Cape Town to host backpackers’ party of the year

Posted by Katja Hamilton on 24 March 2010

Take a lush plot of land in Klipheuwel, 17km from Durbanville, add a big screen for live transmission of the 2010 FIFA World Cup games, and mix in 600 passionate football fans from around the world and you have a recipe for an experience of a lifetime.

With 72 eight-man tents, a few beers, live music and an open night sky with the smell of potjiekos wafting around the campsite at dinnertime and you’re in for a cosmopolitan backpackers’ party of the year – South African style – right on your doorstep.

Offering a unique football and camping experience, tent town which will be up and running from June 3 to July 14, is a self-sustainable village comprising among other things, a commercial centre with an internet caf, shop and takeaway services, First Aid facilities, a laundry, parking facilities and a central marquee.

See: These Events Also Happening In Cape Town

And with so many nationalities on site, it will be the world united, brothers in arms (or maybe not if there are opposing factions watching a high-profile match) as visitors looking for affordable accommodation during the World Cup venture off the beaten track and explore what Cape Town has to offer. Thanks to an office and tourism centre on site they can make their tour-group bookings or hop on a free shuttle services running to and from Blouberg, Durbanville and Cape Town.

Oh to be a fly on the wall (or should that be tent?) at such an event. It reminds me of when I stayed in a Buddhist monastery in Kathmandu for two weeks with visitors from all four corners of the globe. The experience of sharing a small room and temple space with so many nationalities: Australians, Welsh, English, Germans – there was such a mix of cultures united by a common purpose. So yes, if only to be a fly at Cape Town’s tent town when it is launched, to observe the final dish that is served up from the cultural mix.

“Tent towns are common the world over during FIFA World Cups. In Germany in particular they were seen everywhere – on soccer fields, pavements and beaches, some hosting 200 000 tourists at a time,” says Des Kieswetter, founder of Cape Town’s tent town. “A friend and I arrived in Germany during the 2006 World Cup and we didn’t know where to stay. While we were sitting at a pub having a beer someone said if we needed accommodation we could hire and pitch a tent in a field close by and it would be ours for as long as we wanted. We did.

“Like me, most of the people there never had a chance to buy a ticket to a game to see the football live, but we used the tent town as a base and enjoyed the games at the fan parks. Just being there and seeing what goes on and how it’s run was amazing. The atmosphere never stopped from morning until night – it was great.”

Back in South Africa Des was inspired to recreate his experience in Germany for SA’s World Cup, and he started the ball rolling. Owning the plot of land in Klipheuwel, he knows he is sitting on a goldmine. His business plan approved, he has since been in negotiations with the City of Cape Town, tour operators from Brazil, America, Canada, England and Australia who are arranging group bookings, and he has sent tenders outs to suppliers of mobile showers, flush toilets, tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows and blankets (which will be donated to charity at the end of the event).

He also embarked on a mass recruitment drive to employ temporary staff during the World Cup to keep the grounds clean, to book trips and shuttles, to staff the internet caf, shop and laundry and to organize and attend to the day-to-day activities of the camp site.

Eight months later and bookings have been slow but, says Des, he is not giving up despite many challenges he has had including some tour groups having trouble securing visas with SA’s Home Affairs (Cameroons have had this problem apparently) and neighbours insisting on time curfews for live band performances due to the loud sound levels.

But the show will go on, says Des as the demand for accommodation from international visitors is “growing thick and fast” the closer we get to the kickoff date.

In the meantime, the i’s and the t’s on the itinerary for the lineup of entertainment are being dotted and crossed.
In addition to the live screenings of the World Cup football games, there will be themed dinners each night of the week, if not a spitbraai, then either a potjie, steak and fish. There will be live entertainment on non-match days: music on a Friday and Saturday night and karaoke on Wednesday. There will also be pub quizzes and SA’s top comedians are also set to take to the stage (names will be confirmed).

See: These Events Also Happening In Cape Town

And the cherry on the top: a five-a-side inter-camp football tournament. “The camp will be divided into zones and each of the zones will have their turn at competing against one another,” says Des.

Judging from the large music festivals we’ve had in the Western Cape before, Ramfest and Rocking the Daisies springing immediately to mind, I cannot but foresee this experience being a huge success. “We hope visitors who come here have a wonderful time and that they come back to Cape Town for more of what this beautiful country has to offer,” adds Des. “We want the World Cup to be a success and if it is it will be a feather in our cap.”

For further inquiries on Cape Town’s tent town visit http://www.capeentertainments.com.

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