Exciting update: An article I wrote about the march through the city has been published on the Reserve Force Division website! Here is the PDF document.
The Het Historisch Tamboerkorps van der Koninklijke Marechaussee march through the Lions Gate
Capetonians and visitors to the City Centre were given a wonderful little treat at lunchtime on Monday, in the form of a march by participants in the 2012 Tattoo.
They marched from the Castle and back again via Strand Street, Adderley Street and Darling Street, followed by a convoy of impressive military vehicles.
The strong south-easter that was roaring down from Table Mountain for most of the day, did not dampen the participants’ spirits – although it did whip off some of their hats and give additional lift to those musicians who happened to be carrying bass drums and tubas! Unexpected gusts of wind funnelling down between the narrow streets and tall buildings at an intersection or two also did their best to rearrange the otherwise neat formations! But everyone took these little mishaps in their stride and with a healthy dose of good humour.
Click on any of the pictures below to be taken to the photo-caroussel.
And to find out more about the Tattoo and the Castle of Good Hope, go here.
Grains of Sand 
I am impressed with your enthusiasm for these great shows 🙂
Btw: Do you know “Sugarman”? And the film about him? : I was at the cinema and watched the documentary “Searching for Sugarman” yesterday. It was the most touching and amazing documentary film I remember ever having seen! Imagine having lived in the United States in poor circumstances as construction worker for 40 years – while being one of the most famous and popular and selling musicians in one – just ONE – other country on the other side of the world: South Africa!!
Hi Truels
So many people have told us to see the documentary! I hope we can still catch it.
It sounds most interesting; I have been so out of the loop recently, that I don’t even know if it’s showing here…
I did not know that, Truels! Wow!
It must be impressive to see this parade walking down the city streets. Great photos Reggie.
Thank you, Rosie, it was amazing. The greatest difficulty – well, apart from the wind! – was the fact that the bands left almost one-by-one. I thought they would all be moving out in one parade, but they didn’t – they had to keep ‘musical distance’ between them, otherwise they’d become confused by the different drumming beats and rhythms. I didn’t know this before! So I ended up sprinting back and forth between the Castle gate and the street – no mean featon those cobblestones. And once the final band had left the Castle, I ran alongside them until they were joined by the convoy, and then took a shortcut across the Grand Parade… so I missed the entire parade going up Adderley Street. Running with my heavy camera-gear through the crowds was exhausting, I can tell you. I was totally out of breath when I reached the City Hall in Darling Street, but that’s where I managed to take some really nice shots of the bands walking past our beautiful old City Hall. By then, I’d unfortunately missed the front of the Parade, which was such a pity! It was one of those situations where I would’ve loved to send two copies of myself to other vantage points!
Great photos as always, Reggie. Just read your reply to Rosie’s comment – sounds like you have to be really fit to be a photo-journalist!
It wouldn’t be Cape Town without the wind, would it?
You know, Lisa, I think a lost two or three kilos from running around all the time last week! It was fabulous, and I am so pleased I had the opportunity to be part of this.
Yeah, the wind… that was quite something… I’m glad that it settled down towards the end of the week, though.