Trendy Camps Bay

Camps Bay

My friend Brian — tall, skinny and covered with tat­toos, is a waiter in one of the trend­i­est res­taur­ants in Camps Bay. I'm wait­ing for him to get off work in an hour so we can go down to the beach and to fill the time, he is giv­ing me the low-down on the mat­ing habits of the Greater Spotted Camps Bay Trendoid.

“See the guy over there wear­ing the giant mirrored sunglasses?” he asks. I look over to where he is ges­tur­ing. “You're gonna have to be more spe­cific than that, mate” I reply, “they're all wear­ing giant mirrored sunglasses.” He sur­repti­tiously points to a guy inex­plic­ably wear­ing a white suit on one of the hot­test days of the year. “He's some kind of big-shot archi­tect. “The model he's with is the new Guess girl,” he says, “and he just asked for one of our most expens­ive whis­keys, with a Coke mixer.” Money, it seems, can't buy good taste.

But it can buy you an amaz­ing house, a ridicu­lously flashy car and a white Chihuahua named Fritz, and most of Camps Bay's res­id­ents have all three. This little cove of afflu­ence is undeni­ably Cape Town’s play­ground for the rich and fam­ous. Likened to St Tropez, the area is home to many of the city’s rich and fam­ous, and attracts tour­ists and loc­als alike who either are, or aspire to, live the high life. Reached from Cape Town via Seapoint, on Victoria Road, over the moun­tain at Kloof Nek, or from the Hout Bay side along the Twelve Apostles, Camps Bay lies in a sheltered bay backed by Table Mountain.

Camps Bay

The town's his­tory is not nearly as glam­or­ous but stretches back almost to the arrival of Jan Van Riebeeck in the Cape, when it was gran­ted in 1700 to John Lodewyk Wernich, who built his farm, Ravensteyn on the land, then known as Roodekrantz, because of the red tint of the soil. When Wernich passed away, his wife remar­ried, and her new husband’s name, Fredrik Ernst Von Kamptz, leaves little doubt as to the ori­gins of the mod­ern name – Camps Bay.

The area has a col­our­ful his­tory, hav­ing been for­ti­fied by the French in the late 18^th cen­tury, dur­ing their battles with the English, and when the farm was des­troyed by these battles, the gov­ern­ment bought the land back, and estab­lished two small batteries.Much later on, in 1855, Captain Glendinning, then the only per­man­ent res­id­ent in the area, attemp­ted to sell 40 plots in Camps Bay, how­ever, even his announce­ment that there was gold to be found in Camps Bay could not gen­er­ate interest. If only Captain Glendinning had known the atten­tion his piece of real estate would gen­er­ate in mod­ern days! Property in Camps Bay is now some of the most expens­ive and sought after in the Western Cape.

As far as mod­ern Camps Bay is con­cerned, most of the activ­it­ies in the area are ded­ic­ated to pure hedon­ism and dec­ad­ence. Lazing on the beach, tak­ing in a show at the Theatre on the Bay, or vis­it­ing one of the many res­taur­ants, bars and cof­fee shops that line the main road along­side the beach are some of the most strenu­ous activ­it­ies that loc­als and tour­ists are likely to encounter.

There are a few hik­ing trails in the area, and a pop­u­lar activ­ity for loc­als is to hike up the moun­tain at Kloof Nek and watch the moon rise over the mother city. If you’re like most though, you will want to take advant­age of the pristine beaches, lined with lush green shaded lawns, maybe take a swim in the cool water, and watch the pleas­ure crafts loaded with rev­el­ers pass by en route to neigh­bor­ing Clifton.

This, fol­lowed up with a cock­tail in one of the trendy bars over­look­ing the beaches, while you split your atten­tion between celebrity spot­ting, and watch­ing the sun set over the water, is just about what every day in Camps Bay is like.

Useful Links:
Camps Bay Accommodation
Cape Town Accommodation
Cape Town Attractions