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South Africa Trip |
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Our trip is divided into twelve components as summarized below. The first six were alone and the second six were with Dona and Stephen. The intinerary is illustrated on a map. We flew into Cape Town and out of Johannesburg (called Jo-burg by everyone in SA). Our flight was on South African Airlines, non-stop from Atlanta to Cape Town. Our return flight from Jo-burg stopped in Cape Town to pick up passengers and again in the Cape Verde Islands for refueling. The return trip took 22 hours from Jo-burg to Washington, DC, not a pleasant experience.
I have prepared a brief overview of South Africa at South Africa Overview.
| 1 | Cape Town | We began our trip in Cape Town, the most tourist friendly city in SA. |
| 2 | Cape of Good Hope | The Cape of Good Hope lies at the tip of the Cape Peninsula, most of which is a national park. It was on the peninsula in Boulder that we saw the "Jackass" penguin and at the point itself were we confronted by the ever present baboon. The peninsula is also home to the greatest of South Africa's greatest botanical garden, Kirstenbosch.
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| 3 | Wine Country | The wine country of South Africa is much like that of California. It certainly has the same feel to it.
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| 4 | Garden Route |
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| 5 | Great Karoo |
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| 6 | Lesotho | Lesotho, along with San Marino and the Vatican, is one of only three countries which are completely surrounded by another country. Both San Marino and the Vatican are in Italy. We had no intention of going to Lesotho (especially with a rental car), but the tourtist office in Ladybrand spoke so highly of its beauty that we decided to spend a day there. It was our most authentic African experience. Unlike South Africa, there are almost no whites in Lesotho, and we saw groups harvesting to music and mountain horsemen herding sheep in native costume. Lesotho is becoming a major center for garment work for such companies as GAP, WalMart, Target, K-Mart, and the Hudson Bay Company. A major source of revenue for Lesotho is supplying water to SA. In fact, most of the water for Jo-Burg, over 200 miles away, is supplied via an underground tunnel from the giant Katse Dam in the heart of Lesotho. |
| 7 | Drakensberg | The Drakenseberg is a mountain range just east of Lesotho and northwest of the province of KwaZulu Natal. Actually it is an escarpment rather than a mountain since the top of the Drakensberg was the normal elevation millions of years ago. Over time, all the land in front of it eroded away creating the effect of mountains when looking from below; however, once on top the surface is flat and easily walked. It is an area of stunning beauty where we spent four nights, three of them in a remote mountain cabin without electricity called Sungubala, which means "Place of Rest" in Zulu. |
| 8 | Durban |
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| 9 | St. Lucia Wetlands | Children |
| 10 | Barberton | Gold Mine | Guest House |
| 11 | Kruger Game Park |
Who's watching who? | Charging Elephant | Impalas | Elephant and Zebra |
| 12 | Pretoria | Farewell Dinner | Drop Off | Car Accident |
| 13 | Black & White | On the surface, South Africa seems much like the United States, but there is a dark side lurking just beneath the surface. The racial tension and impoverishment of Apartheid are still very evident. In fact, the country of South Africa has the widest gap of any country in the world between middle class and the poor. Most blacks that work, work as domestic servants earning less than $100 per month. Nearly every white family employees at least two black servants. A recent study found that half of all black households had a monthly income of less than $20 per month per household member.
The survey also found that in the Khayelitsha, a community of over one million blacks near Cape Town, 29% of adult deaths were caused by crime. The social problems facing SA are staggering. The following photographs illustrate some of the gross inequites that exist.
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