Tours in Cape Town

Posts Tagged ‘Cape Town Stadium’

Cape Point

The West Coast of Southern Africa stretches from Cape Point the most south western tip of Africa to the mouth of the Orange River on the Namibian border.

The coastline is a very interesting one and over the next few months I will try and enlighten folk on different places you can visit along this interesting coastline.

The whole coastline is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the cold Benguela current. The current,  a branch of the west wind drift of the Southern Hemisphere,  flows northwards up the coastline from the deep south ( close to Antartica) until it nears the Equator where it merges with the Atlantic South Equatorial current and then flows westwards towards the Americas.

During the summer months the Western Cape’s southern and western coastlines are buffeted by strong southerly and southwesterly (we know them as the south easter) winds which produce an upwelling of water with a cool temperature and relatively low salinity. These upwellings have a high concentration of plankton and thus create excellent fishing grounds with an abundance of fish.

Yzerfontein harbour

Snoek is the main catch and is landed for about nine months of the year commencing in June and going through to March.  Sixty percent of all line fish caught on the west coast is landed at Yzerfontein which is the main fishing harbour on the west coast.

Between Cape Point and Saldanha Bay there are only four fishing harbours which can be utilised by small boat fishermen to land their catches.

They are Hout bay, Granger Bay, Yzerfontein and Saldanha Bay.

Granger Bay pointed out by the red arrow

Granger Bay situated on the Table Bay coastline less than two hundred metres from the new Cape Town stadium is the smallest of the harbours and has a small slipway and very little parking for fishermen’s vehicles and their trailers.

A year or two ago there was great consternation when the authorities decided to close Granger Bay thus cutting off any access to Table Bay for fishermen.

Closing the only slipway with access to Table Bay for the fishermen would have meant that the fishing boats would either have had to launch at Hout Bay harbour and make their way along a very dangerous coastline by sea to gain access to their fishing grounds near Robben island.

Hout Bay harbour

The alternative to Hout Bay was to drive all the way to Yzerfontein (about 90 kilometres from Cape Town) to launch and then to make their way back by sea to Table Bay to fish near Robben Island and then with fully laden boats have to make their way back to Yzerfontein to land the catch.

Fortunately an agreement was reached and Granger Bay remained open.

With the World Cup playing itself out at the Cape Town stadium during June and July and the closing of roads in and around the stadium from early May until mid July I can see another clash looming between the fishermen and authorities as Granger Bay will once again be closed to fishermen during the fishing season.

The authorities have set up an exclusion zone around the stadium and fishermen will most probably not be allowed to enter it.

I don’t think anyone has given Granger Bay or the fishermen a thought but they had better wake up if they don’t want fishermen parking their boats and trailers across the Western Boulevard during the world cup and stopping all traffic going to the stadium if they cannot gain access to their fishing grounds.

The west coast is a great place to visit but it is not the best place for a football stadium to be built. Green Point where the new stadium is located is not on any public transport routes. Access to the area is difficult with normal motor traffic without a world cup event playing itself out.

During the world cup event and especially on match days the Western Boulevard and Somerset road leading to the stadium will be closed to the public which is likely to cause havoc on all the approach roads to the city.

Not even the fishermen with their boats will be allowed to enter the area. Can you imagine the chaos and the language if a fisherman is told to go to Hout Bay when there is a snoek run off Robben Island and he wants to launch from Granger Bay.

Thankfully its not my problem although I might just get caught up in the traffic jam.

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The Cape Town Stadium with people queuing to get in at the bottom right of the picture

Today  22nd March 2010  was a public holiday in South Africa and a church group “Yaahweh Nissi “staged a large event at the Cape Town Stadium.

The event was expected to draw a crowd of 60000 people. This meant that the top tier in the stadium would also be used to accommodate the largest crowd so far housed in the stadium in one event.

It however appears that a crowd of about 50000 eventually arrived for the event.

Cars parking on the sportsfields to the west of the stadium. No buses parked anywhere in the vicinity of the stadium

From my vantage point on Signal Hill a number of hours before the event was expected to start everything seemed very orderly outside the stadium with cars parked on open ground parking around the stadium in neat rows.

At the new raised traffic circle near the stadium shuttle buses were allowed to turn right  into Granger Road and to  drop off passengers on the east side of the stadium while cars were directed to carry on along the Western Boulevard to the west where they no doubt had parking arranged for themselves.  The shuttle buses after dropping their passengers then made their way down Granger Road and  back to the Western Boulevard via Beach Road  and Portswood Road.

This seemed to work smoothly as the buses were all moving in the same direction and there was no one trying to turn a vehicle around in a cramped space.

Cars being forced westwards past the stadium while shuttle buses were allowed down the east side of the stadium to drop off passengers

Although traffic seemed to be moving smoothly there was still a build up of traffic on the approach roads to the city.

The N1 coming in from the northern suburbs along Table Bay Boulevard was backed up to the start of the elevated freeway on the N1. The traffic coming in along Eastern boulevard was also backed up from the merge on the Eastern Boulevard with the N1 on the raised bridges.

The N1 in the background and the Eastern Boulevard on top of the raised bridges were backed up with traffic.

Traffic on the Western Boulevard was backed up from the intersection of Coen Steytler and Buitengracht Street to the new raised circle just outside the stadium. From what I can make out the shuttle buses were sent into the same traffic backlog on the Western Boulevard as motorists had to contend with and had no special rights such as bus lanes that they could travel on.

I might be wrong because I am going by what I saw from Signal Hill, but shuttle buses were defintely on the Western Boulevard moving westwards. ( See photo below)

Slow moving traffic on Western Boulevard approaching the traffic circle at the Cape Town Stadium

The Western Cape  is at present building a rapid bus transport system throughout the city and I was actually taken aback to see that there was not a dedicated buslane for the shuttle buses going to the stadium.

From radio and press reports it appears that about 10000 people made use of the shuttle bus park and ride system. A total of 143 round trips were made by the  shuttle buses moving about 70 passengers per bus per trip.

The V & A Waterfront also backed up with traffic trying to reach the stadium

When traffic is slow in Cape Town commuters always look for alternative routes to get to their destinations. Today the shortcut was through the V & A Waterfront and you can see from the photo above what happened.

All in all traffic authorities and the  Cape Town  Stadium was happy with went on in the traffic.   Were you?  Your traffic suggestions to improve the system might also be appreciated.

Place your comments in the space provided below.

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On Tuesday the 16th of March 2010 I decided to take a tour of the Cape Town stadium. Tours start at 10.00 am and last about an hour. I arrived just before 10.00am thinking that there would be few people wanting to do the tour.

Was I wrong?

There were two groups of school kids and a couple of busloads of tourists all wanting to do the tour. Both the 10.00am tour and the 12.00 o’clock tour were fuly booked so all I could do was take some photos from the outside of the stadium and leave.

For those wanting to do a tour of the stadium the entrance is through the south side and you have to report to the visitors centre to get your ticket and join the tour.

To find parking drive around the new raised circle and then drive down the south side of the stadium towards Granger Bay. (Its a new road)
There is some parking on the left near the entrance to stadium The visitors centre telephone number is 021 4307346 if you would like to contact them.

Below are some close up photos I took while at the stadium.

The stadium looking from the Table Bay side

The parking garages under the stadium

The entrance to the visitors centre

The walk way from the main entrance to the visitors centre

Parking on the Granger Bay side of the stadium

The sides of the stadium are made of canvas and some had been removed for maintenance purposes

The walkway outside the southern entrance to the Cape Town Stadium

The main entrance to the Cape Town Stadium

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The old Green point Stadium

Cape Town’s preparations for the world cup began way back in 2006 when SA won the bid to host the 2010 world cup.

The goals the Western Cape and Cape Town set were simple, yet difficult to achieve.

Goal one: To host an outstanding 2010 FIFA World Cup

Goal two: To use the 2010 Fifa world cup to build infrastructural, social, environmental and economic legacies that will benefit the people of the Western Cape long after the tournament.

Goal three: To leverage the event to market the province, the country and the continent for tourism, trade and investmen

We are now less than 100 days from the kickoff so it might be an idea to have a quick look at what we have achieved.

Breaking ground for the new stadium

Our stadium at the time of starting its construction in March 2007 was known as the new Green Point Stadium. This name has been changed and the stadium will in future be known as the Cape Town Stadium.

Some of the trees that were removed

Land that had been put aside for public use and which was being used by the Metropolitan Golf course at the time was rezoned after some major arguments and delaying tactics by residents and interested parties and eventually the go ahead was given to start with the construction.

At the time two things happened simultaneously. With few people knowing what was going on contractors moved in and started breaking down the old Green Point stadium much to the annoyance of the public.

At the same time the eastern side of the Metropolitan golf course was taken over and the ground leveled. Shortly afterwards the trenches for the foundations were dug and the first concrete was poured.

Things have not always gone smoothly, what with strikes and walkoffs by workers demanding more pay, transport from Cape Town station to the stadium and a whole lot more.

Everybody involved in the project was fearful that it would not be completed especially when original estimates of the cost blossomed out to a total of R2.47 billion, more than double of the original estimated cost.

The construction work on the stadium was completed and handed over to the City of Cape Town in November 2009.

The next step in the life of the new stadium was to test its resources, security and parking facilities and also the new surrounding infrastructure.

To do this a number of events were planned.

The first event happened on the 23rd of January 2010 when a crowd of 20000 football fans entered the stadium to watch a local derby football match. Most people did not attend the event to watch the football but went to get a feel for and a look at the inside of the new stadium which had basically been kept a secret from us locals.

Yes there was the odd picture of the inside of the stadium in the newspapers but as there was a danger to the public during the construction and especially when the roof was being installed people were not allowed into the stadium. Only a lucky few were allowed in. Not even the public who had to pay for a tour were allowed in.

The long wait was worth the frustration it caused as most people who attended the event were thrilled with what they saw. It’s not everyday that one can say that they had attended an inaugural match and the official opening of a new stadium, especially one with the importance that the Cape Town Stadium has.

The first event at the stadium went off well although there were some hitches with parking and parking tickets.

The second event held in the stadium was on the 8th February 2010 when a rugby festival with a 10 a side rugby match featuring some of the retired rugby players of yesteryear was played. The main match of the day between the Stormers and the Boland was enjoyed by the crowd but not necessarily by the Boland who got a good hiding.

There were two things being tested at this event. The pitch and whether it would withstand the hammering caused by two rugby teams scrumming on its newly laid turf. The second aspect was to see whether the stadium could handle a 40000 strong crowd.

There were one or two hitches but overall things went smoothly with the pitch standing up well to the rugby event.

The third test of the stadium will happen this week when an estimated audience of 60000 people will pitch up and give the stadium its final test. At this event all three tiers of the stadium will be opened to the public.

I don’t think there will be any major problems at the stadium itself but there might be some problems with parking and getting all 60000 people to the stadium.

Parking at the stadium is limited so parking for any event will be pushed into the streets of Cape Town and under the freeways at the bottom end of the foreshore.

An exclusion zone limiting or blocking traffic around the stadium will be enforced from the 20th May 2010 till the 16th July 2010 when the world cup will have ended. This could prove painful to residents of the Green Point area as they might not be able to get home on match days.

At this stage of Cape Town’s preparations everyone is happy that the stadium has been completed on time to host the world cup in June.

Another feather in the cap of Cape Town Stadium is that it is fully booked for all its world cup matches where other stadiums around the country are still trying to fill theirs.

Roll on June!

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