The Tip of Africa

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It’s been four weeks since my last entry and a lot of territory has been covered since. From Zanzibar I ferried over to Dar es Salaam where I spent three days, which was three too many. Dar has all the humidity and mold of Zanzibar without the exotic flavor. My flight connected through Nairobi and arrived at midnight in Johannesburg—or Jo’Burg as they all say here.

Everyone warns you about how dangerous JoBurg is so I booked a morning flight on to Cape Town. That left me the option of finding a place to stay at midnight for a few hours or sleeping in the airport. I was ready to find a place near the airport but all these guys at the information booth descended on me. Their intent was to persuade me to stay in their guesthouse. One guy was particularly persistent and even followed me from the international to the domestic terminal--which gave me the creeps. Finally, I told him to bug off and he told me “F you”. I just laughed but was glad I'd paid attention to my gut.

That left my second option: sleeping at the airport. There was a room someone showed me with about six snoring guys sprawled out all over. The only remaining space was on the floor. That wasn’t for me so with a bit of looking I found a row of seats to stretch out over and managed a few winks. I do not recommend this. Actually, there is a web site called “sleeping in airports.com” which rates the various airports around the world for just this. In the end, it worked out being at the airport because in the morning I was able to catch an earlier flight to Cape Town.

Flying over South Africa gives you the chance to see the country from the air. There is a lot of empty land here. The central part of this country is largely desert. As soon as you near Cape Town, you begin to see signs of agriculture—mainly vineyards. I arrived without booking a room so I called a backpackers (hostel) and they sent a taxi to pick me up. A nice start to what appeared to be a beautiful area.

The first thing I needed to do was take care of my health. Whatever I had picked up in Kenya had come back and was really wearing me down—so much so that I questioned whether or not to end my trip sooner than planned. I still had a return ticket to Istanbul and another from Paris to SF so it wouldn’t be difficult to get home.

The wonderful ladies at the backpackers made some calls and got me in to see a good doctor. She ordered some tests and, as suspected, the results showed giardia. She prescribed a strong dose of antibiotics, which seemed to do the trick. Just to give you an idea of medical costs here: a comprehensive first time doctor's visit: $86, lab work: $10, drugs: $1.20. S. Africa is a good place to get sick.

Cape Town has a very organized spectrum of tours that are promoted by all the backpackers but I had not felt up to taking them. You can tour the Cape Peninsula and see whales and penguins. You can visit a township, see Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned or go on a wine tasting tour.

For the time being, alcohol was off limits, so wine tasting would have to wait. The township tours are conducted by people who live there so the money stays in the community. Townships are where most of the black South Africans live—many in shantytown shacks made of corrugated metal with plastic scraps for roofs. Some of the better homes are made of blocks and improved housing is slowly being built. The tour covered several townships.

We went to a shebeen, an illegal beer-brewing house—made only by women but only visited by men. You can see me pretend drinking a sample from a bucket. We saw women preparing sheep’s heads for sale and then dropped in on a traditional medicine healer. He had all kinds of strange animal parts hanging from the ceiling, along with herbs and roots of every description—all very exotic. The people here are from the Xhona tribe. They are the ones that speak with that clicking sound that is impossible to imitate. Our guide gave us a very entertaining sample of the sound.

We also visited a sweet old man who shared his tiny room with two others. He shook everyone’s hand and seemed genuinely pleased to have us in his home. The highlight for me was going to a daycare center where three women took care of about thirty kids in a tiny two-room home. The smaller ones were being fed out of the same bowl—efficient if not hygienic. One baby was sleeping outside between two tires set in the ground as “bumpers”. In my old life as a day care licenser, this would have freaked out the powers that be, but here it seemed a good thing. The kids were loved and cared for and off the street, which was the intent of the lovely woman who ran the place.

Another beautiful day was spent with two sisters from Oregon touring the Cape Peninsula in a car. What a spectacular place this is where the wild and misty Atlantic meets the calmer waters of the Indian Ocean. At the southern tip is a National Reserve where we saw families of baboons, ostrich and many birds. The Cape of Good Hope is the most "southeastern" point of South Africa and was significant for passing ships in the old days. It's an absolutely gorgeous area with bays, inlets, rocky shorelines and crashing waves.

The flora of this region is extraordinary. The Cape Province region is the smallest of one of the six “Floral Kingdoms” of the world. These are areas so unique, with their own distinct plant life, so as to be classified as such. Proteas, ericas and fynbos (fine bush) are examples of flowers indigenous to this area. Luckily for me, it’s springtime now and everything is in bloom.

The girls (Tara & Raleigh) were totally delightful and are in the midst of a RTW trip. They’ve just come from S. America and from here were heading on to Malaysia and Thailand. We splurged at a fish restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean and saw penguins and spouting whales on the way back from the Cape.

Table Mountain is smack dab in the center of Cape Town. It looms 2000’ above sea level and none of my photos capture its essence. When I finally felt better I took the cableway up to the top of the mountain. The view is awesome but it was so cold and windy on top that you needed a facemask and gloves. After walking around for an hour or so, I made my way to the restaurant where everyone was huddled over hot chocolate and tea.

The surface of Table Mountain covers a huge area and is very rocky. Beautiful and rugged plants and flowers thrive in crevices all over. The views are incredible as you see all of Cape Town and the sea below. 360 degree views are possible if you walk to the various lookout points. Another odd thing about the rocks here: they are gray & black on the outside but where pieces have broken off, the inside is red.

Just as I was leaving the warm confines of the restaurant, the sirens blew calling everyone down off the mountain. The winds were too strong for them to risk running the cableway much longer. Each circular cable car holds about 60 people and rotates on its way up and down so all passengers get a good view.

One day Liam & Declan, the Irish guys from Zanzibar, showed up at my hostel. It was good to see them since I thought they might have already come and gone to Cape Town. We walked down to see a Homeless World Cup tournament—England vs. Sweden. It was fun—and free of course. Most of the players looked like they’d been on the streets for a while, but they sure could kick the ball.

After that, we checked out some street markets and then said our goodbyes. They were off to a Rugby game and would be flying back to the UK to complete their last year of medical school. Nice, nice guys and I wish them the best.

Since I had to be in one place for a while, “The Backpack” was a great choice. They had a nice restaurant/bar area and over my two-week stay, I met many interesting people. Aside from the typical twenty year olds, it surprised me how many guests were professionals on shorter holidays—mostly from Europe. There were two pediatricians, a stockbroker, attorney, web designer and a business exec, to name a few. Most were in their late 30’s-early 40’s and one retired couple was in their 70’s. They had several single and double rooms and my room was a four-bed dorm, which was also nice.

As a visitor to South Africa, it’s very difficult to form an accurate picture of the current state of the country post Apartied. I’ve tried to absorb as much as possible and have had discussions with mainly Europeans about our impressions. My contacts have been mostly with South African whites and they seem to hold much hope for the future of the country and have embraced many of the changes. Here in Cape Town, reconciliation seems to be the prevailing intent.

However, the problems are huge. While changes are occurring, they happen slowly—too slowly for most blacks. Housing is being built but most people do not want to leave the townships because it’s where their friends and families are. This I heard from blacks. The whites have all the wealth and they don’t want to loose it. The blacks mostly live in poverty and many continue to move from the homelands into the townships near the cities. They build more shanties pushing the township boundaries outward thereby taxing already overcrowded conditions. Unemployment is at 40% and many lack education and are ill-prepared for employment. All these conditions are the result of the many years of Apartied and everyone must pay for it. Many realize this and many others have left the country. Attitudes in the Africaaner areas of S. Africa are very different and, from what I hear, they have not taken the changes so easily.

Crime is considered to be the biggest problem by whites and everyone here has security gates, bars on windows and walls covered with barbed wire. I've learned three gate codes since my arrival. You are told not to walk alone at night and one guy I met said he was mugged at three in the afternoon.

Public transportation here is limited and the only bus is a hop on, hop off type for tourist spots. If it’s too far to walk, you can take these things called “Rikkis”, which are stripped-down tiny vans that you get in from the back, with benches along the side. The drivers are all big burly guys wearing tank tops who push the little engines to their limits, speeding you off to your destination—all for about 20 Rand ($3).

Prices are cheap in S. Africa compared to what we’re used to spending. Restaurant quality is very good and meals cost 30-50% less than what you'ld pay at home. Wine is also very cheap and very good: $1:50-$2:00 a glass.

My room at The Backpack was rented out because I had forgotten to reserve it longer. It was time to get my own room so I moved to another backpackers just up the street where I had my own room and a tub. What a luxury a bathtub is on the road.

Two sisters (from the D.C. area) were in the room next door. One of them was doing international work--also monitoring elections in the Congo. She knew the man I had met in Zanzibar who was doing the same. She worked for a US agency and was in daily contact with him. Small world! Her sister also had my same camera, so for the time being, I was set for charging my camera—and just in the nick of time. Fortunately, I ordered one from a local camera shop, and will no longer need to resort to the kindness of strangers for that service.

Now that I'm well, it is time for a change as it's been a long stay in Cape Town. I'm renting a car and will be heading up to the beautiful Cape Winelands area and will let you know how that goes.

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