Africa’s biggest kite festival – the Cape Town International Kite Festival – will take place in the Zandvlei Nature Reserve in Muizenberg, on October 27 and 28.
The annual festival, which was launched in 1993 by Cape Mental Health to support South Africa’s oldest mental health charity, attracts over 20 000 visitors from across the globe each year, including China, England, Germany and Poland, and across South Africa.
Kite-makers and kite-fliers from around the world travel to the Western Cape to take part in the event, through professional kiting displays – including giant inflatables – stunt kites, and Rokakkau kite fighting.
The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Rise Up And Fly’, with the hosts saying: “Cape Mental Health is taking our 24th Cape Town International Kite Festival to new heights. This year we plan to ‘Rise Up’ again on 27 and 28 October at Zandvlei, Muizenberg, to present Africa’s biggest kite festival. We look forward to hosting kiters from around the world – and filling the skies with kites that inspire and delight children and adults alike.”
Director of Cape Mental Health and president elect of the World Federation for Mental Health, Ingrid Daniels, adds: “We believe everyone is born with potential to rise up beyond life’s circumstances. Our mission and the services we provide help people realise this potential and overcome mental health challenges they may encounter. Kites are one of the tools we use. Almost everyone feels inspired when they simply lift their heads and look up.”
The festival has offerings for the whole family, including the Edukite Schools’ Competition, Heritage Kite Competition, colouring-in competition for kids, play area, live entertainment, a food market, tea garden, picnic area and other arts and crafts. Non-competitive kite flyers can also bring their own kites, purchase kites at the venue, or take part in a free kite-making workshop to build their own kites.
While in the Cape, visitors can experience some of the many tourism offerings that the region has to offer, including diving with Great White sharks, whale watching, seeing the fynbos blooming, Table Mountain hiking, visiting Robben Island and other cultural and heritage experiences – amongst myriad more.
