We’ve rounded up some interesting facts about the Mother City. See how many you know!
© Damien du Toit
Cape Town has Table Mountain. It has glorious beaches and the V &A Waterfront, and it’s a hugely popular holiday destination. There’s no denying it’s one of the world’ most gorgeous cities.
Cape Town is also one of the country’s economic powerhouses, accounting for around 11 percent of the national gross domestic product. And it’s set to continue growing, with construction worth almost R8 billion planned for the next five years.
We’ve rounded up some interesting facts about the Mother City. See how many you know!
Cape Town’s history
Did you know that…
- Cape Town’s Strand Street used to run along the Table Bay shore; thanks to land reclamation, that’s about a kilometre from where the shore is today
- Jan van Riebeeck produced the first wine in South Africa in 1659; this makes Cape Town’s wine industry the oldest outside of Europe
- it’ not just wine that’s firmly established in the Cape – Cape Town’s Newlands Brewery has been operating since 1820
- the Long Street Baths (Turkish baths and an indoor swimming pool, hidden in an unassuming building at the top of Long Street) date back to 1908
- today’s Golden Acre shopping centre was the site of South Africa’s earliest colonial fort; made of wood and clay, it predated the Castle of Good Hope, which was built between 1666 and 1679
- the oldest, continuing tradition in Cape Town is the firing of the Noon Day Gun to mark mid-day; the cannon is located at the Lion Battery on Signal Hill, and has been fired daily since 1806.
Cape Town’s natural heritage
Did you know that…
- once, there really were lions near Lion’s Head – the last one was seen in 1802; today Table Mountain is still home to nocturnal cats like the caracal
- the Cape Floral Kingdom – which stretches from the Cape Peninsula to the Eastern Cape – boasts 9,600 species of plants, 70 percent of which are found nowhere else in the world
- Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, founded in 1913 to preserve South Africa’s indigenous plants, was the first of its kind in the world.
Present-day Cape Town
Here are a few facts that you might not know about modern-day Cape Town:
- with approximately 3.7 million residents, Cape Town is the second most populated city in South Africa (behind Johannesburg but ahead of Durban)
- Cape Town has nine twin and sister cities located across the world; among these are Antwerp, Nice, Saint Petersburg and Maputo
- Cape Town’s La Columbe Restaurant is ranked among the top 50 restaurants in the world
- Khayelitsha is thought to be the largest and fastest growing township in the country
- in 2015, Travel+Leisure magazine readers ranked the Mother City as one of the 10 best city in the world (some of the other cities that cracked the top ten were Rome, Barcelona, Jerusalem, Krakow and Bangkok)
- the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront is the most visited destination in South Africa.
Cape Town storage and office space
Cape Town has overtaken other metropolitan areas in South Africa in terms of infrastructure and business growth. As a result, space in and around the city is in high demand.
Our XtraSpace Bellville branch offers an affordable, convenient alternative to renting traditional office space in Cape Town, with varying office sizes, a boardroom, free business centre services and flexible lease agreements.
We also offer secure self-storage facilities in Bellville and Kraaifontein, and near Cape Town International Airport. Contact us for more information or browse to find a branch near you.