Lonely Planet Six Degrees: Cape Town

Presenter Asha Gill hooks up with Chris Ntombemhlophe, an African shaman with a direct line to the ancestors. Chris takes Asha trance dancing in the city’s biggest black township and introduces Asha to outspoken diva Odidi Mfenyana, who’s reclaiming the Afro for Africans. Radio talk show host Lisa Chait ropes Asha into a raucous spring queen carnival and a house-building project in the townships, where Asha and a group of volunteers attempt to replace a tin shack with a brand new brick house in just five days. Fellow volunteer Lynette Francis takes Asha to the unique Cape Malay district of Bo-Kaap and throws a halal picnic on the seafront, where thousands of Muslim families gather to witness the new moon that signals the end of Ramadan. Andre Manuel introduces Asha to the high-energy sound of the Cape Minstrels and the thriving culture of the Cape Flats. Archaeo-astronomer Dean Liprini changes the way Asha thinks about Cape Town’s most conspicuous resident – Table Mountain.