Water slides are cracked open and filled with sand, and the once-bright paint has faded into pastel hues against the dunes. The Macassar Beach Pavilion in Cape Town has been abandoned to let nature reclaim the water park.
The pavilion is part of the Macassar Dunes Reserve which is comprised of 2,760 acres. Signs in the reserve warn of “dunes on the move,” and they don’t lie, as the sand that has wafted into former concession stands and changing rooms confirms. The Macassar Beach Pavilion was built around 1991, and along with the dunes was named for the Sheikh of Yusuf, a Macassar nobleman who died at the Cape in 1699, whose grave is nearby.