Wikimania 2015 bids/Cape Town/Diversity

< Wikimania 2015 bids‎ | Cape Town

Our idea: Vision • Venue • Budget • Self Evaluation
Our city: Cape Town • Accommodation • Diversity
Your story: Join our team • Holiday options

Cape Town is a very diverse city, catering to all people.

See also Disabled travel in South Africa.

Cape Town shopping centres have wide marked disabled parking close to the entrances. Most restaurants in and around Cape Town are wheelchair friendly and happy to accommodate wheelchair users. The public transport system is being equiped for 'universal access'^[1] – access for all groups, including the disabled, elderly people and children, those carrying large amounts of luggage and even women travelling alone at night.

The organising team will assist you with specific requests for your visit.

An active and outdoor lifestyle has long been part of the Cape Town mind set. The reason: Cape Town’s untamed natural beauty, mountainous and lush vegetation, and lively seas. Cape Town has a vast array of sports activities, including Hiking, Mountain Biking, Sand boarding, Kloofing, Motor sports, Golf on shore, and wave surfing, kite surfing, scuba diving on the water.

See also Cape Town Food Map: a map listing and locating top dining options in Cape Town.

South Africa, and especially Cape Town, is an intensely multi-cultural city where diversity is celebrated. The cuisine of South Africa is sometimes called "rainbow cuisine", as it has had a variety of multicultural sources. Cape Town's fresh food choices are delicious, varied and vast, with a range of cultural food that are specific to the Cape. There are significant Muslim, Hindu and Jewish populations, as well as other religions happily living side by side. Vegetarians and vegans are catered for in almost all restaurants. In addition to local fair Cape Town, and its City Centre in particular, offers a wide range of restaurants to cater to all pallets and budgets: from Indian food at Bukhara over the famous cupcakes at Charly's Bakery to hamburgers at the popular The Dog's Bollocks. Mzoli's is the most famous barbecued meat restaurant outside the city center. The region is one of the wine capitals of the world, and the renowned Cape Winelands is both within the city and on its doorstep.

Catering at the event will take into account all dietary concerns. A question will be included as part of the registration application to ensure that every need is fully catered for.

Cape Town and the Western Cape is an intellectual magnet, with four world-class universities and other research institutions in fields as diverse as astronomy, science, medicine and social politics.

Cape Town has a strong Free Software and Open Content community. The Geek Dinner is a regular event which caters to these communities locally. Local based organisations such as the CodeBridge organise open software and open data hackathons. Cape Town also has an active Linux User Group (CLUG), South Africans are the second-largest contributers to iCommons, and Cape Town hosted the 1st of Jimmy and Heather's 50 parties. Wikimania will strengthen the ties between these related communities, to the benefit of all.

See also Internet in South Africa: Active and proposed cable systems

South Africa is one of the most technologically-resourced countries on the African continent. Over 60% of Internet traffic generated on the African continent originates from South Africa. Several underground internet cables directly link Cape Town with Europe^[2] .

A number of cell network companies offer a 21.1Mbit/s service EDGE service. MTN and Vodacom also offer 3G with up to 21.1Mbit/s HSDPA+.

The city has a big number of foreign language schools eg. Alliance Française du Cap, Deutsche Internationale Schule Kapstadt, Suid-Afrikaanse Sentrum vir Nederland en Vlaandere.

The organising team will connect you with the organisations in your language.

See also LGBT tourism in South Africa.

See also Cape Town Pink Map: maps LGBT friendly activities and a popular gay guide to Cape Town and the Western Cape.

Since the end of apartheid and the arrival of South Africa's democratic dispensation Cape Town has gained a reputation as a gay friendly city. Although the South African constitution offers all people and the LGBT community in particular new found freedoms and legal protections this level of understanding is not met with equal acceptance within the pluralistic cultural landscape of the country at large or Africa in general. However Cape Town and its city centre in particular are widely regarded as very LGBT friendly and safe for members of the LGBT community. The city centre and some of its surrounding areas have thriving and open LGBT communities of their own.^[3]

The Cape Town Pink Map lists and maps numerous LGBT friendly activities available in Cape Town throughout the year. De Waterkant area of Cape Town is referred to as the city's Pink Village with a high concentration of guest houses, hotels, pubs and clubs all located within walking distance of the proposed venue location at the CTICC.

The region around the city offers unparalleled natural wonders, from the magnificent Table Mountain to pristine beaches, the big skies of mountains and semi-deserts and the most diverse of the world’s six botanical kingdoms. Cape Town is the jewel of African tourism, with

• Robben Island, a World Heritage Site, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.
• Cape Floral Kingdom, another World Heritage Site, 4500 plant species at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
• The idyllic beaches of Camps Bay, Llandudno, Clifton, Fish Hoek, Muizenburg, Strand and Gordon’s Bay.

Long Street is the main artery of Cape Town's nightlife. Its energy spreads outwards along Kloof Street, Tamboerskloof and Somerset Road, Green Point all the way onto the Atlantic Seaboard and Cape Town’s sunset capital, Victoria Road in Camps Bay. Pool bars, indie, reggae, goth and grunge scenes can all be found along Lower Main Road in Observatory and Main Road, Claremont whilst Edward Street in the Northern Suburbs’, Durbanville does glitz and glam. Music is the lifeblood of the Cape Flats’ discos and township shebeens, from Athlone to Gugulethu and concerts are both organized and spontaneously held in backyards and on street corners.

Cape Town is an interesting combination of shopping streets, informal markets, boutique clusters and world-class shopping malls. Visitors will find many designer clothing, object and furniture shops in trendy Woodstock and the City Centre. Most of Cape Town’s shopping places also feature interesting eateries and cafes, making a day of energetic shopping a people-watching experience too.

See also Cape Town Kids Map: maps the sites and activities of family-friendly Cape Town.

Cape Town is a very child friendly city with many activities available to keep the whole family entertained. During the conference daycare facilities will be available, and kids activities will be organised.

• Nearby (within 2km of the CTICC) Sea Point, Mouille Point and Green Point: Sea Point promenade boasts views across the ocean, open grass verges and jungle gyms. In nearby Mouille Point there is a find putt-putt course, the Blue Train, a maze and the oldest lighthouse in South Africa. One block away Green Point Urban Park boasts kiddies playgrounds and open areas for family picnics.
• Two Oceans Aquarium (within 2km of the CTICC) caters for kids of all ages with interactive stands that are designed to teach kids about about ocean life.
• Cape Point Ostrich Farm introduces kids to ostriches and they might be luckly enought to see a couple ostrich chicks.
• World of Birds : the largest bird park in Africa and one of the largest in the World with over 3 000 birds (and small animals) of 400 different species. All uniquely presented in more than 100 spacious landscaped walk through aviaries.
• Imhoff Farm Village : an historical (est. 1734) Cape farmstead that now caters to families interested in experiencing it's stunning views, first-rate food, organic produce, unique shops, beach rides and animal encounters.
• Cape Town Science Centre : Cape Town's science education centre with over 250 exhibits and interactive displays designed for children.
• Iziko South African Museum and Planetarium: one of the largest natural history museum's in South Africa with a wide collection of fossils, dinosaur models, star displays, full whale skeletons, and displays of other indigenous flora and fauna.