Spring Break

So Tammy and her family finally arrived at Botshabelo! It was so good to see a familiar face from back home! We spent the evening catching up and eating tacos! Tammy brought tortillas with her so we could have a little taste of Texas in Africa. And believe me I was killing those tacos! :)

The next day we made the drive out to Sun City, a huge resort surrounded by the Pilanesberg mountains. Their slogan is “A Million Thrills. One Destination” and boy do they live up to the title. A casino, water park, cultural village, butterfly world, crocodile sanctuary, and game drives to the nearby Pilanesberg National Game Park are just a few of the thrills they offer.

Our first stop was at Kwena Gardens, a large, scenic crocodile sanctuary that is home to over 7,000 crocs including the two largest captive Nile crocodiles in the world.  We toured the sanctuary, which also included a few Meerkats and Monitors and then stopped off at the restaurant to taste some crocodile nuggets! It was all right. I found it a lot tougher than alligator so the texture kind of threw me off, but at least I gave it a try!

After checking out the crocodiles, we decided to take an afternoon game drive through Pilanesberg. Pilanesberg is home to South Africa’s Big 5-Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Leopard and Buffalo, and we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of 3 out of 5! We saw elephant, rhino, lions, giraffes, hippo, and plenty of zebra, wildebeest, and springbok. The park itself was absolutely stunning- green, rolling mountains complimented by huge valleys of tall brown grass and sparkling water holes. As we exited the park, the sun began to set below the mountains…

The following day we headed down the road to the Cradle of Humankind. The Cradle of Humankind covers an area of over 47,000 hectares of privately owned land in the northwestern corner of Gauteng Province. It is home to not only 17,000 residents, but also the Sterkfontein Caves and Maropeng Visitor Center.

The Sterkfontein Caves are world famous for their fossil finds. The most important and most famous of these fossils are “Mrs. Ples”, a 2.1 million-year-old Australopithecus skull, and “Little Foot”, an almost complete Australopithecus skeleton that is more than 3 million years old. These discoveries helped give Africa its title as the birthplace of humankind.

Maropeng literally means, “returning to the place of origin”. The visitor center is housed in the Tumulus Building. The building is reminiscent of a giant burial mound. As you walk through the exhibition itself, you move from the beginnings of the world, through the history of humankind, right into the future. The center also includes a boat ride through time. The boat ride took us from the present and continued back through time, retracing the various stages of Earth’s creation. The ride took us from the most recent ice age all the way to the formation of the earth’s crust and ended in a simulated black hole! Very cool!

The walls of the museum are covered with facts and statistics about the environment, poverty, education, health, and the effect mankind has had on each of these important aspects of our livelihood. I walked from one hall to the next taking it all in. Tears began to fill my eyes as I grasped the vastness of it all and I realized even more the importance of my being here. I realized the need for all of us to step out of our own world long enough to see the bigger picture and do what we can to help our hurting planet.

A few days later we were packed and ready for new adventures in Durban and Cape Town. Durban is quite the beach metropolis and generally gave me a West Coast surfer town vibe. When we arrived at Tammy’s hotel we just stared out the window and watched as the Indian Ocean crashed against the shore…a strangely exciting moment…I guess I just never thought I’d see anything but the Atlantic and Pacific.

Later that afternoon, Rooney met us at the hotel and we headed to Moyo for drinks and grub. Moyo is an African themed restaurant swarming with local artists. Traditional Zulu musicians and dancers performed around our table as a woman painted our faces with local designs. The cuisine was delicious and we even tried traditional “pop”, a white mashed substance similar to porridge.

The following day Rooney took us on a tour of his placement at McCord Hospital. He primarily works with their HIV program, Sinikithemba. The program provides care for patients with HIV, including prevention, early diagnosis, wellness care, ARV treatment, and palliative care. It was very interesting to see a hospital in this country. We’ve heard so many horror stories about the public hospital system so I was kind of expecting the worst. McCord is semi-private so the facilities well exceeded my expectations. Even still, it was quite a contrast to our medical facilities back home. Private rooms are non-existent and instead patients are crammed into one big area, the beds all lined in a row. I felt like I was visiting wounded soldiers at a base camp.

After the tour, we got the chance to meet a number of his coworkers including some local social work students. It was interesting comparing our programs of study and potential job prospects between our two countries. I thought social workers in America were pretty low on the totem pole, but social work jobs here pay significantly less…not even $10, 000 US dollars a year!

The remainder of our time in Durban was primarily spent at the UShaka Marina, a popular tourist destination situated right on the beach. The Marina offers a variety of activities including an aquarium, water park, beach rentals, and a boardwalk full of various shops and restaurants. We watched from one of the restaurant bars as Tammy’s children kayaked and surfed within the safety of the shark nets. Later on we took a stroll down the beach stopping off at the local craft market to shop for handcrafted souvenirs.

Later that evening we ate dinner at the Cargo Hold, a restaurant situated in the ruins of a wrecked cargo ship. The center of the restaurant houses a three-story shark tank that offers an interesting backdrop to the dining room. We happened to get a table right next to the tank and every time one of the sharks swam by I would get startled…it really was too close for my comfort!

After dinner we headed to a local dance club! The street reminded me of Bourbon or Sixth, simply a road lined with various bars. The only difference though was the overt segregation. Rooney explained that each bar was strictly for individual groups, a Black club, Colored club, Indian club, White club, and so on. Just a side note, colored is the term they use for biracial and it’s been really difficult adjusting to using the word. Anyways, we ended up at the Colored club. Oh my goodness did we have some fun! They played a range of American 90’s tunes: Boys II Men, TLC, Janet, Mariah, Whitney, and so on. The dancing was also different. So often in the states groups of girls will dance together as the guys line the walls looking for a lady to grind with, but here the girls danced in a group together and then the guys danced in a separate group. They often formed a circle before inviting the other sex to do their thing in the middle of the crowd. Believe it or not Leslie and I took our turns in the middle of that circle! Thankfully no cameras were around that night, but I’m sure Rooney could give you a good mental image! :)

Our time in Durban flew by so quickly! Two days was certainly not enough time to explore all the city has to offer, but Rooney was such a gracious host and we made the most of our short visit. I was sad to leave, but also super excited to arrive in Cape Town!!!!

Cape Town was another world. I didn’t feel like I was in Africa at all. The city its self was very westernized and luxurious. Unlike Durban or Gauteng where poverty is visible and real, Cape Town seemed to try it’s hardest to cover up any signs of the underprivileged. The townships are a 20 or 30-minute drive outside the city, completely isolated from the wealth surrounding them. 

While the city’s personality was strange to comprehend, the land was absolutely breathtaking. Our first day there we rode a cable car to the top of Table Mountain. The mountain is named after a table because clouds often cover its flat top giving the illusion of a white "table cloth”.  The view from up top was stunning…there really are no words to describe it. I took an obnoxious amount of photos but I really don’t think they do the view any justice, it’s just one of those things you should see before you die.

After seeing what I thought was the most beautiful sight imaginable, we took a tour of the famous cliffs at the southern point of the continent, the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Towering more than 200 meters above the sea, the cliffs are situated at the junction of two of earth's most contrasting water masses, the cold Benguela current on the West Coast and the warm Agulhas current on the East Coast. The Cape of Good Hope is often perceived as the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, but geographically the Indian Ocean joins the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Agulhas. The Cape of Good Hope is a scenic wonder, where soft white sandy beaches alternate with rugged stretches of rock and breathtaking cliffs, some of the highest coastal cliffs in the world. Again, definitely something to see in your lifetime.

Later that day we also got the chance to tour Boulder Beach. The beach is home to a growing colony of the vulnerable African Penguins. We walked along the wooden walkways to observe the penguins in their natural habitat. We watched as some penguins waddled along the shore or dove beneath the waves. Other penguins sought sanctuary behind the boulders, a smart place to be since the wind nearly knocked us over a few times! :)

Our last day there we got to tour the nearby Cape Winelands. It is the largest wine producing region in South Africa and is divided into six main areas: Constantia, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, Robertson and Wellington. We spent the majority of our time in Stellenbosch, stopping off at two vineyards for some tastings. We sampled a variety of wine and cheese and also had the opportunity to meet a range of interesting travelers. We met three sisters from Ireland, a couple from France, another couple from Germany, and a fellow student from Sweden. I got the impression that Cape Town attracts quite a lot of Europeans…

Before heading to the airport, we decided to stop off at the District Six Museum. District Six is a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town and is best known for the forced removal of over 60,000 of its inhabitants during the 1970s by the apartheid regime. The museum serves as a remembrance to the events of the apartheid era as well as the culture and history of the area before the removals. A large street map of District Six covers the ground floor, with handwritten notes from former residents indicating where their homes had been. Other features of the museum include street signs from the old district, displays of the histories and lives of District Six families, and historical explanations of the birth and destruction of the District.

Well our trip finally reached its end and we were back to home sweet Botshabelo. I was sad for our break to end, but excited to see everyone again and get back to work!

All my love,
Alexis