have come to learn about what is going on in the townships,” says a beaming Vicky.

Endorsed by Cape Town Tourism and on the go for 10 years Vicky’s B&B has become a brand name in Khayelitsha and has attracted people from all over the world.

“I started in late 1998 with two rooms downstairs and from last year I have been expanding the place bit by bit preparing myself for the World Cup. Today I’ve got six rooms.”

When you walk into Vicky’s B&B, you’ll feel a great sense of belonging.

“This is my home that I’m sharing with my visitors and the minute they walk through the door they are no longer my visitors but are part of my family.”

And guests feel so comfortable they take quite easily to preparing food with Vicky at mealtimes. Donning aprons and dusting flour off their hands, it’s not an uncommon sight to see guests rolling dough for vetkoek first thing in the morning.

“And when guests return home they know how to make the dough and how to bake their own vetkoek,” says Vicky.

Suppertimes are just as interactive, involving the whole family – Vicky’s four children and husband.

“I love chakalaka, which is a mixture of vegetables: peas, beans, onions, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes. I add my secret spices. Then we make mielie pap and a tomato and onion relish with some garlic and spices – that’s the meal for the day.

 “We want our guests to prepare all the traditional African dishes. We give them chakalaka, ginger beer, steam bread – they enjoy all these things,” jokes Vicky.

But it’s not just Vicky’s gregarious personality that will tug at your heartstrings, it’s also her hospitality and the time she spends with each of her guests, personally introducing them to her neighbours and her community.

“When guests check in we’ll tell them the history of Vicky’s bed and breakfast and of the area they’re in, then I’ll walk with them through the township and introduce them to different people. We also go to the schools and to the Khayelitsha craft market, and on Sundays I’ll take guests to church.

“We also have donkey-cart rides in the evenings that take visitors to ‘Khayelitsha Table Mountain’ a lookout point where you can see the whole township.”

It’s understandable that some guests arrive at Vicky’s B&B in trepidation.

“They come here not knowing what to expect, what the reaction of the people will be or whether they will be welcomed. Some visitors don’t even have an idea of what a township looks like,” says Vicky.

“But the minute they step inside the door, then they say ‘ok I wanna stay here’, then they stay for a night. In the morning they will say that visiting the township was the highlight of their whole tour.”