SOUTH AFRICA DIARY 2010. LINDA RUTH EDWARDS, PHD, MBA

Arrived in South Africa July 23, 2010

July 26

     Five days have passed now and two of the days were in transit. I had no jet lag, perhaps because Talita (whom I met in Vermont) and her family kept me really busy the 36 hours in Johannesburg. I arrived in the pm. On the two nights they barbecued and thought it was most unusual for me. I went along!! Just after arrival the dinner was out in the country at their friends. All home are walled and this one had a closed swimming pool (since it’s winter) and a large yard. On the second night Talita and her husband Johan had their over-the-wall backyard friends. They talked a lot in African (Dutch/German) and I could understand only bits.  I didn’t see much of Johannesburg city but I’ll see it while I am at the Trade Fair. Talita tucked me in with a hot water bottle, no heat or air conditioning in their house.

Next morning it was their house lady’s birthday and she came “in” from her little house for greetings. I bought a beaded pin from her.

 Later in the morning of the second day, Talita picked up her mother and we went to a tea house for coffee and brunch. She wanted me to meet Liz, the owner of Mongoose handbags, but she was not there on the me where her factory was. We picked up her fifteen year old daughter Megan and I met twelve year old Robbie when we got back to the walled house. I gave Robbie an Obama Inaugural hat and an America July 4 t-shirt to Megan.

Sunday, July 26

ZAMBIA, BOTSWANA AND ZIMBABWE

The family was up and ready at seven am to go to Johannesburg to participate in a “walk” for charity. I decided to be delivered to Johannesburg airport to find a ticket to Zambia. I was ready to be on the move, even by myself, rather than standing around in Johannesburg.

The second day I decided to go on a Safari in BOTSWANA since some young people in my Fawlty Tower hostel asked me to go along. I got lots of pictures of amazing scenes of elephants, giraffes, hippopotami, and buffalos. It was called the Chobi Safari - only pictures can tell the story. The day in Botswana-about 30 minutes and a ferry across the river away- was really worth the $100 cost!

 I have seen one of the world’s natural wonders, the Victoria Falls-in Africa-in Zambia.  You must look at the pictures of this majestic waterfall. I spent nearly five hours going up and down paths and steps to see the Falls from different approaches. Much of the time I was garbed in rainwear. The third day in Zambia I decided to buy an extra Zambia visa (to get back in) and go to Zimbabwe side of the Falls. I took a taxi from my hostel, then walked across this bridge that separates the two countries. There I spent 3 hours and saw the best view of all of the Falls –Zimbabwe sides showed 2/3 of the mile wide falls!

 One night I went to an Italian restaurant with maybe 100 other people who had a ticket to a charity.  I went along with people from the hostel, as you do not walk by yourself here, ever. There was a disk jockey that played mostly American music, of course.  Most of the people were local white Zambians.

On another evening I walked down the street before dark and picked a restaurant. A young local girl asked to sit with me and we chatted a little. The next night she showed up at my hostel, Jollyboys, to visit and I bought her a Coke. She never said she wanted anything; could be she just wanted to talk to a friendly American.

 I found an artisan at Victorian Falls and I ordered 12 necklaces and bracelets of black ebony wood. Next day Daniel, the artisan, brought the well-polished necklaces along with an equal number of bracelets to my hostel. He was so overjoyed with the sale, he went straight out and got an address and sent me an email. Daniel has children ages 12 and 6 and lives with his wife in a village near Livingstone, Zambia.

Cape Town: July 30, 31, 2010

I got back from Zambia to Johannesburg and Cynthia arrived the same day from USA. She came to the Brown Sugar hostel with me. We had a dorm room by ourselves in this hostel which was in a really nice neighborhood- the hostel in an old mansion. We did not yet imagine that later in the week we were to see Alexandria neighborhood where the shacks had no plumbing and were only lit from candles. In a country so spread with technology, it was truly one of those sad sights “not to be believed”- no better than Mumbai.

 Next day we flew together to Cape Town. We walked around a lot and went down to   the harbor-side. From our hostel, the first look toward Tabletop Mountain revealed a cloudy overcast day and we would not be able to take the cable car to Tabletop. We also were advised not to go to Cape of Good Hope because of the winds, which was faulty information These people are paranoid about weather, thinking 50 degrees and overcast is bad news. However, we were able to take a ferry to Robben Island and learn the history of Mandella’s thirty-year life in that prison, after he stood up for his race in the fight against apartheid – segregation of black and white races. The southern sun did appear and gave us a rosy sunset as we approached Cape Town in the late afternoon.

 ----Next day we went to tourist information and found also that we could only go to Stellenbosch to visit the wineries on weekends. What else to do but look for products….shop.! Cynthia and I went the square’s market and found beaded necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. I also bought a fuchsia rubber/license tag handbag, which is so economical and striking.

 We flew from Cape Town to Durban and rented a car for three days. We drove to Sani Pass Lodge near Lesotho. We spent two nights in our 4-bunk bedroom, snuggled under layers of blankets with two hot water bottles. The first night they were brought ready for you; on the second night you have to prepare your own bottles.

 Already two weeks seems like a long time.

The last two days I have been on the Zulu Natal province, along the South Africa border of Lesotho- a tiny country within South Africa. Yesterday we drove up into Drakenberg Mountains; the cliffs and towers are reminders of Sedona but 10K high and dark brown. Every settlement of people along the road is primitive. We saw lots of shepherd boys, each who have to spend 3 months a year or more from age 8-13 in the mountains alone with the sheep. We saw the hut where they settle at night with the sheep in a pen.  We wanted to ride the Lesotho ponies (only found in that country) and stay in a village but we were one day too short for this experience.  In any case, 50 km of rock and dirt rutted roads were scary and probably a physical and serious mental exercise, considering the bouncing and the fear factor. It was fun.

 Aug. 2 we drove toward Durban for three hours, planning to drive off road to look for some artisans in villages who make bead jewelry.  We found the incredible 100-year-old Richenau Catholic Mission. There is renovation of the chapel under way and there is the beginning of a school for disadvantaged children. We visited four classes of about six children each.

 In the evening we got to Durban and stayed one night in a Gibela hostel near the Indian Ocean before flying back to Johannesburg for the trade show, August 5-7.

 I am now in the Durban airport with Cynthian Glengarry and we have 3 hours to wait for our flight to Johannesburg. For once, I am early to an airport.

 I’m standing here beside Rt. 17, twenty miles from Swaziland, we having just been in a car accident. Obviously my friend nor I is hurt, or I would not be diarying.  A Swazi in a Mercedes hit Budget Chevrolet Rental car from the behind and the back of our car is swashed in and plastic is all over the road. Three Swazi women are sitting on the side of the road acting pitiful and as if they are hurt, while the driver has been yelling at us. He has no car insurance –says it is optional--and he does not get the drift that he ran into us from behind. An ambulance has come to examine the women, and maybe Cynthia, who says her neck is aching. I told her to go up there—300 feet away—and have them examine her neck.

 We had an overnight to go visit this other tiny nation and have an overnight reservation. We have to wait to see if we are to drive forwards or backwards- to the east to Swaziland or west back to Pretoria. It’s almost 5 pm and soon to be dark. You never walk outside in the dark, certainly not on a highway or in the city. We got a new car brought to us and made it 50 more KM to our destination. 

Next day we went to see 5 Fair Trade coops and left the country to drive back to Johannesburg.

Aug. 10 My Fair Trade Workshop at University of Johannesburg, Soweto campus.

After the workshop, Taltia took me to her mother-in-law Elsa and sister-in-law Suzanne, for I am going to Kruger Park with them.  We just stopped to go shopping at a supermarket and I got Cadbury Chomps for Trish.  I was disappointed the candy was not Fair Trade. Cadbury in South Africa and USA is not Fair Trade but UK now uses Fair Trade chocolate from West Africa. When I buy chocolate or coffee, I always ask for Fair Trade brands, even though I know full well it will not be available to me. How else do you create awareness?

First night we stayed in the most lovely of tiny, mountain top village named Kaapse Hoop, in Mpumalanga province near the park, just outside of Nelspruit.  At Silver Mist Inn, I had a precious room, canopied bed, footed iron tub, and piles of bedclothes. After setting up in our rooms, we went back to the main house for dinner beside the fire. Sweet.

It’s morning now, August 11, and we are on our way to Kruger, having just passed a heavily laden orange grove. It’s an oddity to me for there to be orange groves just at the base of mountainous hills.

We have stopped along the road for avocado, bananas, and huge tangerines and oranges. I took a picture of a lily impala flower and I pressed it in my Lonely Planet book.

Now in Kruger Park, I shall site the animals in order of seeing them: red deer (impala), baboon, flycatcher bird), cape bullbul bird, kudus, rhinoceros, lilac breasted roller, grey-belly bird (little brown job, says Sarah Ferguson), common duiker ewe, fish eagle, bataleur—I finally saw lions from a short distance (lying donw) and two sets of zebras! In fact, in Kruger I saw 22 rhinos and at least 18 giraffes.

The cute cottage we stayed in at Kruger was regular brick walls with thatched  roof. Each night we barbecued out, with Talita’s parents who came to a second cottage, which I think my stipend ($720) also paid for, including admittance!

On way home---31 HOURS EN ROUTE, DOOR TO DOOR. August 13, 2010. ARRIVE HOME AUGSUT 14.