Blogs from Gauteng, South Africa, Africa
April 30th 2012
After observing the amazing wildlife the Kruger had to offer, I figured it'd be quite the experience to get an even closer look, so as I was planning my trip and my friend Danyan asked if I wanted to experience South African hunting, I replied with an exuberant, "yes!". After staying the night with Danyan, we woke up at a decent time and got all of our supplies sorted. When I heard the shopping list my mouth began to water, but more on that later. While shopping, Danyan could barely keep himself composed he was so excited. He explained that he usually goes hunting twice a year and it's the thing he looks forward to the most. He finds that nothing compares to heading out into the bush with friends, having the experience of the hunt, ... read more
Arrival: Johannesburg and Kruger Park
Published: April 29th 2012Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg
April 26th 2012
Well, after about 30 hours of travelling, I've finally arrived. It was probably the most difficult journey that I've experienced in my travel career. A 4 hour drive to Seattle, 5 hour flight to JFK, 5 hour layover and the remaining time via South African Airways to Johannesburg. But, after only about 6 hours of sleep in 36 hours, I was met with some of the most amazing hospitality at my friend Jan's parent's house. Because it was about 9:30am when we got to the house, I was treated to coffee, "rusks" (which are like a dry fiber bar that you dip in your coffee) pamplemousse, which is like grapfruit, but bigger and sweeter, and some nice conversation with Jan's parents, sister and brother in law. After settling in, I was driven to the Apartheid Museum, ... read more
April 22nd 2012
Went with Steve to Parys in a small Cessna 172 for a Rally. Left Pretoria before sunrise to take off at 7 from Brits Airfield and arrived into Parys one hour later. The flight there was very smooth in the cool crisp air and the view’s just amazing! Met up with Steve’s dad had a good breakfast and attended the briefing before the Rally started. I was invited to do the 2 hour Rally flight and off we went. Steve was the navigator and his dad the pilot. The aim is to find certain locations and then fly over them at a given time. I had the job of identifying specific landmarks but was useless as I was more concerned by avoiding airsickness that eventually caught up with me. I was happy to be back on ... read more
Coffee Bay and community experience
Published: April 18th 2012Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Pretoria
April 18th 2012
Lieve allemaal, Het is hier de afgelopen twee weken zo druk geweest, dat ik amper aan mijn blog toe kom. Ondertussen is het dus weer hoog tijd voor een update! Werken in de Mamelodi townships Ik was gebleven bij mijn eerste ontmoeting met Dr Owen Eales, zo'n 2,5 week geleden. Heel in het kort vertelde hij dat hij liever met de mensen in de townships over hun problemen spreekt, dan dat hij als academicus over de mensen in de townships en hun problemen praat. De afgelopen 10 (15?) jaar heeft in Jemen in heel rurale gebieden gewerkt en nu is hij sinds enkele jaren terug in Zuid-Afrika, zijn geboorteland. Er is hier in die tijd veel veranderd en ook hij zit nog in een leercurve om de Suid Afrikaner gezondheidszorg te doorgronden. Hij is betrokken bij ... read more
March 30th 2012
Lieve allemaal, Bij deze mijn allereerste berichtje vanuit Pretoria, Suid Afrika. Een land vol tegenstrijdigheden, zo blijkt al in mijn eerste paar dagen. Eerste indrukken Bij aankomst op O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg bleek dat het nummer van Albert niet klopte en moest ik alsnog de taxi die in mijn aanbevelingsbrief van de universiteit stond bellen. Gelukkig hoefde ik maar een uur te wachten in een cafe'tje op het vliegveld. Onderweg naar Pretoria gaf ik mijn ogen de kost. Overal rode aarde. Dat was vreselijk lang geleden en ik heb het echt gemist. Zo mooi. Mijn eerste blik op Pretoria was een uitzicht op een park - vlak naast de zesbaans snelweg - met zebra's en giraffes. Je kunt er doorheen fietsen, vertelde de driver. Niet lang daarna reden we door Sunnyside, een van de ... read more
March 21st 2012
The last week or so on the farm we spent at the schools. Teaching at St Basil's everything from English and Maths to HIV awareness; a real eye opener. We played football with the kids in the afternoons, naturally we were made to look terrible by the 9-14 year olds both because of the heat and the fact that we are generally rubbish. We also visited another school on a neighboring farm, much newer than St Basil's, and spent the day there teaching and talking to the headmistress about her plans for the school which currently operates out of her front room. It has been overcast but warm for the last few days of my time in Zim. Since returning to Harare we managed to pack a lot into a few days before I headed back ... read more
March 16th 2012
March 16, 2012 (Johannesburg) After a bumpy but otherwise uneventful Delta Flight 200, a full wide body 777 landed in Johannesburg after 14 hours and 27 minutes of flying. As typical, it was cramped and a fully booked flight, but overall quite smooth. A meal and two snacks ate up some of the time and I watched a movie (J Edgar Hoover) and a few reruns of The Big Bang, snoozed a bit and wandered around where I could every couple of hours. Ore-efe Adesina got the luck of the draw - bulkhead row seat so he was stretching out! Glad he could make it. Ron Hobbs spent most of his time watching chick flicks best I could tell. We've checked into the City Lodge hotel which is attached to the airport so was very handy. ... read more
March 8th 2012
Today was my third day of taking antibiotics, and I could tell that something was wrong. I was getting worse, not better. I had gone fifty-five hours without food, and I was starting to get dehydrated; it was getting to the point that I could barely swallow small sips of water. I couldn't talk without wanting to cry, and even breathing without pain was starting to become an issue. I felt genuinely frightened by this razorblade-like agony. I had never experienced anything like it in my life, and I hope I never do again. The owner of the lodge where I was staying in Johannesburg (yes, we're back in the city now) was a star, and he drove me straight to the Arwyp Hospital in Kempton Park. Some of that visit is a blur, covered by ... read more
March 8th 2012
You might remember a couple of entries previously that I mentioned how my flight to Cape Town had been cancelled by the airline. It's funny how things work out. When I first found out about the flight suspensions, I was pretty annoyed. I think anyone would be. But the day that my plane should have taken off was the day that I was so ill that I needed to be rushed to hospital. If I had had to navigate my way through OR Tambo Airport and take a two hour flight that day...well, it just wouldn't have happened. No amount of money in the world could have made me do it. So I guess it's true what they say; things happen for a reason. I'm now in Pretoria. Going to Cape Town is not an option. ... read more
March 4th 2012
Well, here I am in one of the crime capitals of the world, and I brought with me from Zambia a new stamp in my passport, souvenirs that I didn't really want but felt obliged to buy, and a course of antibiotics for the gastric infection that somewhere, somehow, I managed to pick up. Luckily you can buy antibiotics over the counter here, without a prescription, which saved me a lot of time and hassle. At this point I'd like to backtrack a little, and apologise to Johannesburg for calling it a crime capital. Because although that's the reputation that it's ended up with, the reality doesn't quite live up to the hype. I was expecting to have to lock the car door whenever we stopped at traffic lights, or be on constant high alert for ... read more
