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Hout Bay Township Tour

Thursday, June 27th, 2002

Just outside Cape Town we visited a squatter’s camp where poor people including immigrants from Zimbabwe and Algeria, who were not allowed to live in Cape Town prior to apartheid, live on “no man’s land” and try to find fishing jobs on nearby Hout Bay.

The hillside facing the bay is covered with little tin and cardboard shacks that remind me of the worst of the migrant housing at home. We took a stroll up and down the narrow dirt lanes while Bob entertained the children with his digital camera-taking their pictures and then letting them see themselves on the video screen.

In one small shack some women were sewing some skirts and “aprons” (worn if you were married) so I bought an outfit and put it on. Idle people (unemployment is about 90%) gaped at the white woman with her cloddy athletic shoes and long black pants underneath their local African costume and laughed and shook their heads as I paraded past them. One woman in a “shabeen” (home where beer is made and sold) dipped some homemade beer out of an old keg into an empty gallon can from which we took turns drinking…

Table Mountain & District 6

Tuesday, June 25th, 2002

S12J2pKbmw6zVZyRvmb7L0-2006193181305721.gif

The geographical configuration of the city of Cape Town at the foot of Table Mountain is as beautiful as everyone has said it is. We took the cable car to the top of the mountain on a clear beautiful day. We rented a car and took a ride down to the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town isn’t actually on the tip of the Cape) about 20 miles down the peninsula where Bob hiked up to the lighthouse to get a good view of the Atlantic on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other.

Music
The epic documentary by American Lee Hirsch, “Amandla! A Revolution in four Part Harmony,” had its first South African outing on June 16 at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. The film that earned two awards from the Sundance Film Festival describes the arc of the ANC’s resistance to apartheid from 1948 to the moment when Nelson Mandela dropped the first black vote into the ballot box in 1994 via the music that gave shape and direction to the war on apartheid. It has been entered for the US Academy awards. It will be showing in the States.

District Six
We visited the museum where a former Indian occupant expained that 60 to 70 thousand people-freed slaves, immigrants, labourers, merchants and artisans-used to live in the one and a half square km district spread along the flank of Table Mountain south of the center of Cape Town. In 1975 District Six was officially declared an area for white people only and bulldozed flat. All that remains now is a grassy area…but “they” had gotten rid of the Blacks, Colored and other undesirables that lived on the edge of the city…

The museum was established in 1992 to commemorate the destruction of the area and the sense of loss has been sensitively captured by the many artifacts donated by the ex-residents.

The Cannon is on Signal Hill right behind our apartment and is fired off every day at noon and makes your heart jump out of your skin. Started in the 1800’s we are told, when the English withdrew after the English/Boer War. They fire off the cannon 21 times at important times or when important dignitaries visit the city.

Robben Island

Monday, June 17th, 2002
S12J2pKbmw6zVZyRvmb7L0-2006193181305721.gif June 16 to July 13, 2002 Standing bunched shoulder-to-shoulder in the small anteroom of the prison on Robben Island where Mandela and others were political prisoners, our half of the ferry load of visitors impatiently ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bo Kaap or Cape Malay Quarter

Monday, June 17th, 2002
The next day we take a minibus for 3 rand each (10 rand to a dollar) to look for an apartment. The buses are many and frequent with no schedule-you just wave one down when you need it-very ... [Continue reading this entry]

Cape Town!

Sunday, June 16th, 2002
S12J2pKbmw6zVZyRvmb7L0-2006193181305721.gif June 15, 16, 2002 James make an unbelievable maneuver with the truck into the Lion's Head Lodge & Backpacker Compound around a corner and in between parked cars on both sides of the street. We ... [Continue reading this entry]

Citrusdal and The Baths

Friday, June 14th, 2002
S12J2pKbmw6zVZyRvmb7L0-2006193181305721.gif June 14, 2002 My birthday The Baths is a health spa about 16 km from Citrusdal in a pretty wooded gorge. It is a long weekend in South Africa; Monday is Youth Day-(SA has ... [Continue reading this entry]

Orange River Bush Camp at Fiddler’s Creek

Wednesday, June 12th, 2002
The facilities are nice-big grassy campsite and there is a lapa (open air shelter) covered with green leaves of a plant with purple flowers within which to eat and wash dishes. At camp we eat left-over Kudo steak sandwiches ... [Continue reading this entry]

Fiddler’s Creek Camp

Wednesday, June 12th, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 12, 2002 To the South African Border In the morning before we leave camp, three guys walk up to our campfire as George is frying bacon; I walk up and introduce myself. Two ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hobas & Fish River Canyon

Tuesday, June 11th, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 11, 2002 On the way from Serus the topography is incredible--perfectly formed mesas and buttes-almost Utah-like. We stop in the tiny wide spot in the road called Bethanie. Bob mails a card ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Dunes & Sarus Guest Farm

Monday, June 10th, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 10, 2002 After a night camping near Sesriam, everyone else is up at 5:00 to go hiking in the Dunes. No coffee and no "breaky" (breakfast). These are the largest Dunes in the world ... [Continue reading this entry]

Solitaire & Sesriem Camp

Sunday, June 9th, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 9, 2002 Sesriem literally means "six rawhide strings" The truck ride south to Sesriem Camp was not as cold as we thought it would be. We stopped in Solitaire-a wide spot in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Swakopmund

Saturday, June 8th, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 6-8, 2002 How are you today mommi? George and James do a pretty good job looking after me-making sure I'm happy so I don't unglue on this trip and make a problem for ... [Continue reading this entry]

Otjiwarongo Cheetah Camp

Wednesday, June 5th, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 5, 2002 The next morning James drives us back to Outjo, the small predominantly German/Afrikaner town we had stayed in before and we buy apple strudel and real drip coffee in the bakery and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ombinda Country Lodge

Sunday, June 2nd, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif Sunday June 2, 2002 near Outjo Yesterday the truck broke a spring so we stopped in the Afrikaner town of Outjo to find a mechanic and pick up some groceries. James drove us to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Angolan Refugee Camp

Saturday, June 1st, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 2002 So African Intervention in Namibia Namibia used to be part of South Africa and South African incursions into Angola and Namibia continued from 1975 until well into the 1980's and I tell you this ... [Continue reading this entry]

Yainguaz Camp Near Gobabis

Saturday, June 1st, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 1, 2002 Yainguaz Camp near Gobabis, Namibia The countries of Botswana and Namibia are very different geographically from Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The topography is flatter even than Botswana and much of Namibia ... [Continue reading this entry]