a dream becomes reality

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a big jambo to all! (hello in kiswahili)

i hope this finds everyone doing fabulously! its been about six weeks since my last entry and in that time i have been getting to know the glorious continent of africa.

'safari' in kiswahili means journey, and the last month has been exactly that. it was a bittersweet moment to leave buenos aires at the end of april. 4+ months of exploring south america had been exhilarating, challenging, and rewarding. it was the perfect start to this trip and helped to instill a strong sense of adventure and travel confidence. buenos aires, which back on January 3rd seemed a mirage of all things different and intriguing, had transformed into a home away from home. i felt a moderate amount of trepidation about leaving (which literally flushed itself out since I missed the first flight and had to wait out another four days for the next one!) but ultimately, the vast Savannah's and mosaic of african cultures were waiting and it didn't take too much to become an embodiment of excitement and anticipation.

the flight to cape town was on malasian air, my first time on a two story airplane - complete with bar and lounge area. i repeatedly spoke spanish to the very understanding malasian flight attendants (a habit that i am finding increasingly hard to break...just today i replied with a light and airy, "no gracias!" to a craftsman on the street). I spent most of the 8 hour flight reminiscing on the last four months, while simultaneously trying to switch gears and comprehend the soon to be real dream of landing in africa. my vision of africa has always been of an enormous, mysterious and enchanting place. I envisioned colorful images of unending Savannah's, gigantic sunsets, massive animal herds, and colorful tribal communities. these images are a collage created from years of reading books, watching movies, and following political and social events covered in newspapers and interpreted on the big screens of Hollywood. i was looking forward to how these images would play out.

the plane landed in cape town early in the morning, with the sun piercing through the few wispy clouds in an otherwise clear blue sky. there were only a few people in the airport, and i had a weird feeling of time being temporarily stopped. my first impressions were of a modern and very clean airport facility, with English in surround sound and readable signs and posters.

the next few days spent in cape town would prove to be a strange mix of first world infrastructure and 'familiar' sights and sounds, eerily overlapped with a more distant and initially less apparent sense of unrest and tension. as you probably know, south africa has a harried history beset with colonial rule, oppressive government, and apartheid. The country was originally founded by the Dutch East India Trading Company in 1652 due to its logistical strength
as a stop over for the trade routes from India. It was included in the immense British Colonial expansion of the 1800's, and finally in 1910 was founded as the Union of South Africa - creating a self-governing british colony and granting all political control to the whites. in 1948 the Africaner National Party (whites) won elections and soon began passing and imposing racially targeted laws such as the Group Areas Act, which segregated the population based on the color of its skin (blacks, coloureds, and whites) and stripped blacks of their basic human rights. hundreds of thousands of people were forced into resettlement's due to a grand engineering scheme based on race and color. the following 50 years were filled with massive political and social struggles, encompassing all of the brutality, repression and inequality of authoritative regimes.
Through the persistent and unwavering efforts of men like Nelson Mandela and political forces such as the African National Congress, apartheid was technically dismantled in 1994. The African National Congress won the majority of government seats and Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president, ending almost 30 years of his imprisonment and personal struggle. Today's South Africa is made up of approximately 44 million people (5 million white), has 11 officially recognized languages (english and africaans being predominate), and a surprisingly large number of different tribes and ethnicity's. It's currently the leading economy in all of Africa and is home to gorgeous terrain, an entire floral/fauna environment, world class game parks, cosmopolitan cities, and quality wine growing regions. However, the country is also still is riddled with the mass poverty, unemployment, and AIDS.
Modern Cape Town is unarguably an extremely picturesque city, resting at the bottom tip of the African continent, and connecting the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The handsome plateau of Table Mountain frames the backdrop, and one can find endless views, gorgeous beaches, rolling mountains, and lush vineyards within a few kilometers. It's geography and weather remind me a lot of San Fransicso. From the top of Table Mountain, i witnessed my first african sunset - a artisan mesh of brilliant reds, golds, yellows, and oranges - with the golden orb of the sun center stage, gracefully sinking below the horizontal plane of glass like water. There are numerous activities and short trips to keep you busy for weeks - including a visit to Robben Island (where Mandela was incarcerated), township tours (where thousands still live in extreme poverty), vineyard visits, park trips, botanical gardens, and my ultimate favorite..a thrilling and unforgettable swim with the great whites!

Overall, it was a good transitional beginning to africa. I hope that by my next visit, there has been even more progress to diminish racial tensions and the still ever present disparity between rich and poor.

Cape Town was also the launching off point for our 21 day overland trip, taking us from Cape Town to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe/Zambia border). 'Overlanding' is a popular way to travel through Africa, as the routes and infrastructure are not yet as developed from a tourism or solo backpacking perspective. Overlanding consists of: one very large truck, an international mix of fellow backpackers, some tents, some food, and a big sense of adventure!
Our group consisted of 3 Brits, 3 aussies, rick and myself, and our fabulous crew; Jo - aussie leader extraordinaire, Mikey - amazing Kenyan wonder chef; and John - who brilliantly navigated us over thousands of demanding kilometers and potholes. We all quickly bonded and were kept entertained and on our toes by the british and aussie humor and wit. A collective effort was made each day in putting up the tents, setting up camp, and helping with food prep and general miscellaneous upkeep. New words were learned and re-learned and i have come away with a burgeoning new vocabulary that i look forward to using in Austrailia later this year. Some of my favorites include: thongs, jumper, knickers, 'can't be bothered', eske, tosser, knob, reckon (verb), and 'crikee, moses'! A beginning effort was also made to start chipping away at KiSwahili (mostly spoken in East Africa), which will come in handy when i reach Tanzania. So far, my favorite phrase is "Hiwi Nini??" (pronounced exactly how it looks)..which means "what is that?". A phase that is both extremely useful when in a new country and culture, as well as just plain fun to say!

The first week or so of the journey took us up the western coast of South Africa, over the Orange River, past Fish River Canyon, and into Namibia. We spent a day exploring the dunes of the impressive Namib desert, one of the oldest in the world and unbelievably impressive sprawl of silky, burnt orange sand. We were taken on a 3-4 hour desert walk and learned a bit about the plant and animal life that exists in the Sossus, as well as a bit of history about the Bushman tribe. Boys...if you are ever considering marrying a woman in the bushman tribes of the namib, start fine tuning your hunting skills. To win a girl's hand, one must find and kill an Orynx (very stately looking fellows, in the antelope family...and very hard to catch and kill) with a spear-like bow and arrow, and then be the first to cut off its tail to bring back to her parents. We also made the trek up the famous 'dune 45' for an unforgettable bird's eye view and colorful sunset. the sand is like silk under your feet and creates a pristine and renewing velvet carpet, due to the constant billowing of the wind.

Our first weekend layover was in the town of Skawkopmund, where an adrenaline junkie would be in heaven. Perched right on the ocean, there is sky diving, sand boarding, and dune racing galore. I opted to relax and enjoy my few nights of a dorm bed. Memories of the ice shards of Bolivia still to recent, i think!

For all of you pop culture junkies...you'll be interested to know we were also precariously close to hollywood's "golden couple", reportedly giving birth about 13Km's away. Unfortunately, no run-in's were had, but we did enjoy bar space with the bands of international paparazzi camped out waiting to make millions. strange job if you give it too much thought! we offered to rig up a few poses for them in case they were unlucky with catching brangelina or babe, but no one seemed to be jumping at the offer. their loss!

some things in Africa work differently than the western world. one being time...and one being Internet access. its a bit of a struggle to find a consistent connection, but more updates to follow as soon as possible!

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Photos

Cape Town's Table Mountain
table mountain framing cape town and the bay

my first african sunset
from the top of table mountain, overlooking the indian ocean and city

a long way from home
a reminder of being half way around the world

fire up the grill!
nightly food prep for one of mikey's scrumptous culinary creations

fish river caynon
supposedly the second largest canyon, following the grand, located on the south african/namibia border. 161km long, up to 27kms wide and about 550m deep, the outer canyon wasw formed by tectonic activity and the inner by natural erosion of fish river.

dunes of the namib
the namib desert is one of the oldest on the planet. over 65 massive, undulating dunes stretch across most of western namibia, connecting the kalihari to the atlantic.

climbing to the top of dune 45
we all made the 45 minute hike up dune 45 to take in the evening's sunset and infinite stretch of desert and grains of sand.

Comments

[Rick]

What an experience
I relived the experience again just reading it.. you capture it so eloquently! Keep on!