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Tour guides from Steenberg, Claremont, Retreat, Durbanville, Bo-Kaap, Milnerton and Valhalla Park let their hair down as they went on an entertaining train trip recently.
The guides left their prim and proper attire at their offices and went on a Metrorail-organised outing from Cape Town Station to Muizenberg to celebrate Women’s Day on Thursday 9 August.
No-one new that some of them are adrenaline-junkies, up for a challenge or foot-explorers.
“Following the success of the Women in Tourism campaign hosted by Metrorail in 2017, we decided to host a similar event this year. We opted for the train trip in partnership with the City of Cape Town, Muizenberg Improvement District and many other vested groups, to re-discover the joys of travelling by train and to explore the bustling coastal town of Muizenberg,” said Daphne Kayster of Metrorail.
“To make the day extra special for the women they were pampered with goodie-bags, sweetened-up by Dunkin’ Donuts and wined-and dined from the moment they arrived at Cape Town Station, on the train and lunch in the Muizenberg Civic Centre. On the train we also had representatives from different organisations to inform the women of services available to them as tour guides and parents,” Kayster said.
Lots of prizes were up for grabs in lucky draws and impromptu concerts at stalls held at the Civic Centre.
The tour guides were divided into groups and could choose to be part of surfing, historical, cultural or environmental guided walks, Graffiti Tour, Village Art Route tour or a unique, fun-filled theatre experience with Circle Productions.
“The adrenaline-junkies all opted for the surfing experience and they even dared the Mayco member (South), Eddie Andrews, to down his suit and put on a wetsuit. Some women overshadowed his prowess by staying on their surfboards while he was battling to stand up on his board and landed time and again unceremoniously in the cold seawater. Luckily the ‘surfers’ brought extra clothing for the trip homeward bound. Afterwards he challenged his co-surfers for a re-run to restore his dignity,” Kayster chuckled.
The best part of the day was spent exploring Muizenberg. The foot-explorers could experience the Battle of Muizenberg first-hand and visit other interesting historical sites.
“We all know the difficulties that Metrorail experienced the past month with trains being destroyed and commuters not reaching their destinations in time. Metrorail are experiencing challenges within the rail environment, and if we had delays on the day, we apologized in advance for this. For one day we left all our headaches behind and just enjoyed the day with the women in tourism,” Keith Richards, marketing manager of Metrorail, said.
Richard said he received positive feedback from the women and now Metrorail has to up the ante for next year.
