GuestHouse Cape Town

London has Soho, New York has Greenwich Village, Rio has Ipanema, San Francisco has, well , San Francisco and Cape Town has De Waterkant. Recently voted as one of the top five gay travel destinations in the world, Cape Town unfurls her rainbow flag with as much pride and dignity that South Africa's fabulous new constitution allows, stopping just short of inviting Barbra Streisand or Gloria Gaynor to throw an elegant soiree at the Mount Nelson Hotel.



Over the centuries this 12-block neighbourhood has been home to stonemasons, soldiers, sailors, merchants, crafters, clergy, the Dutch, the English, the Malays, the Khoi, Christians, Moslems, Hindus, whores, homosexuals, bohemians, butchers, bakers, shoe makers, travellers, foreigners, film directors, fashion fundis, playwrights, property developers and investors. Yes, if these streets could talk...

De Waterkant rolls out the red carpet and welcomes all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender visitors and invites them to celebrate in South Africa's fabulous freedom and equally fabulous gay night life. It's in De Waterkant Village that the elusive Afro-hunk / babe is known to prowl the streets and dance floors, often lurking behind a bar counter or grooving under a mirror ball, so if Africa's Big Five have been spotted and it's the Big Six you're after then this is the place to be trophy hunting!

Bars, restaurants, cafes, lounges and clubs are plentiful - there's Bronx, Cafe Manhattan's, The Village Cafe, Bar Code, Pigalle, Andiamo, Tank and The Hot House for some steamy lolly-licking bath house pleasures.

Cape Town also hosts an annual Pride Parade (end Feb / early March) through the streets of central Cape Town and ends in De Waterkant with a wild and wicked celebration that includes all the bars and clubs and gay businesses in the area.

Then there's the annual Mother City Queer Project (MCQP) themed party (early Dec) that celebrates queer culture. MCQP, in all its queer fabulousness, has made it onto the international party circuit list and sees international guests planning their summer holidays around MCQP.

For a slightly more cultural tinge of pink there's the annual Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (end Feb early March) where cinemas in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban screen the controversial, the arty, the docu-drama and the hilariously camp movies from the international circuit.

Fun in the sun? Of course, and for that its Clifton 3 where beefy bronzed bodies smothered in tropical tanning oils line the beach in a colourful array of swimmers, bathers and skimpy trunks. And for more fun in more sun there's Sandy Bay nudist beach where the skimpy trunks and inhibitions are left in the locker! But be warned - the average temperature of the icy Atlantic waters is around 14 degrees.