Cape Town, South Africa

January 28^th, 2025

January 28^th? That means we only have one more month on Sojourn! These past 2 months have just gone by way too quickly.

I looked out of the window early this morning to check that we were no longer at sea, and were on our way to dock in Cape Town. I was so excited to see this view:

Every other time we had been in Cape Town we had looked directly into the cruise terminal building. This was certainly an upgrade. I went back to sleep happy that we had made it to Cape Town.

When I got up, I looked out again to make sure the mountain was still there. Horrors, it wasn’t. It had been replaced with the cruise terminal. Oh well, at least we are in Cape Town/

After doing some shopping we met up with a friend and went to Groot Constantia for lunch.

Groot Constantia Wine Farm is South Africa’s first wine farm and was established in 1685. The winery is still going strong and it is in a lovely setting, with gracious historic buildings and a great restaurant.

After lunch we returned to the ship to get ready for tonight’s special Grand Africa entertainment.

First we had dinner on the ship in a specially decorated Colonnade.

And the we went to the Artscape Theater by coach.

We were greeted by Zulu Warriors

And then treated to amazing desserts and drinks.

There was also great music.

Then we entered the auditorium for the main event, the Ndlovu Youth Choir.

A friend had posted a link to them singing Nessun Dorma, and it was so beautiful, so I was very excited to hear them perform live.

They did not disappoint. Their singing, dancing and energy were absolutely wonderful, and it was a fantastic concert.

Nessun Dorma was among the songs they performed, and I got goosebumps. Their Bohemian Rhapsody would make Freddie Mercury proud. Of course they sang Toto’s Africa, and I thought it was better than Toto’s version. You could really feel the “rains down in Africa”, as their music reverberated around the auditorium. However, my favorite was when they sang Miriam Makeba’s Pata Pata at the end. The less inhibited of us in the audience got up and danced, and it was an incredible experience.

All in all, I think this was the perfect celebration for our Grand Africa Voyage. I just wish I had known in advance that they would be serving desserts. I think I would have forgone dinner in the Colonnade to make sure I could do justice to the amazing food.

On our way back to the ship we saw Table Mountain all lit up and looking spectacular. Unfortunately we really couldn’t take a photo that did it justice. We will just have to rely on our memories.

I always say that any day in Cape Town is a good day, but this one was exceptional.