Airport by 4.30am. It's not often I'm waiting for a coffee shop to open at 5am. 6am flight to Sydney. At 11.30am we're back, flying over Melbourne having completely wasted 5+ hours. Ah well, at least the views over the snowfields were spectacular. The next 13+ hours were all over water and cloud, which was still ok to watch, but near-neighbours got grumpy with the light reflecting on their video screen so down the blinds went.
Watched the Second Marigold Hotel but for once there weren't many films on offer that appealed. Although did catch an episode of the excellent Open Slather comedy show on Foxtel, which we don't have. Crafty lot don't even allow it on YouTube.
Finally a peek under the blind revealed a spectacular mass of red-brown hills – probably somewhere over KwaZulu Natal – and we landed on African soil. A first for both of us.
Huge queues for passport control then customs was a poster on the wall, one guy in uniform and another guy wandering around baggage control with a sniffer dog.
Dagmar's excellent directions got us and the hire car home and we were introduced to Life Behind the Razor Wire.
Rioting in the streets might be a thing of the past but security is probably still the No.1 industry in SA, possibly followed by domestic help. Around here the streets are dotted with little wooden guard sheds where security guys camp out overnight, doing street patrols.
Life on the Wild Side
So after five days in the Jo'burg urban jungle, we headed out bush (or bushveld, should I say) and have had five days in Kruger National Park, plus a day or two getting here via the Blyde Canyon Park. Latter was very reminiscent of the Blue Mountains in the pinnacle and other formations and it was good to finally get out and do some walking; people drive everywhere in town. White folk, anyway.
Our Joburg host Dagmar does go for a run every morning after dropping of Kayda at school (7am at bus stop for 7.45am start - finish at 2pm then compulsory extra curricula stuff (sport etc) and optional homework classes) but only because she had the dogs with her. Even mountain-bikers have been ambushed and robbed of their bikes in the area.
As it turned out the walking was short-lived because in Kruger you can't get out of your car while you're in the main bit of the park – only in camps and a few designated bird hide or other viewing areas – sooooo frustrating for plant and bird nerds who wan to get a closer look at stuff. But an interesting take on viewing animals; the humans are in the cages and the animals free to roam.
And it can be particularly reassuring when you have a mature African elephant bearing down you, ears flapping and not looking too hospitable. Then even a tinny Ford Ikon feels a bit insubstantial. So far they've all been bluffing though. Or completely unfazed by your presence.
We've been lucky enough to see heaps of different animals so far – about 25 mammals, heaps of crocodiles and a couple of snakes, plus about 70 bird species. Yes, I've been counting. Nerd.
What we're hoping to see more of when we head to the southern park of the park today is cats; so far only one leopard and that was at a distance and frankly I missed it until a couple in another car pointed it out. The north is hotter and drier (we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn to go to one camp, Shingwedze) and the landscapes are dominated by Mopane scrub – rather attractive semi deciduous trees that stay stunted on the plains but reach 5-8m along water courses, with butterfly-shaped pairs of leaves that turn gold and russet-brown in the dry winters, creating a colourful vista across large expanses. There are also mahogany trees (tall, dark, ancient looking things) luminous-green fever trees, darker leadwoods, classical African-looking "flat tops" and prickly acacia species.
Apparently there is more open grassland (veld) down south, so you get larger herds of animals and they have fewer places to hide, so spotting is easier.
Mind you, we've seen herds of 100+ water buffalo, groups of 30 or so elephant, and similar-sized herds of zebra and impala.
We've come enticingly close to the great, grey-green greasy Limpopo, famously all set about with fever trees; we'd have to go a bit further north to actually see it. And we've looked across the mountains to Mozambique but no time to visit (and no visa).
While the actual springboks are only found in the west of the country, we've seen the Springboks lose at rugby to Australia and NZ (and discovered rugby is still a whites-only sport - soccer is the sport of blackfellas, and the top two teams come from East and West Orlando in Soweto – the Kaiser Chiefs and the Pirates – so huge but friendly rivalries). We've met some lovely folk of all colours and so far not been ripped off or felt threatened – although there was a bully of a boer shouting at the staff here yesterday who I felt like tackling but thought it would probably only make matters worse.
Prices are VERY low, especially anything that requires labour, and for food and drink. You can get a good bottle of wine for $5-$10, and a great meal from $3-$10. Our cheapest has been chicken livers and pap (maize done like polenta but white) with salsa in Soweto for a coupla dollars and the most expensive a 350g steak and the works in a resort for $11. Accommodation can be more expensive because many places charge per person, rather than per room, but it's still lower than Australia (we've averaged $200 per night in Kruger, including conservation fee charges). A double at the Soweto backpackers is about $40.
Housing is also incredibly cheap (a friend is selling a huge four-bed home overlooking the city on three titles for about $250K. Can't buy a one-bed flat for that in Melbourne.) But forget coming over here for your next real estate investment - you can't take more than a certain amount out of the country. And I'm not sure Joburg is a desperately healthy place to live. Dagmar says a lot of people here suffer from sinus problems, possibly due to the cold, dry air, but I think more likely due to the brown cloud of pollution that hangs over the city; coal and wood fires are still the main form of heating for most people and there's no apparent regulation of car/truck exhausts.
The great divide
So I had written a long blog about life in Jo'burg but I've lost draft twice now. Stupid Blogger.
It's quite confronting being hidden away behind high walls topped with razor wire and electric fences, watching young black kids cycle around happily on the other side. Our host, Dagmar, did tell us it was OK to walk around outside during the day but not at night. And some areas she wouldn't go to at all.
After 10 years Dagmar is leaving, partly because of the constant stress of security and lack of freedom. She's endured at least one armed robbery and has had her house completely stripped of everything by a gang who tied up her maid and daughter and held them at gunpoint.
However we felt totally safe on our tour of Soweto and regularly left the group of 8-9 bikes to wander off and explore a sight or to eat. But then we were with locals and I also felt quite uncomfortable riding down some of the narrower laneways between the older shanties, which were set up a men's quarters for workers – women weren't allowed near the place; now a family lives in a room that once housed eight men – some families have two rooms. Still not great but better, although I don't think I could cope with the communal toilets they have in those areas. And foul-smelling water running down some lanes, suggesting the sewerage needs an overhaul.
In other parts of Orlando – over towards where Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela's former homes are – the houses are quite modern and substantial and there are now big European cars in the streets.
Then there's the conundrum of the six or more huge four-storey apartment blocks, newly built to great fanfare in the past five years, which are still standing empty because, according to our guide, no-one can afford the rent of R800 a month. That's $80. He says R400 would be ok. There are obviously people in the area with more money than that but now all the apartments are going to waste, vandalised with broken windows and locked up behind high security fences and guarded from squatters. Doesn't make any sort of sense and I wonder if it's not more a political football behind the obviously quite well organised locals, who've boycotted the place en masse, and the government.
Poverty line income is I think about R1000 a month, and nearly 50% of the population live below that. Unemployment is at least 25% and worst for men aged 16-35, esp if you're black. There are people at every junction selling stuff or asking for donations for keeping the place safe; sae with parking your car – someone will come running up and offer to 'protect' it for a small consideration. There's no intense threat behind it and you pay when you leave (about R2-5 ($0.25-$0.50) will do) but it's the only income a lot of people have. The divide between rich and poor is greater here than anywhere else in the world, apparently.
Many sleep on the street and there are little shanty shacks everywhere, even along the side of the motorway.
Update
We saw three leopards and two lion sightings, including a family of about six with a few cubs and females right at the side of the street. Trouble is, there are in those cases about 20 other car-loads of people trying to see and the resultant crazy traffic jam detracts from the joy a little. Ah well. Got to see several rhino up close on the other side of the fence at our last stop – including a family of three – without having to share with anyone. Wonderful.
Flying to UK tonight. Red-eye special. Not looking forward to it but will be great once we're there. See you soon!!!
