Africa
I arrived in Cape Town and was very unwell. Both times i have left India I have been unwell yet I was never ill when I was there!
Cape Town had some interesting sights including table mountain, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was held captive) and Cape Point. Cape point was fun as I went on a day trip and we took mountain bikes and rode through the national park - was great! Also saw the hospital where the worlds fist successful heart transplant was carried out (will add this to my growing list from the last blog!)
Table Mountain looks extremely odd to the untrained eye as it really is totally flat when you look at it. Once I had road tripped all the way to Johannesburg though I realised that ALL the mountains in South Africa are of a similar shape!! I never expected Africa to be so mountainous and it was beautiful.
I had decided to spend 3 weeks in South Africa and after a few days in Cape Town I headed up the coast with an Australian guy and a lovely little blue VW golf! Was lovely to be driving again!
We headed up along the garden route and then headed inland to Lesotho! We hired a guide and 4 of us went into Lesotho for an overnight and I can honestly say it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. The guide told us that Lesotho was known as the Kingdom in the Sky and I can well believe it as there was snow and ice everywhere and the route up to the border was up an ice covered track with 29 hairpin bends!!
Entering Lesotho was like entering another world not just another country (am now on my 20th country!) We stayed in an orphanage that takes in kids with no parents and there was about 6 kids there. We also visited the school and went riding on Basoto ponies through the villages. It was very cold though as we were very high up in the mountains and there are special blankets that the basoto people wear and these blankets are actually part of their traditional dress! Even the school teacher was wearing one! On leaving Lesotho we went to the highest pub in Africa (another thing to add to the list!)
From Lesotho we headed up to the Northern Drakensburg and had a couple of days hiking. The altitude is lower here and the hiking very easy for day walking. The view of the amphitheatre at the top of the hill we climbed was stunning as well and you could see the flat topped mountains for miles around.
From the Drakensburg we dropped the car off in Johannesburg and then went on Safari the next morning. Unfortunately my first safari was not too good. Mainly it was bad luck but also I have been told since I left South Africa that the Kruger park has very few roads compared to the other parks and so it is hard to spot the animals. In 3 days we saw very little unfortunately but one evening we followed a pride of lions. We were told that there are a lot of people who jump the border from Zimbabwe and head through the park following the telegraph poles to reach a village in South Africa. However the lions have learnt that if they wait by the telegraph poles then food will appear. The guide told us they often find pairs of shoes under the telegraph poles and hear the screams in the night. However the situation in Zimbabwe is so bad that people will continue to risk it!
From Johannesburg I took a 24 hour bus to Namibia. Although I spent very little time in South Africa I have come away with a few impressions.
Firstly: South Africa is a very difficult country to travel in if you don't have a car. There are buses that go to the touristy spots but if you want to go and explore it is impossible without a car. As we drove there was plenty of black people hitchhiking but no white people at all.
Most of the white people I spoke to in the buses and shops etc all seemed to be extremely racist towards black people - in a quite open manner as well!
Mind you I also found that travelling in a predominantly black country meant I spent more time with white people and some of the black people I spent time with were also pretty racist as well.
I discovered that I have developed a real hard shell whilst travelling - especially towards people less fortunate than myself. People tell me that the Cape Flats or shanty towns outside Cape Town as the most horrifying thing they have ever seen. When I arrived I was amazed to see that most of the tin houses had electricity, running water and some people had cars.
I guess that by comparing it to India the black people living in poverty here have a lot compared to in India. However in India everyone is poor and everything is dirty and grotty - you don't ever really see nice cars or rich people in India. In South Africa the rich-poor divide is very obvious and I couldn't live the way white people do in South Africa knowing that the shanty towns were nearby.
I also could not live in a place or town or country where I had to have high security fences and security guards and I cannot walk anywhere for fear of my life. The guy who ran the hostel I stayed at in Johannesburg told me that 'well its much better here as I have a huge house and pool and garden, in the UK i could only afford a little flat' As far as I am concerned the payoff is not worth it. I want to be able to walk to friends houses and enjoy a sense of community with others. This was possible (in one street) in Cape Town but only as there was 24 hour surveillance cameras and security guards in the street.
I also heard rumblings in the press and among people in South Africa that there was still huge problems following Apartheid and that Nelson Mandela is getting very old. Some people even say that there will need to be a civil war to sort it out and there will be a lot of problems when Nelson Mandela dies.
My next blog will be from Namibia. I decided on Namibia rather than Mozambique as there is a quote in South Africa among travellers that is 'Mozambique is very nice, Namibia is another world'
It turned out that quote was very true!
I arrived in Cape Town and was very unwell. Both times i have left India I have been unwell yet I was never ill when I was there!
Cape Town had some interesting sights including table mountain, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was held captive) and Cape Point. Cape point was fun as I went on a day trip and we took mountain bikes and rode through the national park - was great! Also saw the hospital where the worlds fist successful heart transplant was carried out (will add this to my growing list from the last blog!)
Table Mountain looks extremely odd to the untrained eye as it really is totally flat when you look at it. Once I had road tripped all the way to Johannesburg though I realised that ALL the mountains in South Africa are of a similar shape!! I never expected Africa to be so mountainous and it was beautiful.
I had decided to spend 3 weeks in South Africa and after a few days in Cape Town I headed up the coast with an Australian guy and a lovely little blue VW golf! Was lovely to be driving again!
We headed up along the garden route and then headed inland to Lesotho! We hired a guide and 4 of us went into Lesotho for an overnight and I can honestly say it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. The guide told us that Lesotho was known as the Kingdom in the Sky and I can well believe it as there was snow and ice everywhere and the route up to the border was up an ice covered track with 29 hairpin bends!!
Entering Lesotho was like entering another world not just another country (am now on my 20th country!) We stayed in an orphanage that takes in kids with no parents and there was about 6 kids there. We also visited the school and went riding on Basoto ponies through the villages. It was very cold though as we were very high up in the mountains and there are special blankets that the basoto people wear and these blankets are actually part of their traditional dress! Even the school teacher was wearing one! On leaving Lesotho we went to the highest pub in Africa (another thing to add to the list!)
From Lesotho we headed up to the Northern Drakensburg and had a couple of days hiking. The altitude is lower here and the hiking very easy for day walking. The view of the amphitheatre at the top of the hill we climbed was stunning as well and you could see the flat topped mountains for miles around.
From the Drakensburg we dropped the car off in Johannesburg and then went on Safari the next morning. Unfortunately my first safari was not too good. Mainly it was bad luck but also I have been told since I left South Africa that the Kruger park has very few roads compared to the other parks and so it is hard to spot the animals. In 3 days we saw very little unfortunately but one evening we followed a pride of lions. We were told that there are a lot of people who jump the border from Zimbabwe and head through the park following the telegraph poles to reach a village in South Africa. However the lions have learnt that if they wait by the telegraph poles then food will appear. The guide told us they often find pairs of shoes under the telegraph poles and hear the screams in the night. However the situation in Zimbabwe is so bad that people will continue to risk it!
From Johannesburg I took a 24 hour bus to Namibia. Although I spent very little time in South Africa I have come away with a few impressions.
Firstly: South Africa is a very difficult country to travel in if you don't have a car. There are buses that go to the touristy spots but if you want to go and explore it is impossible without a car. As we drove there was plenty of black people hitchhiking but no white people at all.
Most of the white people I spoke to in the buses and shops etc all seemed to be extremely racist towards black people - in a quite open manner as well!
Mind you I also found that travelling in a predominantly black country meant I spent more time with white people and some of the black people I spent time with were also pretty racist as well.
I discovered that I have developed a real hard shell whilst travelling - especially towards people less fortunate than myself. People tell me that the Cape Flats or shanty towns outside Cape Town as the most horrifying thing they have ever seen. When I arrived I was amazed to see that most of the tin houses had electricity, running water and some people had cars.
I guess that by comparing it to India the black people living in poverty here have a lot compared to in India. However in India everyone is poor and everything is dirty and grotty - you don't ever really see nice cars or rich people in India. In South Africa the rich-poor divide is very obvious and I couldn't live the way white people do in South Africa knowing that the shanty towns were nearby.
I also could not live in a place or town or country where I had to have high security fences and security guards and I cannot walk anywhere for fear of my life. The guy who ran the hostel I stayed at in Johannesburg told me that 'well its much better here as I have a huge house and pool and garden, in the UK i could only afford a little flat' As far as I am concerned the payoff is not worth it. I want to be able to walk to friends houses and enjoy a sense of community with others. This was possible (in one street) in Cape Town but only as there was 24 hour surveillance cameras and security guards in the street.
I also heard rumblings in the press and among people in South Africa that there was still huge problems following Apartheid and that Nelson Mandela is getting very old. Some people even say that there will need to be a civil war to sort it out and there will be a lot of problems when Nelson Mandela dies.
My next blog will be from Namibia. I decided on Namibia rather than Mozambique as there is a quote in South Africa among travellers that is 'Mozambique is very nice, Namibia is another world'
It turned out that quote was very true!
posted by Amy | 1:04 AM
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