Pilotbg

I arrive CPT on Feb 26 as this will be my first trip to Africa. Will update when down there!

bgriff

Replying in part to subscribe. I have a trip scheduled for arriving the end of April, which isn't looking great.

Can anyone elaborate more on the mitigation measures underway? I understand desalination plants are being constructed; is there a plan or hope that they will open before April, or is that a longer-term plan?

Is anywhere else near Cape Town in better shape? Wine country or anything? I am considering whether diverting a few of our Cape Town nights to somewhere else nearby might be better. Unfortunately we arrive and depart from the country at CPT so we wouldn't be able to avoid Cape Town entirely unless we change those, which would be hard given the upgrade instruments used. (And while I've been to Cape Town before, it's my husband's first time in SA and it does seem a shame to miss Cape Town on a trip to South Africa ... but if life there is substantially disrupted by a lack of water I guess it might not be quite Cape Town anyway.)

It's frankly kind of hard to imagine how Day Zero this will even work in practice and how many different aspects of life would be affected ... as many news articles have noted, there isn't really a precedent for this in modern history. For example, we are booked on the Blue Train from Cape Town to Pretoria; I wonder if the train will even be able to fill up its water tanks before departing Cape Town? And likewise with potable water tanks onboard aircraft departing CPT?

Ditto

Some of them should be ready next month, but keep in mind that even with all measures in place (which should be in July), we are only talking about producing 200 million litres of water per day, the current consumption is about 3 times that and so unless all people start to save water, it will not be enough.

It is indeed hard to imagine.

dcd

I read some articles ... Hotels and private businesses (even some schools) would take care their own solutions and some start or started their own desalination or boreholes. Local residence and suburbs unfortunately have less priority but each household would allow pickup minimal quantity of water at some distribution locations. This is sad. Unfortunately, the municipal / government don't have the sufficient capital to fund desalination plants and the required energy. Perhaps this is the reason they didn't start this desalination construction early enough other than having faith and conservation. Some private brewery companies are now brew water instead of beer and supply free; they have their own water source.

The 2-month of desalination construction is not realistic. The best scenario may be 3-month, but this is a guess. Even so, the volume amount may just cover limited business district and not all.

Ditto

Construction has already started last year, but this is a long-term solution, the short-term band aid was/is the water restrictions which are unfortunately not working so well

bgriff

I'm not surprised that some businesses would make their own provisions, though I am somewhat surprised they (hotels especially) aren't promoting their preparations more prominently, for the peace of mind of customers, if they are making investments. But even if they are investing, there is also a limit to how fast they can realistically implement solutions, and presumably demand for the relevant equipment is far in excess of the supply available locally.

I also worry, in considering whether to change my travel plans, that there may be civil unrest when this happens, especially if the wealthy core and tourists are being taken care of while locals are suffering.

Mileage Lover

Given the current restrictions and pending Day Zero, I'm wondering whether this would fall under most travel insurance policies...any thoughts on what category this might fall into?

entmodonata

Anyone with fall/winter 2018 CPT travel plans considering cancelling? I was going to split a 3 week honeymoon between Seychelles, Kruger and Capetown (about a week each) in October 18’ but may be looking for an alternative 3rd destination... such a shame the early warnings weren’t acted on and it’s gotten this bad.

fleur_de_lys

I also worry, in considering whether to change my travel plans, that there may be civil unrest when this happens, especially if the wealthy core and tourists are being taken care of while locals are suffering.[/QUOTE]


Good points. My feeling is that given the fact there is this crisis, tourists would just seem to add an additional burden to an already strapped population. Personally i would probably not go until the situation is a little more stabilized

bgriff

After talking it over with my husband we’ve decided to cancel our trip for this year. Will probably eat some deposits but waiting any longer would start to get into much higher cancellation fees.

I didn’t buy standard travel insurance but I am going to investigate whether the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel coverage will reimburse anything.

I’m debating whether to cancel my flights now (bought nonrefundable coach tickets on KLM through Delta and upgraded them using Delta global upgrades) and eat a change fee, or wait and see if KLM issues a fee waiver if the situation in Cape Town gets worse. It seems likely that there would be a waiver if Day Zero indeed happens. The only downside to waiting to cancel is that I can’t start making rebookings with the large credit I would get back if I did cancel now.

dcd

Day Zero now is push back to April 16 ... due to people are better at conserving water. Our date is to April 8 so we still plan to be there but has contingency in case.

T8191

Just booked again for December, and not the slightest intention of cancelling or amending our plans.

There may possibly be some minor inconveniences, but the Western Cape isn't going to convert to the Kalahari Desert overnight. Do people think that the City is just going to shut down, and hotels close their doors?

Keep Calm, and Carry On. Perhaps that's because we're British?

jsnydcsa

Unless I was some sort of James Bond Spectre-like water-world-domination-mastermind, I wouldn't have the first qualm about traveling to CPT based on the current water crisis. Or, wait, maybe if I were such a person, this would be the exact reason I would travel to CPT!

I traveled and lived throughout SA during the height of electrical load shedding and, while wildly inconvenient and annoying, it was not the end of days. While I'll admit that the concept of water distribution points is still iffy and tricky and this is certainly a sub-optimal situation, it would not change my travel plans (and I'm not even British).

GiraffeGlove

I'll be travelling to Cape Town in mid-February. I'll try to stick to the beer while I'm there and save water for other things

HMPS

Begging your pardon, sounds like a first world proble,. We are spoiled in "using water like water "! Water is becoming scarce all over and as some pundits have said the Third World War will be fought over water. Get some wet wipes!