Museums / Historical Interest, Cape Town

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The Science Centre at Canal Walk is a godsend for parents of small children looking for entertainment in wet or extremely hot weather!

The centre is fairly small by international standards, but provides a good cross section of popular science exhibits that wll appeal to kids of all ages, as well as their parents.

For my son, the star attraction was a building site sponsored by the construction company Murray and Roberts. They have created the metal shell of a house (complete with scaffolding to access the upper level) and the kids are encouraged to build walls in the spaces between the metal struts using large expanded foam 'bricks' and sections of foam 'mortar'. This comes with all the requisite Bob the Builder paraphernalia: hard hats, safety vests, wheelbarrows, traffic cones, access boom and guard house, traffic lights, cranes and buckets on ropes ... Little Boy Heaven!!!

My son (nearly 4) was kept enthralled for 2 hours - ably assisted by Mum, who was masquerading as Wendy (Bob the Builder's much more competent sidekick and maybe girlfriend to the uninitiated). We had quite a work team of kids going by the time we adjourned for lunch (lots of thumbs ups and assurances that we were "getting the job done"), and after devouring a burger, he then happily returned to play for another 2.5 hours!

(For those looking for a similiar facility in Johannesburg, Murray & Roberts have sponsored a similar set up at the excellent Sci Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown).

There is a good reading corner (sponsored by Exclusive Books) just by the building site, which features educational science books as well as reading material for parents who have reached their boredom threshold but still want to keep a beady eye on their kids! There is also a cafe and a reasonable shop offering a range of all those science-focused gadgets that I can never resist buying as stocking fillers!

Entrance was R28 (April 2010) for kids, and R22 for accompanying adults, with other concessionary rates - an absolute bargain for the entertainment derived!

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If you are interested in natural history, Iziko South African museum is the place to go. The exhibitions arranged on four floors comprise the wide diversity of South African fauna as well as tools and clothes of people past and present.
Probably the most interesting exhibits are those of marine life. The whale well with a 20.5 metre blue whale skeleton visible from all floors is really impressive. You can also listen to the sound made by the humpback whale. Another highlight is the shark world with a 2 metre high model of shark jaws. Other exhibits presenting the multitude of various ses creatures, birds, butterflies and mammals are also very interesting.

If you want to find out more about the museum, its exhibits and admission fees, visit their website.

The South African Museum is a window on the world of natural history, showcasing the bounty of nature, both present and past. Exhibitions and dioramas display hundreds of different species – inhabitants of land, sea or air – enabling visitors to view, under a single roof, creatures as diverse as dinosaurs, mammals, coelacanths, bats or even the fossilized remains of species from 250 million years ago. In the popular Discovery Room, children can discover nature by touch, feel and interaction.

The SA National gallery, although the exhibits are fairly interesting, is extremely small (no more than 5 exhibit rooms). The Museum is free on Sundays and the building itself is quite impressive. I would skip this except as a brief stop on Sunday.

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The Castle, was Built between 1665 and 1676 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to replace an earthen fort constructed by Jan van Riebeeck in 1652, it's the oldest building in the country. Its pentagonal plan, with a diamond-shape bastion at each corner, is typical of the Old Netherlands defense system adopted in the early 17th century.in the shape of a five - pointed star, with walls of stone and earth more than 10 metres high.

Five bastions were built, one at each point of the star,and named after the titles of the Prince of Orange, the Dutch ruler at the time of the settlement i.e Buren, Leerdam, Oranje, Nassau and Catzenellenbogen.

As added protection, the whole fortification was surrounded by a moat, and the sea nearly washed up against its walls. The castle served as both the VOC headquarters and the official governor's residence, and still houses the regional headquarters of the National Defence Force. Despite its bellicose origins, no shot has ever been fired from its ramparts, except ceremonially.

You can wander around on your own or join one of the guided tours at no extra cost. Also worth seeing is the excellent William Fehr Collection. Housed in the governor's residence, it consists of antiques, artifacts, and paintings of early Cape Town and South African history. Conservationists should go upstairs to see John Thomas Baine's The Greatest Hunt in Africa, celebrating a "hunt" in honor of Prince Alfred, when nearly 30,000 animals were driven together and slaughtered.

Dungeons were built below sea level.No attack has ever been launched against the Castle.

Today the Castle is the headquarters of the Western Cape Military Command.It also houses a military and a maritime museum which may be viewed.
Cost: R25 for adults and R10 children & students
Open: Weekdays 9-3:30, Sat. 9-1; tours at 11, noon, and 2

The ammo was stored here, but the water came through the walls and contaminated it rendering it useless. They then decided to digg a hole in the floor, but due to all the underground water, it pushed water up into the storage cell instead of draining it away.

Before someone could be executed, they had to confess to their sin. First off was the torture chamber where they had three methods of torture after which they were taken to the black cell for 24 hours. If they did not confess, they were sent to Robben Eiland to serve their sentence there.

The pool was built by Willem van der Stel, but during the british reign, they filled it with sand and used the area as a parade ground. Lady Anne Barnard made schetches of the pool and it was used to re-instate the pool again. The only thing that remains from the original pool is the steps leading into the water.