Mo's African Adventure

As a change in plans meant that our shuttle driver was not arriving until 3:00 p. m. Lisa and Linton suggested that we use the time to explore the Cape Town Waterfront.

This very cosmopolitan shopping and dining area is world famous and for good reason. A beautiful boardwalk loaded with stores of every description, a mall, wonderful restaurants and beautiful scenery made for a very pleasant afternoon. We poked around the craft and jewellery stores then chose a Bavarian restaurant to enjoy our lunch.

Here you are continually struck by the influence of so many different cultures: Brittish, Dutch, German … The biggest surprise so far for me here is the food. It is extremely familiar. While I know there are many native foods that I have yet to sample (they tell me ostrich is delicious) there are also very familiar things from the cultures I mentioned earlier. Meat Pies and Sausage Rolls, Bavarian Sausage, Bacon and Eggs, not to mention KFC and McDonalds. Haven’t tried them yet but I’m dying to know if they taste the same here as back home.

Lenore was concerned that she was drinking rather early in the day by enjoying a beer with her lunch, to which I replied that indeed she was, as with the 7 hour time difference she was actually drinking at breakfast! We had a good laugh and a great time exploring just a fraction of the area. We will look forward to returning to the Waterfront during our week in Cape Town later in our holiday.

Charl, a white south african who operates a shuttle to the Cederburg wilderness area, picked us up from our hotel lobby. We were fortunate in that he had another passenger who would be travellig the 2 and a half hour route with us. This young fellow of 22 proved to be a really interesting travelling companion as he grew up in Cape Town, had just finished University and was going to be articling for his Chartered Accountant degree.

We talked at great length about everyday life in South Africa. Here, the school year is reversed from ours and they are on their long “summer” break now. Even though there has been great strides made at integration, the schools are still separated into schools for whites, browns and blacks. The school system is very similar to ours in that they attend from age 5 – 18 before going on to post secondary education. Unlike us, they pay to attend school here. Elementary school costs approximately 10,000 South African Rand ($1,250); secondary school tuition is approximately 30,000 SRA ($3,750) per year.

The cost of living here seems very comparable to ours; however there is evidence everywhere of the huge discrepancy between the haves and have nots. State built “homes” are given to people of proven disadvantage but they are not accommodations that any of us would consider anywhere near adequate, more like shanties. Unemployment is a huge problem and opportuities afforded to unskilled people (which the vast majority of the black people are) are very few and far between. Despite huge steps towards integration and equality, the class and social barriers here are still quite tangible. While people are willing to speak openly on these issues, the emotions lie very close under the surface and it is clearly a very sensitive issue.

Health care here is entirely on a fee for service basis and so, is not available equally to everyone.

We easily drove the 2 and a half hours through the countryside and up into the Cederburg Mountains which took me a little bit by surprise. I hadn’t really expected mountains in Africa. I was stuck in the stereotypical image of the plains but they do indeed have mountains although not like the Rockies. The topography reminds me very much of the southwest of Scotland with more of what we would call rolling hills, the difference being that the soil here is very open and sandy and does not hold moisture, so the plant life is actually quite sparse and barren. There are lots of cactus and grasses with incomplete ground cover which gives the impression of a harsh and forbidding terrain. Quite beautiful in its starkness.

We were greeted by Lisa and Linton at the side of the highway at a turn off away from the paved highway which meandered between the valleys. The terrain was slightly rugged and required a 4 wheel drive vehicle with a high clearance. After about 20 minutes we crested a hill to look down upon a sparce scattering of huts and tents. What on earth have I gotten myself into!

Wow! Talk about a travel marathon. I thought we were never going to get here.

The first leg of our flight (Toronto-Amsterdam) saw us bumped up to First Class which was an awesome stroke of good fortune for us. Extra large seats which reclined to lie almost flat out and more than ample leg room meant a very comfortable experience. The free booze and delicious food didn’t hurt either!!! And yes, Abby, a good looking man in a unform looking after us completed the picture. A very civilized way to travel, indeed.

The second leg (Amsterdam-Cape Town) proved to be a reality check as we returned to economy class travel. Eleven and a half hours proved to be gruelling as boredom and restlessness were ever constant companions. Despite the modern conveniences of watching TV shows or movies, one can only amuse oneself for so long while sitting pidgeon-holed in a tin can. Nevertheless, the daylight flight over the continent of Africa was absolutely amazing. The vast expanses of dessert with rare patches of green surrounding whatever available water source could be found was sobering and brought into stark relief how precious a commodity water is here. Something we take so very much for granted at home.

We finally fell into bed at about 11:00 last night after 23 hours of travelling. We were both worried that we wouldn’t sleep as we had napped on the plane but neither one of us remembers falling asleep and we didn’t hear a thing until 6:30 this morning.

Today we will travel north to Gecko Creek Lodge (check out their web site) near Cederburg, about 2 hours from here. This will be our first foray out of the city. We will return to Cape Town for a week at the end of our trip so won’t take time today to explore but it appears much as you would expect any city to be. You can feel the strong British influence here as they drive small, european style cars on the left hand side of the road. It takes all of my self discipline to overcome my control issues and not yell at the driver that he is on the wrong side of the road. I hope the feeling of impending head-on collision fades soon as it is rather unnerving to say the least!

Hope everyone at home enjoyed a lovely Christmas. Other than our own exchange of Christmas wishes between ourselves, it seemed to pass rather unnoticed in our travels. It just isn’t the same when you are away from family and friends.

Until next time.

Can’t forget to say thanks to Alice (my boss) for letting me borrow the wireless keypad too!

Special thanks to Mr. Brown and Mrs Decker for moving me into the new age of technology! Just hooked up my boss’ wireless keypad to my iphone to update my blogs on the fly. Absolutely amazing!

As the kids say, “only four more sleeps” until we begin our adventure to the other side of the world! As most of you will know, Jim’s mom and I are about to embark on the trip of a lifetime to visit Lisa (Jim’s sister) and Linton at Gecko Creek Lodge, near Cape Town, South Africa. While parts of our adventure have been planned, some of it remains a mystery to us so we will all discover it together.

Many of you have asked me to pack you away in my suitcase. While I can’t do that, I am hoping that following this blog will be the next best thing. Come and join us as we discover South Africa!