Meet a local fishing family. Assist in the preparation of a delicious three-course seafood meal in their kitchen. Take a walking tour of the township, hear of its history and learn how to handle local fish. This, and much more, is what to expect of an Ocean View township food tour.
Perhaps it Cheryl Wyngaard’s passion for people, or her big heart, that makes you want to sit in her modest dining room in Cape Town's Ocean View township and listen to stories of this small fishing community while on a township food tour.
Ocean View is a township near the fishing village of Kommetjie, approx. 45 minutes drive from the centre of Cape Town. It is here where members of South Africa’s coloured community were forcibly moved in 1968 under the Apartheid regime. Most families in Ocean View eek out a living through the catching and selling of fish.
As a young woman, Wyngaard decided to get into the tourism industry, and in the process has helped uplift her community while sharing their traditional way of life with travellers. Wyngaard started her tourism business with a tiny yellow boat, taking visitors out to catch crayfish. According to Wyngaard, her ancestors, who arrived from South America, were among the first fishermen to introduce hand line fishing to the Cape. Many of Ocean View's fishermen still use this practice today.
Wyngaard's husband Stephen and son Melshaw – a registered tourist guide – teach the art of hand line fishing to travellers on boat excursions around the Cape Peninsula. Today Wyngaard operates fishing excursions with three motorised boats. Melshaw also takes guests on guided township experience tours around Ocean View to visit community upliftment projects and to meet the locals.
A popular stop on the tourist map is Wyngaard's home in Ocean View, where visitors help her prepare a delicious three-course seafood lunch or dinner, and then dine while listening to her fascinating tales about her family and the Ocean View community.
Wyngaard's big heart extends to helping her community, and she and her family feed 400 children daily. For some, it's their only meal of the day. Wyngaard lives by the motto 'the more you give, the more you get back' – and giving is what she does best.