The architecture is organized entirely around those two axes, turning the site's constraints into its greatest asset. Rather than fighting the narrow footprint, the design leans into it - producing a continuous, open living space that flows visually from front to back.
There was a real feeling of community, and many of the houses felt like open studios; artists had taken over spaces to exhibit and sell their work. Ogilvie didn't know it at the time, but the Ford Cortina in the shot is a familiar feature of the area, and is known affectionately as Cortie.
The collection of buildings and rooms feel like they have been there forever. Each space and room is unique, and not in a cloying way. It's as if the hotel organically grew over time with a storied history to accompany it-inhabited by convivial ghosts you'd want to meet. Surprisingly, the Dorp was built from the ground up less than a decade ago, opening its doors in 2019.
Since I met my husband in 2005, we've built a life on the move. Both of us work remotely - him as a software engineer and me as a travel writer - and we've lived in many parts of the world, including Singapore, US, UK, Netherlands, Bali, Spain, and Mexico. As a digital nomad family, we set up temporary home bases in each country and travel from there.
A frisky Cape fur seal swam up to investigate. She wove in and out of the golden-hued kelp, curiously side-eyeing me as she popped up to the surface, then darted right up to me. I saw a flash of teeth, but she wasn't snarling; she was blowing bubbles in my face. I watched her play for a while before the frigid temperature drove me back to our boat.
Protection rackets are not a popular topic among bar owners in Cape Town. "You just adapt," says a man from East Africa who does not want to give his name. "The laws of the street apply here." German bar owner Randolf Jorberg learned what these laws look like in 2015. After he spoke publicly for the first time about extortion practices in the restaurant industry and refused to pay, a Congolese bouncer working for him was stabbed to death.
