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South Africa
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Cape Town was built in a perfect strategic position, protected by the surrounding peaks and watchful presence of Table Mountain, the symbol of the city.
You can get up to the top of the mountain on a cable car, which in a short time goes from sea level to more than 1,000 meters above sea level, ending at its flat summit.
Over this block of sandstone where stocky mountain rabbits run, there is a thin blanket of mist, particularly during the summer season, which the locals call "the table cloth." The more serious science of meteorology says that what pushes the clouds over Table Mountain is the strong south-easterly wind, which is called the "Cape's Doctor." It has this name because it cleans the city of dust and pollution, making the air clean and healthy.
The nearby Signal Hill is a natural lookout point from land to sea. Every day at midday, except on Sundays, one of the city's most traditional rites takes place here, the firing of a volley of shots by a cannon. It is such a punctual event that South Africans use it to set their watches.
While the cannon is announcing that noon has reached, Cape Town gets back to its role of being a trading post, of being a city that lives in its beautiful streets and in its colorful markets which are filled with music, where everything can be found. Particularly brightly colored and filled with every type of knickknack is the market that is held in Green Market Square. Here you can find old dusty objects taken down from attics and handicrafts and ethnic trinkets as well.
In the market, the initial commercial spirit that distinguished the relationship between settlers and natives is revived. The Dutch, known for being good merchants, never fought the indigenous population with whom they fostered good neighborly relations and continuous trade.
Nowadays in Cape Town we find important testimonies of these indigenous populations, the Bushmen and Hottentot, in the South African Museum.
The museum contains numerous utensils, rock paintings, and carvings which give a sense of the archaic lives of these peoples. A primitivism was not seen as a limit but as a value. Even today the last descendants of these peoples choose to lie apart in the semi-desert regions of South Africa so as to keep true to their own way of life.
The museum also contains a vast collection dedicated to natural history and in particular to whales, with a series of interesting sound recordings.
In the area just behind the Cape zone are the Cango Caves which are among the most beautiful in the whole of South Africa. We know the Bushmen lived here in ancient times, because archaeologists found various types of utensils inside the caves.
The first person to discover this wonder of nature was a fortune hunter, Soon Van Zyl, who entered the Cango Caves to chase after an antelope. Thanks to Van Zyl, today the public can enjoy the sight of magnificent stalactites and stalagmites.
Among the many natural wonders of South Africa, there is a small group of elephants. In the big parks of South Africa, like the famous Kruger Park, it is easy to come across these animals. These young specimens have only recently been reinserted in the Elephant Nature Walk. For many centuries the elephant was the hero of this area, up until the forest was attacked.
This area was affected by a great gold rush which ended when the only vein present was exhausted. Nature, however, took its revenge. In the heart of the forest we find what the remains of Millwood, a ghost city which little more than a century ago was teeming with people, filled with banks, offices and bars. The old city of Millwood is nowadays almost unrecognizable, but in South Africa new gold vein is being laid down, one that has all shades of green.
Diamonds and gold were found in great quantities in South Africa, but not in the Cape area. It was in the republics of the north that the first treasures of South Africa were extracted from the depths of the earth. The city of Johannesburg is the most evident result of this great fortune. The city rose up over the richest natural treasure in the world, a treasure that today is still extracted from its many mines and takes the form of shining ingots when melted and refined.
Nowadays, Johannesburg has become the biggest city in South Africa, the economic capital of the country.
In 1961 South Africa, as a state, proclaimed its independence from London, giving rise to the Republic of South Africa and starting a long process of democratization for all of its inhabitants.
Democratization today is possible to see fully developed in the magnificent beaches of the Cape of Good Hope. The various South African ethnic groups enjoy the African sun and the bright and hot beaches in civilized coexistence.
Reconciliation has sown great hopes for the future. The many colors of Africa are the real source of wealth for the future of this country. South Africa already understands the enormous potential that it has, and is proud to say about itself: "The whole world in one country."
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南非
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開普敦的地勢極佳，周圍有群山環繞。開普敦的標誌“桌山”更是俯瞰著城市。
乘坐纜車，你很快就能上升到海拔1000多米的平坦峰頂。
這塊沙石岩峰上，經常飄浮著一層薄毯似的雲霧，這種現象在夏天最明顯，當地人叫它“桌布”。氣象學研究發現，將雲霧推過“桌山”的是強大的東南風。人們把這風叫“好望角醫生”，因為風能吹走城裏的灰塵和污染物，使空氣潔凈、清新。
附近的信號山是眺望大海的天然了望臺。除星期天外，每天中午開普敦都要舉行一種最傳統的儀式。信號山上加農炮齊射，這種定時射擊非常準時，南非人甚至用它來對鐘錶。
加農炮齊射宣告了正午的來臨。此刻的開普敦又成了交易場所，城市在琳瑯滿目的美麗街道間，在音樂縈繞、色彩繽紛的市場裏復活了。格林集貿廣場的集市很有代表性，到處是鮮亮的色彩和各種小擺設。在這裡你既能找到來自閣樓上的塵封古董，也能看到精緻的手工藝品和有民族特色的飾物。
市場上，定居者和土著居民之間樸素的商業精神得以重現。以擅長經商而聞名的荷蘭人，他們沒有和土著人發生衝突，反而和他們建立了良好的鄰里關係，繼續進行貿易往來。
在開普敦的南非博物館，我們能找到這些早期土著居民 -- 布什曼人和霍頓托特人 -- 用過的器具。
博物館內珍藏的器皿、石畫和石雕，使我們了解了古代土著居民的生活方式。對他們來説，原始生活不是一種桎梏，而是一種價值。今天，這些居民的後裔仍寧願生活在半沙漠地區，保持他們自己的生活本色。
博物館內還有大量的反映自然歷史的展品，特別是鯨魚標本，還有讓人身臨其境的聲音資料。
毗鄰好望角的坎戈岩洞是南非最美的岩洞群之一。古代布什曼人曾在這裡生活過，因為考古學家在洞內發現了各種生活器皿。
最早發現岩洞的是一位尋寶人，蘇恩 范 齊爾。他追捕羚羊時進入了坎戈岩洞。由於他的發現，我們今天才欣賞到了美麗的鐘乳石和石筍。
南非諸多的自然奇觀中，自然少不了大象。在南非的大型公園，像著名的克魯格公園，你經常會遇到大象。這些大象最近才被放歸自然。幾百年來，大象一直是這裡真正的主人，但森林很快受到了人類的侵犯。
一場聲勢浩大的淘金熱席捲了這裡，並最終導致當地的金礦資源枯竭，但自然也對人類進行了報復。在森林腹地，米爾伍德的遺跡還依稀可辨。這座死城在100年前還是座熱鬧的城市，到處是銀行、辦公樓和酒吧。今天，米爾伍德昔日的輝煌已無處可尋，但在它的廢墟上又出現了一座新的“金礦” -- 一座綠色的金礦。
南非有儲量豐富的鑽石和黃金，但在好望角地區找不到這些寶藏，它們都分佈在北方。正是在那裏，南非的第一批珍寶從地下深處被開採出來。鉅額財富帶給南非的禮物之一就是約翰內斯堡。這座城市從世界最富有的自然寶藏拔地而起。南非人繼續開採黃金，經過熔化、提純後，製成光芒四射的金錠。
今天，約翰內斯堡成為南非的最大城市，南非的經濟首都。
1961年，南非脫離英國宣佈獨立，建立南非共和國，開始了為所有南非人追求民主權利的漫長歷程。
在好望角美麗的沙灘上，民主化的成果如今清晰可見。南非的各個民族終於實現了平等，一起分享非洲的驕陽和美麗的沙灘。
民族和解讓南非的未來充滿了希望。富饒的非洲大地，是未來南非真正的財富之源。南非已經充分了解了自身的潛力，並自豪地宣稱：“南非濃縮了整個世界。”
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