The Tygerberg region is
South Africa's in microcosm, for here you will find the vibrant
settlement of Khayelitsha almost cheek-by-jowl with well-groomed, up-market residential suburbs, industrial hubs and commercial centres, wine
farms and nature reserves, sports stadiums and shopping malls. And
all within a stone's throw of the attractions of Cape Town and the West
Coast, the Winelands and the Overberg. Tyger Valley Centre and the
new Cape Gate shopping malls are where the locals shop. Considered
to be the retail hart of the fairest Cape where international shoppers
feel at home and Capetonians are proud to call their own.
A number of theatres
and music venues - inducing the Bellville Velodrome (City's largest
multi-purpose indoor venue and international sports facility) provide a
year-round programme of live entertainment. Durbanville is also
fast becoming the culture hub in Tygerberg with "Die Boer", "Durbanville's Kuns Kafee" & performances at D'Aria
to only mention a few. The astonishing Grand West Casino Complex
offers gaming as well as many different
restaurants, two hotels, a high-tech children's entertainment centre and
an Olympic sized ice rink.
Many large corporations
have their head offices here because of Tygerberg's convenient situation
- it is only 25km from the Cape Town city centre and 17km from
Stellenbosch.
The densely populated
settlements of Khayelitsha reflects the political turbulence of our
apartheid past. Experience the life of the locals and their
colourful traditions of dance, their "shebeens" and folk medicines.
The Durbanville Wine
route produce some of South Africa's finest Wines. It is the
coolest wine producing area in the country and boast rich, red soils, a
variety of slope aspects and heavy localised dews which, together, create
unique conditions for the cultivation of unique wines. Six wine
estates are open to the public for tasting and sales.
Tygerberg is part of
the unique Cape Floral Kingdom, and boast 5 public Nature Reserves.
The Durbanville Nature Reserve protects a portion of the endangered Renosterveld (a vegetation type) as well as coastal and mountain fynbos.
Adapted from Cape Town
and Surrounds, 2005
