Whenever I travel, I'm always on the lookout for dyeing and printing, and such. The first thing I saw in the Company Gardens, in the middle of Cape Town was a tree called a wild plum, also called the Kaffir Plum, which is traditionally used for dyeing. Its botanical name is harpephyllum caffrum and I thought the dyeing part might have been the fruit. I've since found that the bark gives a mauve or pink colour. That's quite unusual and I'd love one in my garden! But I've also discovered that it's something of a weed in Australia and many councils have it listed as a problem species, so I won't be adding it any time soon. I guess I could go walking in the bush with my identification sheet - no-one would mind if I stripped some bark off a tree that they don't want there in the first place, would they?
I also had a close encounter with a squirrel in the Gardens.
I know a lot of people think they're cute but I regard squirrels as an interesting variety of rat. I sat down on a seat to watch the world go by and this squirrel clearly saw it as invitation to join me. I don't just mean sit and beg.
I mean, "I love you, I'd like to sit next to you."
Then it was, "May I just sit in your lap?" (No photo of this moment, strange to say.) I was busy saying, "No, you may not! Scat! Boo!" It was quite convinced I didn't really mean it, so I had to get up and walk away. Mobbed by a squirrel, such is my life.
One thing I loved about Cape Town was the remnants of Dutch architecture. You have to remember to look up. We're so used to seeing modern towers and there are plenty of those too. But, hiding in plain sight, there's also this:
and these:
I wanted to take lots more photos of the details but they're on a busy street and it was hard enough to take just these. They seemed so striking, squished in between modern tower blocks.
The other building I loved in Cape Town was the Castle of Good Hope.
It was built by the Dutch in the 1660s and 70s, so it's the oldest building in Cape Town. It reminded me of the forts of Vauban that we saw in France (like the Citadelle de Belfort - sorry, link is in French) and, to a lesser extent, the Henry VIII Device forts we saw in the UK. There is something about ancient enclosed spaces like these - they have an atmosphere, almost a tangible feel of history. There are several small museums within the castle precinct, but photography was generally not permitted.
Of course, I have photos of stones in the wall and cobblestones and such, which I won't inflict on anyone!
In the upper photo of the Castle, you can just see Table Mountain, covered in cloud. It was such a looming presence over the city, it was impossible to unaware it, wherever you went. Along with Devil's Peak and Lions Head, it encloses and towers over the centre of the city. It's about the same height as Mt Victoria in the Blue Mountains, so it's not that tall by world standards, but it's like building a city at the bottom of the Grose Valley, looking up Banks Wall, which is roughly the same height. The terrain reminded me a lot of the Blue Mountains and, without spending a lot of time on checking, I think their formation was probably similar - sedimentary rocks uplifted and weathered. It makes for spectacular scenery!
Enough about Cape Town, let's go see the animals!
On my free day in Cape Town, I was lucky enough to see an exhibition at the South African National Gallery called Print in the Spotlight: Impressions of Rorke's Drift. This had nothing to do with the famous battle; it referred to an almost equally famous artists' colony. More properly known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre, it operated for only twenty years, from the early 60s, but produced some of South Africa's most influential artists. Mostly working in black and white linocut, these black South Africans were able to comment on South African society at a time when few other options were available. The prints were incredibly powerful and moving. Photography wasn't permitted but you can get the idea if you look at the work of my favourite of the artists, John Muafangejo.
I also lucked on an exhibition of ishweshwe cloth (also called isishweshwe and shweshwe) at the Slave House, now a gallery space. This cotton cloth, traditionally dyed in indigo, was brought to Africa by French missionaries and became common throughout Africa. Again, photographs weren't permitted, so click this link to see some images. If you know anything about the history of cloth printing, you'll know this story already.
Once upon a time, in India, there were some clever people printing cotton fabrics, which came to be known as chintzes. These fabrics were imported into Europe and became hugely popular. They were so popular that the French King tried to have them banned to protect the French textile industry, on the pretext of Indian shipping having brought disease to Marseilles. The English also banned the wearing of it, for the same reason.
In the 1730s and 40s, a couple of Frenchmen had sent home samples of printing at each stage, basically pinching the Indian process. The resourceful burgers of Mulhouse, now in eastern France but in those days an independent entity, decided to set up shop themselves. In 1745, they set up their own print works, and France followed suit a decade later. Block printing began and then printing with roller presses, and the patterns moved away from the large chintz patterns to smaller repeat patterns. Printworks set up all over Europe.
Pretty soon, everyone was wearing this very useful hard-wearing cloth.
Right at the same time, indigo was beginning to be imported into Europe in a big way. Before this period, it was rare and expensive, but now, with the spread of colonialism, it flooded into Europe in a big way and got way cheaper. The result was blaudruck or blue cloth - the ubiquitous clothing of the working class throughout Europe. (Incidentally, this is the source of the equally ubiquitous denim jeans.) It was this cheap cloth that the missionaries brought to Africa - a kind of round trip since indigo dyeing had always been important in West Africa. (This information, and the images, are from my visit to the Musee de l'Impression sur Etoffes de Mulhouse back in 2008.)
That's the roots of ishweshwe. Pretty soon, Africans were printing their own versions of the cloth and it became part of their traditional culture. Actually, pretty much the same thing happened in other parts of the world, where missionaries went. For example, missionaries also brought the blaudruck to the South Pacific, which developed into the "Mother Hubbard" dresses.
The difference with ishweshwe is that it became part of the social events of the time. White women began wearing the traditional cloth and international designers began to use ishweshwe cloth in their designs, as a way of showing solidarity with black Africans under apartheid. Now, modern South African designers are wowing the world with the cloth too.
I had a brilliant time in the exhibition. I spent so much time there that the museum guard came to see what I was doing. "You must really like this!", he said. Yes, yes I did.
And yes, like others before me, I've eaten great food, seen wonderful things and had an all round fantastic time.
Don't panic, I'm not going to bore you to tears with stories and photos. I'll just share a few things that strike me anew as I work my way through the (literally) thousands of photos I took.
First up, I took these photos of the flower market in Cape Town because, as you all know, I'm fascinated with colour, especially the colours Nature creates.
Who'd have thought there were so many different proteas?
