South Africa - Chapter 1 of our journey January/February 2020

For two and a half weeks, Peter and I traveled the eastern half of South Africa from Johannesburg (Joburg) to Cape Town in our little rented car. (2,000 kilometers) From the guides sharing their culture, to the scenery, to the animals which don't disappoint and to the food like Ostrich and Springbok, we absorbed it all.

Joburg

Many abandoned gold mines since 1970s ringing Joburg creating the landscape.
The Apartheid Museum was moving. 1940s to 1990s where it was pointed out the US and Great Britain didn’t help out until the early 80s. Business interests, you know!

Below, our bike ride through three neighborhoods in Soweto. For middle and upper class neighborhoods there were high walls and plenty of barking dogs. Below are scenes from our bike trip through the townships.

Only Porta potties for many dwellings and no electricity so folks would lay above ground wires to the highway lamp posts and get electricity for free. Below is a modest home our bike guide took us in.

Local brewery in Soweto above.
Below a woman belongs to a women’s collaborative who is selling bowls and baskets out of discarded plastic telephone wire. It is here that the beginnings of apartheid is said to begin with the slaughter of protesting school kids.

I didn’t get a photo but everyone travels by minibus. They use hand signals along the road to signify which area of town they want to go to and the bus driver knows whether to stop.

Leaving Joburg Peter got used to driving our rented car on the left, gear shift on the left and every time he put on the directional the windshield wipers went on! We traveled north east to an interesting geological area not usually on the tourist route but beautiful. Pinnacles, potholes and waterfalls. Tame monkeys too!

People were very friendly and helpful. Just getting gas would be three people to wash your car, dry it and then wash the lower half!
Food was fresh, delicious and inexpensive. Pap was finely ground corn. Samp was coarsely ground corn and Gakalaka a very spiced onion cabbage mixture. I enjoyed my peri peri chicken and it’s presentation.

On to Kruger National Park. Animals galore. This lion stalked this lioness for three days before doing the deed. We witnessed two young male giraffes fighting. A rare site the guide told us.

Warthog roaming around our little cottage in Kruger National Park.
Below our wonderful guide who provided breakfast during our safari. We loved the names of our guides: Witness, Blessing, Freedom and Good Will.

These are scenes from Swaziland, now renamed eSwatini last year. Dancers and the current King. The previous King ruled for 83 years, taking a new wife every year. Custom dictates that you must take off your hat if you pass his photo or be punished.

Typical highway village

This was at the entrance of our private reserve, pointing out how this area was over run with hunters and trappers before a private citizen decided to protect the game.

Notice the cone shaped building in this yard. Almost every house in eSwatini had one of these as a place to commune with your ancestors if you were having physical or mental troubles. Our guide told of his brother who went to get guidance from their ancestors and was told to bring a quarter of a cow. He saved for 4 months and delivered the cow. When his troubles didn't subside, he went back and apparently he brought the wrong part of the cow. He saved another 6 months and was cured.

Dung beetle, some say the most important part of the jungle. It feeds on feces and buries 250 times its own mass in one night. It is rolling feces into balls and used as a breeding chamber.

After hours of driving in desolate landscape, look what we found

Springbok, the national symbol of the South African rugby team, from alive to dinner below.

Famous for oysters on the coast

Indian Ocean

This is a township (poor neighborhood) in Knysna. We took a tour and learned how housing works. Since Mandela's time through the Reconstruction and Development Program, every citizen is offered a ONE time plot of land and a dwelling place. You may have to wait many years to get one. With each subsequent president the structures have gotten bigger and roofs tile not tin to keep heat out. See above. Many residents add on a shed to rent out to others for additional income. Each section has a tribal leader for about 70,000 people including illegals.

The guide said the big 5 here are goats, cows, pigs, dogs and chickens!

Sunday activities in the Township

Homeopathic doctor in the Township showing us the berries, plants and bark she uses to cure ailments

A crazy scooter tour with people half our age!

Visited one of the many ostrich farms The guides will tell you they are dumb as they come with tiny brains but mean as all get out. Some breeds come from Zimbabwe for their feathers, others from South Africa for their meat.

Their eggs are definitely hard!

We got up at 5:00 am one day to see these Meerkats emerge from their burrows, dry off in the sun and start out as a pack to hunt for the day. Hard to see them but cute little guys.

Cool caves

Wine country. We did a bike and wine tour and were reminded of the elegance of Sonoma. Good thing we did most of the hilly biking before too many tastings!

Now to Cape Town. We started with our Malay cooking class. This was an amazing spice shop. This area of town, Bo-Kaap, is known for these colored houses, the first settlement in Cape Town. The Africans weren't much into farming so the country imported folks from Malaysia who brought skills and their culture prevalent today.

Visit to the District 6 Museum. This was the neighborhood where citizens were forcefully removed from their homes.Notice the two photos below showing the bustling street scene before the eradication and the desolate field after.

The excursion to Robben Island, Mandela's imprisonment for 19 years. Below is the view of the mainland from the island.

Quarry where the prisoners labored in the hot sun.

Robben Island was a leper colony before it became a prison

Our guide was an amazing man, a prisoner when Mandela was there telling us stories of pride, patience and sorrow. Below is Mandela's home for 18 years. In total he was imprisoned 27 years!

This was a propaganda photo showing the criminals were doing hard labor while the back row of political prisoners were doing light work

Can't miss an uplifting visit to the penguins outside Cape Town.

Cape Town has had a severe water shortage. Often a pail would be in the shower to collect excess water for plants or gardens.

Community pool scene along the beaches in Cape Town

This is at the top of Table Mountain looking at Lion's Head. We tried to climb Lion's Head but when Peter got to the chains, boulders along severe drop offs, he called it quits.