50 Interesting Cape Town South Africa Facts

(Last Updated On: April 16, 2021)

Cape Town is one of the beautiful and oldest city in South Africa with so many facts. Known for its harbor, natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and well-known landmarks facts Cape Town, like Table Mountain and Cape Point, Cape Town is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, a mix of people, culture, and kitchen. In addition to being the capital city of South Africa, many more things need to be known in Cape Town. Here are some interesting facts about Cape Town:

Interesting Cape Town South Africa Facts

Cape Town is locally affectionately called “The Mother City.” The reasons are many: the first metropolitan city to launch a fuel hub for east-coast vessels as the first metropolis in East Africa and

Table Mountain is considered the most prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town. Cape Town (about 3 km) from edge to edge by the impressive style gates, Cape Town is one of the most notable tourist attractions in the city. Table Mountain forms part of Table Mountain National Park.

Franchise Wine Tram takes you on a journey where you can leave the stress of modern life and your car behind as facts about Cape Town. An open-sided tram and open-air tram-bus, a journey through the hole-rolling vineyards; Stopping at some of South Africa’s oldest and most prominent wine estates.

Cape Town is sometimes called the ‘Temple of the Sea’; Mainly, because the Cape Town port is considered one of the busiest shipping corridors in the world, which must be one of the greatest Cape Town South Africa facts.

The Zeitz MoCAA – Museum of Contemporary Art Africa is the largest art museum in Africa. It is also the largest museum in the world; Displays African Art and its Diaspora. A must-see the museum with 100 gallery spaces covering 6,000 square meters on nine floors as some of the facts about Cape Town.

Cape Town has been blessed with the largest number of blue flag beaches in South Africa. The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEU) issues a certificate called Blue Flag in beaches and maritime settings across Europe, Africa, Oceania, North America, South America, and Asia, is not it one of the interesting facts about Cape Town?.

Cool Running Tobogan Family Park is the only toboggan track in Africa. These toboggans do not run over conventional snow and ice, instead, they run on a stainless steel track.

The Floral Kingdom is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What makes it amazing is that it is the smallest and richest recognized flower region on the planet. There are 9600 species of plants in the state, of which about 70% of species cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Some of the species are Honey Butch, Peninsula Snapdragon, Good Hope Satin Flower, etc.

This backyard is praised as one of many best botanical gardens on the planet. The cliffs within the backyard tower 1085 meters above Kirstenbosch. The peninsula formation is known for the 600meter thick slab of exhausting, coarse, pebbly quartz sandstone. The botanical backyard was born in 1903 when Harold Pearson got here to South Africa.

Are you one of many adrenaline-loving vacationers who would quite drive to their vacation spot as an alternative of hopping on a airplane? Cape Town won’t disappoint you. Chapman’s Peak Drive, Victoria Road and Boyes Drive are simply three of the handfuls of scenic roads that wind throughout the mountains and amaze you with unforgettable views.

Boulders Beach seashore one in every of many is a sheltered seashore made up of inlets between granite boulders, that is the place the identify comes from. It is located within the Cape peninsula, close to Simons town. Boulders seashore is a well-liked vacationer attraction due to the colony of African penguins that settled there in 1982. This seashore additionally kinds a part of the Table Mountain National Park.

If you’re not on the lookout for a spot to visit on trip, however a spot to plan a destination marriage ceremony, you merely can’t go mistaken with Cape Town. Offering an amazing variety of excellent marriage ceremony venues, from ballrooms to seashores, Cape Town has a world class marriage ceremony business. And don’t neglect, after saying I do, you’ll be able to go on one of many well-known Cape Town wedding cruises, with is one of the fun facts about Cape Town.

Another good purpose why you would possibly wish to guide low-cost flights to Cape Town on your subsequent trip is that right here yow will discover the Zeitz MOCAA- Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. Not solely is that this the most important artwork museum in Africa, but in addition on the planet, housing a minimum of 100 galleries and 9 flooring of excellent artwork items as Cape Town South Africa facts.

The V&A waterfront was established in 1988, it’s named after Prince Alfred, second son of Queen Victoria who visited the cape colony harbour in 1860 as a 16-year-old, he was the first-ever royal member of the family to return see the colonials. The waterfront boasts over 450 retailers, 12 Hotels and 5 Museums. At the waterfront, yow will discover the newly upgraded Cape Town Cruise Terminal, the place on common about 107 million individuals go to the V&A monthly. This will increase to over 2.5 million individuals over the busy summer time holidays.

Are you on the lookout for a vacation spot with heat, Mediterranean climate, however you’re uninterested in the identical Greek and Italian vacations? Then you’ll love Cape Town, as a result of the local weather is precisely the identical. With a protracted summer time season spanning from November to March, Cape Town is simply the getaway you want when temperatures in your nation drop under freezing level.

With the announcement that South Africa was the host for the 2010 FIFA world cup, the Cape Town Stadium was constructed and is immediately generally known as an iconic landmark. The stadium had the seating capability for 64,100 through the 2010 World cup however was later decreased to 55,000 as the highest tier was changed by occasion suites and clubrooms. Today the stadium has the surroundings to cater for something from arts to sports activities, music and milestone occasions.

Are you on the lookout for an unconventional exercise to attempt on trip? Why not attempt tobogganing? In Cape Town, you’ll be able to go on the most important toboggan observe in Africa, which reaches as much as 40 km/hour and has 17 corners, S-bends and a tunnel.

The Mother City was the primary metropolis exterior of Europe to get blue flag standing due to its High-quality water, incredible amenities security and cleanliness. There are roughly 3.5 million those that dwell in Cape Town, this makes it South Africa’s Second Most populated metropolis. This can also be the place you discover probably the most Trophy houses and are value greater than 20 Million Rand which is present in Camps Bay, among so many interesting facts about Cape Town.

Every yr, The New York Times select a notable metropolis as one of the best place to go to. In 2014, the winner was Cape Town. According to the publication, Cape Town is once more reinventing itself, and the world is invited to its renaissance, stating that it presents an irresistible mixture between dynamic nightlife, progressive architectural designs and serene pure points of interest.

Thunder City is an plane working and upkeep firm based mostly on the Cape Town worldwide airport owned by Mike Beachy. It is understood for proudly owning the most important civilian assortment of former navy jet plane in your complete world. After the deadly accident in 2009 during which the English Electric Lighting crashed at an airshow, the corporate stopped flying operations. They additionally improve older fashions of the Aerospatiale Puma Helicopter with trendy avionics.

If you’re keen on wine, Cape Town will greet you with a pleasing shock: the open-sided Franschhoek Wine Tram can take you on the lengthy wine tasting tour, the place you’ll be able to discover a few of the oldest and most refined vineyards within the area as one of the short fun facts about Cape Town.

The Cape Wheel is a huge remark wheel that gives breathtaking 360diploma panoramic views of Cape Town. When you’re on the wheel you’ll be able to even see Robben Island. The 30 totally enclosed, air-conditioned cabins will take you 40 meters above the bottom in security and luxury. The Cape wheel was first generally known as the wheel of excellence. The wheel was constructed in Germany in 2007, it has additionally travelled around the globe visiting Belgium twice, Germany twice and Sweden from 2009 – 2010. The Wheel that stands 15meters excessive practically took every week to assemble in Cape Town, which is one of the awe inspiring Cape Town South Africa facts.

Cape Town International Airport was named Africa’s Leading Airport for the second yr operating and welcomed over 5.Three million passengers in 2018, a rise of three.7% on the earlier yr.

Cape Town is without doubt one of the most breath-taking cities on the planet with four universities and quite a lot of language colleges. International college students make up 10% of the coed inhabitants making it a various, culturally full of life and vibrant place to check.

Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a outstanding landmark overlooking the Mother City; the flat plateau is roughly Three kilometres backward and forward. The mountain is usually lined orographic clouds fashioned when a south-easterly wind is blowing up the mountain slopes. On cloudy days in case you look intently you will note an individual lined by a blanket of cloud. This can also be probably the most romantic locations {couples} get engaged.

In the 1980s, two pairs of African penguins appeared close to Cape Town. Now, in the same spot there’s the one penguin colony in Africa. Counting a number of 1000’s of African penguins (also called Jackass or Black-footed penguins), the colony is the one one in every of its sort on the continent.

Robben Island wasn’t all the time used as a jail however earlier years within the 1840s the island was used to deal with sufferers with leprosy additionally the mentally and chronically unwell. Even after the inhabitant sufferers with leprosy, Robben Island additionally was used as a fortified coaching and defence station by the British throughout World War 2.

Cape Town was initially referred to as the “Cape of Storms” till the identify modified to “Cape of Good Hope”.

Cape Town is without doubt one of the youngest areas on the planet with nearly half the inhabitants beneath 25, among so many interesting facts about Cape Town.

Afrikaans is probably the most spoken language. Xhosa and English are the second and third languages. There are 11 official languages in South Africa, as one of the Cape Town facts for kids.

Robben Island is about 7km from the Cape Town coast and is the place Nelson Mandela served most of his 27-year sentence together with a whole bunch of different political detainees. It’s now a UNESCO world heritage website with a incredible onsite museum onsite with excursions obtainable. Former inmates present a part of the excursions, providing a direct perception into what it was actually like through the wrestle towards apartheid.

Blue Flag is a certificates issued by the Foundation for Environmental Education to acknowledge {that a} metropolis meets the very best high quality dwelling requirements, respects and inhabitants and develops sustainable environmental actions. Cape Town was the primary non-European metropolis to obtain the extremely prestigious award in 2016, because of its clear seashores and trendy amenities.

12km off the coast of Cape Town is the brutal Robben Island – well-known for incarcerating many political prisoners through the years, together with Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years right here. However, earlier than functioning as a jail, Robben Island housed leprosy sufferers voluntarily and was additionally utilized by the British as a coaching station throughout World War II, which is one of the memorable Cape Town South Africa facts.

Cape Town is understood for fairly a number of data and if this is without doubt one of the stuff you need out of your locations, you won’t remorse coming right here. For instance, in case you select to go to the Cape Point Nature Reserve, you’ll hear that that is Africa’s most South-Western Point. Apart from that Cape Point Nature Reserve is a incredible vacation spot by itself, providing spectacular views of Table Mountain, functioning lighthouses and endangered wildlife, which is one of the quirky facts about Cape Town.

he world’s first coronary heart transplant occurred in Cape Town in 1967 and was carried out by the South African physician Christiaan Barnard, which is one of the short fun facts about Cape Town.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens was named “International Garden of the Year” by the International Garden Tourism Awards Body in 2015 and has a treetop cover walkway referred to as the “Boomslang”, formally named the Most Beautiful Object in South Africa in 2015.

There are over 2000 vineyards and wine estates within the Western Cape and South African wine is standard everywhere in the world, which is one of the great Cape Town South Africa facts.

This Historical monument and Provincial heritage website was constructed by the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) between 1666 and 1679 and is now the oldest current colonial constructing in South Africa and is taken into account the best-preserved instance of a 17th-century architectural construction in your complete world. Today the fortress is used because the native headquarters for the South African Army for the Western Cape and homes the Castle Military Museum and ceremonial amenities for the standard cape regiments.

On December 3, 1967, Cape Town witnessed the world’s first heart transplant, when surgeon Christian Bernard, 53, underwent surgery on a South African gynecologist named Lewis Waskanski; He was replaced by a 25-year-old woman named Dennis Darwall who was seriously injured in a car accident, which is one of the pathetic Cape Town South Africa facts.

Ever heard of the Mother City Queer Project (MCQP)? This is one of the best dress-to-theme parties in South Africa. Not only that, this could be one of the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual, Ezra and Queer (LGBTQ) annual events held in Cape Town. It takes place every December and attracts thousands of people around the world.

Cape Town’s famous landmark, Castle of Good Hope, once had a sea view. Built between 1666 and 1679, it is the oldest colonial building in South Africa. In earlier times, the structure once served as a castle and served as a welcoming port for sailors traveling the Cape. The entrance to the water’s edge on the star-shaped building was its door leading to the pinging (which leads to the passageway) through the door. Today, the fort is present as the official base of the Cape Regiments of the South African Defense Force,

Between Table Mountain and Signal Hill, the head of a lion, a mountain in Cape Town. The story goes back to the 17th century when the peak was known by the Dutchman Leuven Kop (head of a lion), and the signal hill was called Lauwyn’s Start (the tail of a lion), resembling a crouching lion or sphincter, which is one of the Cape Town tourism facts.

Mother City earned some great awards in its kitty at 26. The prestigious New York Times voted Cape Town as “the best place to go” for this year. It was also featured as the second on the list of top vacation destinations for travel and leisure. The New York Times describes the city as “a place to meditate on freedom and then creative life.”

The legendary explorer, Bartholomew Dias named the Cape Peninsula the ‘Storm Cape.’ In 7, a severe storm hit the shoreline and destroyed 4 ships. It later became known as the Cape of Good Hope because it promised a sea route to sea colonial powers in the east, which is one of the interesting facts about Cape Town.

Robben Island is a small island in Table Bay, 12 km off the coast of Cape Town. It is best known for its political prisoners. Even Nelson Mandela was imprisoned here for 27 years. In addition, the island was used for leprosy as well as for people with mental and chronic illnesses. Initially, the lepers were free to leave the island. However, with the passage of the Leprosy Suppression Act in 1892, the movement of lepers was limited. During World War II, the British used Robben Island as a center of training and defense.

African penguins, known as jackass penguins and black-legged penguins, are found only on the southwestern coast of Africa. In the early 7’s, only two breeding pairs of African penguins appeared on the mainland near Cape Town and never left. Today, it’s home to around 1,000 penguins with swarms around, with so many interesting Cape Town South Africa facts.

Located on the Atlantic coast, the Victoria and Alfred (V&A) waterfront in Cape Town is a point where the city meets the sea. The V&A Waterfront has more than 450 retail outlets, fine dining restaurants, Cape Wheel of Excellence, Two Ocean Aquariums, and various markets. They draw more than 20 million visitors each year.

The Cape Point Nature Reserve, also known as Cape Point, gives you the opportunity to stand in the most southwestern part of Africa, where the Bengigala Stream meets the Aguilar Stream, as one of the Cape Town facts for kids.

Adderley Street has some interesting backgrounds after the city center and the commercial center. According to recorded history, the road was made entirely of wooden blocks. In the early 1900s, the road became so busy that city planners piled it with wood to try to drown out the noise from countless wagons, cars, and horse racks. We know that the road we know today was built to give it up to the terrace, which is one of the quirky facts about Cape Town.

South Africa’s wine industry is famous around the world. Just outside Cape Town, one of the world’s longest wine routes has the oldest wine industry. The route runs for 820km and ends in Port Elizabeth. In 1685, the Governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel founded the historic Groot Constantia Wine Estate. The first Cape wine was produced in 1659.

Despite being one of the youngest languages in the world, Africans are known as the most widely spoken language in the Western Cape, which is one of the amazing Cape Town South Africa facts.

The city seems to be a fountain of youth. In the national census report of 20, the results indicated that about half (1.2%) of the Western Cape’s population was under the age of 20.

When South Easter blows the table mountain, it is combined with cool air at the top, which causes condensation. Soon, dense fog is created, what locals call “tablecloths”, it’s a spectacular sight and it’s worth it for us to witness, which is one of the Cape Town tourism facts.

Cape Town Cycle Travel, an annual cycle race, typically 109 km (68 miles) long, individually timed cycle race; About 35,000 cyclists are participating with so many interesting facts about Cape Town.

The city of Cape Town is sheltered with a number of amazing roads, wandering around the mountains and offering stunning ocean views. Chapman’s Peak Drive, Signal Hill Drive, Victoria Road, Boyce Drive, Simon Town to Cape Point, some of the drives that you can see the glory of Cape Town.