South Africa 2017: May 24-25

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Last day in South Africa. We have pretty much the whole day free, as our plane departs in the evening. The prospect of nothing on the itinerary for the day is liberating. For the first time in over two weeks, we are able to simply relax and enjoy the beautiful weather and surroundings. Oh, and repack everything, because our suitcases are in total disarray.

We have breakfast included but not lunch or supper, so we strategically wait until 10:30 so we can get well stocked for the homeward journey. It is a simple but nice spread, basically American-style.

We stroll the grounds of the Seasons resort, getting the lay of the place. There are a number of couples with young families staying here. The resort has lots of options for kids, including a couple of water slides and pools, as well as the usual plastic climbing apparatus. I mentioned earlier that there are impalas and kudus wandering the grounds. They are not afraid of humans but will not let you approach them. There's also a bird-watching house where you can climb to an upper storey with a partially camouflaged view of the creek where the water birds hang out.

We are picked up at 5 pm by a young man named Joseph. It's a 1 1/2 hour drive to the Tambo international airport. I strike up a conversation with Joseph. He only works part-time as a driver for Touchdown but hopes to get on full-time eventually. The rest of the time he works as an Uber driver, which seems to have almost completely usurped the traditional taxi system.

It occurs to me that the name of the airport, Tambo, is similar to Tembo, which I know is the Swahili word for elephant. I ask Joseph about it. Clearly, no one has ever asked him this question before. He tells me that the airport is named after a politician (Oliver Reginald Tambo, a former President of the African National Congress) but that it's possible that the man's name was originally derived from the Swahili word. Or maybe he's just being polite to a tourist's dumb question.

Successful check-in. Long wait for the plane. We take off about 11 pm local time. Our journey takes us to Amsterdam and then to Montréal on KLM, then a bus trip from PET airport to the Ottawa train station. I have to say that I am greatly impressed with KLM. On both the outbound and homeward bound journeys, I found KLM to be first-class. We arrive home at 8 pm local time the next day (May 25), completely knackered.

This was an awesome trip. We have wanted to visit South Africa for a long time and have no regrets or disappointments. Of course, people will ask: What was the highlight? In Cape Town, there are many obvious choices: the top of Table Mountain, the Cape of Good Hope, Robben Island, the visit to the townships. But as interesting and beautiful as Cape Town is, it is a city with similarities to many other cities. On the other hand, our experience on safari was something that will remain etched in my memories my entire life, because it was something completely outside any existing frame of reference. In my mind's eye, I can still see the savannah in the early morning, a mist flowing from the river into the low-lying areas, the sun just peaking out from behind the mountains, and in the distance of a line of giraffes walking slowly and elegantly through the mist and trees. And nothing can compare to a pack of impalas or springbok bouncing away as if on springs through the underbrush. It seemed surreal, but it was completely real and completely magical.

In terms of highlights, I would be remiss not to mention to standing next to Tembo, the largest living being I have ever touched. But the #1 highlight has to be rolling around giraffe poop in my mouth in preparation for a spitting contest.

The other take-away is a deeper understanding of the astonishing revolution that has reshaped South Africa in the past three decades. The country has completely reinvented itself, turning its back on an untenable system based on apartheid to become a democratic state. The transition is still under way, of course, but the progress that has been made is simply astonishing. I feel privileged to have visited places like Robben Island, District 6 and the townships that bring into sharp reality the incredible journey that South Africa has taken.

Now, I am simply a tourist, and I have no doubt that there are all kinds of undercurrents flowing by of which I am not aware. However, my impressions of race relations were very positive. It's clear that for the older generation that suffered under apartheid, the wounds have not yet completely healed. But young people are the key to the future, and for them apartheid is part of history—an important part, to be sure, but something that does not hold them in thrall. We saw many crowds of young people with faces of all races and colours. We saw several young mixed couples holding hands and strolling around. My impression is that the young people are making the leap that their parents' generation fought for but is unable to fully make.

Another thing that struck me is that South Africans in general are obsessed with defining themselves in terms on what categories they fit into. I remember my conversation with Kobus, who defines himself more or less in order as a South African, a coloured (no pejorative connotation), and an Afrikaans-speaking coloured. He said outright "I'm proud to be an Afrikaans coloured." Godfrey, our guide for the townships visit, defines himself in terms of his tribal affiliation; he is Xhosa, with a specific set of relationships that we can only begin to understand within that tribe. This kind of thinking is foreign to most Canadians. At least it is to me. I wonder whether this kind of personal pigeon-holing is holding the country back from full assimilation.

I should also reiterate how warm and welcoming we found South Africans to be. Of course, the staff on resorts are paid to be polite to tourists, but we had many casual interactions with ordinary people, and they were with only a few exceptions extremely positive. Even in the townships, people greeted us with a smile or friendly nod. I realize that we were largely kept in a safe cocoon, but I honestly believe that in general South Africans have a tradition of hospitality.

I already want to go back.

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Comments

[Marva]

Thank you
Nice record of your adventure. We went twice and would gladly go again. There is still so much we missed even though we repeated nothing on the second trip and I am sure you feel the same. Next tune, give us a shout and I shall give you some tips about time to go and places we went. Or come for a visit to Qualicum Beach :)