An Integrated Encounter in Capetown
Approaching Cape Town international airport around 10.30am on
November 5, 2007 is the vastest sprawling terrain of manicured green land I had
ever seen when the aero plane was descending in preparation for landing. I
wondered what it could be because it’s a complete departure from the bird’s eye
view of all the cultivated lands which I have been seeing so far! Few hours
later after settling down at EHL Guest house owned and managed by an
enterprising Nigerian lady where we lodged, the picture was clearer to me when
we embarked on wine tasting binge at Spier
and Neethlingshof Wine Estates
situated in the inspiring wine fields of Cape Town! Agreed no two cities can
ever be the same, yet in terms of building structures, city layout, new cities
may be built to take after one another. However, the uniqueness of the natural
land-forms, sheltered valley of rolling hills, foresight of the early Dutch
settlers and subsequent colonialists to incorporate the natural contours and
features in the planning of Cape Town and the suburbs have certainly made this
unique part of the earth one of the many wondrous creations of God beautified
by man in the contemporary world.
Index Asset Management Limited (Index Asset) a derivative wealth
management firm from the ongoing reforms in the Nigerian financial market and
First Guarantee Pension Limited (FGPL) at the instance of NOVARE of South
Africa were invited to a closed conference in Cape Town. Index Asset
established in 2006 is registered with Securities & Exchange Commission
poised to creatively grow wealth of clients while FGPL is one of the 23
licensed pension fund administrators in Nigeria. The main thrust of the 2-day
meeting was to jointly review likely areas of collaboration and this exposed
the Nigerian delegation to some tourism attractions in one of the most
beautiful cities in the world. Success of the encounter is owned to the
sincerity of all the parties involved and more importantly Professor Vesper
Owei (a native of Bayelsa-State in Nigeria) of Cape Town University of
Technology who initiated and anchored the tripartite financial institutions. It
is one outing that confirms increasing interest of first economies in the
Nigerian financial market.
NOVARE, founded
in 2000 is a Cape Town based actuaries and Consultants, the biggest and the
best investment consulting firm in South Africa. NOVARE depicts the meaning of
its name “Let it be New”. This name reflects the nature and spirit of the
business whose focus is to engineer and implement innovative liability-driven
investment solutions that enable their wide range of clients to meet specific
investment objectives. NOVARE currently has 19 institutional clients which
include South African Local Authorities Pension Fund, Soweto Pension Fund,
government of Botswana etc. with R13billion worth of assets under advice and
R3billion investments out of which R1.6billion are in alternative assets.
Wine Tasting is better experienced than imagined; this is my take on
my encounter in this regard! Partaking in this major pastime characterised with
tourism in Cape Town and being my first time it was a major new discovery for
me. One now appreciates better the state-of-the-art winery having savored the
best of world-class wines in a uniquely beautiful environment. Panoramic view
of Table Mountains and Devil’s Peak which had University of Cape Town at the
base of the hill leaves one with a lasting memory. Neethlingshof is the South
Africa wine producer of the year an award earned in the 2002 at the London
international wine & spirit competition. The best wines produced in any year
are bottled under the signature Lord Neethlingshof label, the limited edition
reserve wines representing the crème de la crème of the prestigious
Neethlingshof range. I could not resist the urge to buy some of the vintage
wines of the brand with arresting flavors as take-away to Nigeria to mark the
memorable encounter.
Eti Health and Leisure (EHL) is the indisputable “home away from
home” for Nigerians and other West Africans the target market of the remarkable
entrepreneurial initiative of Mrs Ngozi Owei a.k.a. Ziggy. EHL was founded in
August 2006 to meet the need of Medical Evacuations from Nigeria and native
meals of guests. The business has earned 4-star graded guest house in Cape Town
by the South African Tourism Council. The personal touch Ziggy a Cape Town
Business School MBA graduate puts into the business makes her hospitality
venture to standout. I was able to eat my regular native Iyan, eba, amala with
ogbolo/draw assorted-meat soup during my stay in the guest house.
Package of EHL includes airport shuttle and everything is done
professionally while insisting to personally chauffer drive her guest house
guests from the airport. It is certainly a must visit for West African elites
who visit Cape Town as evident in the visitor’s book of EHL. Having a steak in
the evening of my first day in Cape Town at the ever busy Nelson Eye’s
restaurant at the base of Table Mountains is an experience to behold! The
restaurant was named after Lord Horatio Nelson, British greatest sailor who won
several wars (1775-1783) and lost his right eye in the process. The background
history of a restaurant that had outlived the founder was quite fascinating to
me. Likewise having Dinner at MOYO restaurant hosted by NOVARE inside the Spier
Wine Estate is tourists’ delight. Guests are welcomed with water to wash their
hands and face painting thereafter!
Seye flanked by his hosts in Cape Town. Dinner at MOYO
Restaurant in Spier Wine Estate is surely tourists’ delight
Cape Town’s
location in the valley and viewing the surrounding hills under a unique weather
situation is an experience most tourists may not forget in a hurry. The city is
characterised with mild weather year-round, Mediterranean climate with little
rain and over 11 hour sunshine per day. Like any other society that is not perfect,
Cape Town has its low points too! Langa, the black township revealed the
shanties of the sprawling city. Though apartheid is dead and gone, the scar of
the wound is apparent everywhere! This is evident in the transport system that
favours only those with personal cars among other realities. Cape Town was not
structured to cater for this cadre of the society; at the peak of apartheid,
blacks were required to vacate Cape Town by 6 pm after the day’s job. The city
remains predominantly a white and colored community. The Mayor of Cape Town is
a lady who won her election under Democratic Alliance and ANC has fewer seats
in the parliament.
The climax and
most touching part of my encounters in Cape Town was when I got to the highest
part of the city on the Table Mountain where I was able to behold Robin Island
where “Madiba” the world’s living greatest statesman was imprisoned for 28
years and the expansive Cape Town and appreciate better how the city got the
name. Robin Island is now a Museum and it is about 45 minutes’ drive from the
foot of the mountain. Also driving some meters down in the direction of the
road leading to Cape of Hope, the lowest part of Africa was quite exciting! In
all as a geographer, it was yet another consummated touring experience indeed
within a resourceful sojourn in Cape Town.
Seye in the bedroom where Nelson Mandela lived before
his arrest, now Nelson Mandela Museum in Soweto
a) Inside the ‘Freedom Dome’ in Kliptown, Soweto where
people’s constitution was written in the apartheid days. A
b) Seye stood by the statue of Madiba at the Nelson Mandela
Square, Sandton city in 2011
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