South Africa Midlands Day 12

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As I am told I often start these blogs with the with the word well I thought I should stick with tradition and start;

Well we have had another amazing day, and as it often is with our holidays this has been a day when we have gone off the traditional route and avoided guides and gone by word of mouth.

After another fantastic breakfast this morning we went off to the local trading store. This is a very local shop designed and stocked as it should be to serve the local community, but whilst there we met the owner who explained the services they provide other than that of just a shop. They provide money transfer services where transient workers can transfer cash to their families, they operate as a post office paying pensions and child benefit etc (using biometric fingerprinting), they operate a bus service to transport people to the store two days a week and the same vehicle carries out deliveries the other three days.

But then came the interesting items that don’t make them money, the owner provides computer training courses to local teachers, working on the principal that for every person he trains four will benefit through collaborative learning (his words not mine). He trained originally as an electrical engineer and now operates as the consultant engineer to the local area. As we are discovering on this holiday this is how so much of this country now operates.

The lodge where we are staying is a good example of this, the manager is about to go on maternity leave. The person taking over from her has worked in this industry for four years, has worked here for two months but the managers of this chain, who I might add live on site here, think and accept he is ready to take on running this exclusive establishment.

We also so found out this evening after another wonderful meal that they train their own staff here, they take on local staff with no skills and work them through a training programme to create first class chefs, and they rotate the staff through the domestic duties so they all have a full understanding of all of the elements of the hospitality industry.

This morning we also went back to Rorkes Drift to visit the craft shop, another shopathon was on the way as Meg bought more goods for us to transport home. We also called in to Fugitives Drift and found the grave or more likely the memorial to Melville and Coghillwho were the first people to be awarded posthumous Victoria crosses after the battle of Isandlwana. It was a very poignant reminder of the ferocity of the battle were graves are marked with cairns of white stones, one such cairn is piled up against a large rock where the solider must have died after escaping from the battle.

We finished off the day with another game drive in the afternoon where Meg was able to walk with the giraffes, as well as seeing lots of other game.

Ah well, another day on the road tomorrow, as we travel to Johannesburg on our last full day here before we return home.

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

Fabulous photo! :)

[RENanDREW]

Fabulous photo! :)