Whoo hoo – talk about a great place! South Africa reminded me so much of home, I actually came back to London feeling like I had ‘topped up’ on ‘home’! We spent 9 days in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pilanesberg with our friends Nicci & Jono and their families.
We arrived in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon after an overnight flight (from which we were surprisingly fresh faced) and I jumped in the drivers seat of a car for the first time in nearly 18 months (I think). As if that wasn’t scary enough, we had the echo’s of all the advice from our South African friends in London filling our heads. Lock the car doors at all times; don’t mind the shanties on the side of the road – you’ll soon hit suburbia; whatever you do, DON’T STOP to help anyone; and the list went on. So needless to say, we were a little worried when we first arrived!
So anyway, we punched in a random beach destination to head to first and made our way along the east coast of the Cape Town peninsula. And bam – we were right in the middle of a township. It was a shock to say the least. This was the first part of South Africa we had seen – but we were expecting housing the standard of home in Australia.
As we drove around the coast, we saw the housing change – dramatically. To the point where we were now seeing mansions in trendy sea-side suburbs. All I could feel was a knot in my stomach and thinking ‘this is not right’. But this is South Africa. Exactly this. Extremely poor live right next door to extremely rich. I won’t go on too much about this, as I think by now, I could actually write a book on my thoughts, but I’ll refrain and save you the pain of reading it 
We breathed in the beautiful scenery the whole way around to Cape Point. At one point, we stopped to take a photo and realised we were surrounded by Australian gum trees – and instantly I started to feel at home! We got to the point and made our way up to the lookout/lighthouse. It was a stunning view and the sun was shining brilliantly. I was excited to see signs telling us not to feed the baboons. A pest to the locals, but I was just aching to see some in the wild!
We went to beach at the Cape of Good Hope – the most south westerly point of the African continent and on the way, we saw about a dozen ostriches making their way along the road. We got so close to them, it was fantastic! We then took a drive around the national park and along the way saw many a turtle sitting next to – or crossing – the roads. So cute!
Disappointed with not seeing any baboons, I reluctantly drove us out of the park – because we were scared we’d stayed too late and were about to be locked in! But we were ok Minutes outside the park, we saw a 4WD parked in the middle of the road. I realised soon enough that they were doing so as there were baboons on their roof! And then I realised they were everywhere! I was ecstatic! We stopped for about half an hour to watch them eat, fight, groom each other and jump all over the 4WD. So, that was day 1 in a nutshell… I’d better get this post moving…
Next day we eased into holiday mode with a lovely breakfast at a cafe, then down to take a look at the waterfront, which was right near where we were staying. We took a walk around, seeing the pier, some gorgeous seals lazing around – all with the beautiful view of table mountain (with it’s tablecloth) in the background. Stunning Kim stocked up on biltong and we were off for a drive along the west coast.
In the beautiful sunshine, we set off to see Camps Bay, Clifton beaches, Hout Bay and Chapman’s Peak drive. Although Chapman’s Peak drive was closed, we were able to get some of the way to see the beautiful view of Hout Bay from afar. So next, we drove inland to the east coast, back to Simon’s town, where we almost considered going in for a swim. Next, we drove back the way we came to Llandudno beach which was a stunning, almost undiscovered paradise! Though the water was EXTREMELY cold on this side (West side of Cape is freezing, East side is warm), there were still some nutters surfing and swimming. We were happy to chill on the beach and do nothing for a while.
We then drove up to Signal Hill to see the sun set over the West coast – what a stunning view. And boy were there some people around doing the exact same thing!
Next morning, we set off early to climb table mountain. After a bit of a panic, we found the track we were advised to follow (the trusty lonely planet guide to the rescue again) and set off. 2 hours was the estimated duration and we hit it almost to the minute. When we got to the summit, we were enveloped in the infamous table cloth cloud that seeps over the edge of table mountain. It was surreal! But once on top (and chuffed with our achievement), we wandered toward the cable car to soak in the view where the cloud had cleared. Breathtaking.
As if 2 hours of hiking wasn’t enough, we were off for a surfing lesson in Simon’s town for the afternoon. No shark attacks, don’t worry, but we were both up and surfing straight away to our great delight! Ok, so second attempt for me, but first for Kim (typically!). We have now fallen in love with surfing and think we’re going to try for a surf trip in Summer After a full day of activities, we headed back to Cape Town where we had our first exposure to South African traffic. Hmmm. There’s definitely something to be said about quality public transport (of which there is none-to-very-little in South Africa). That night, we wandered down to the waterfront for another look for some seals and a bite to eat.
Next day, we booked a tour through the Townships. All the guides recommended a tourguide to visit these towns, though now having done it, I’d have happily gone on my own – but maybe we wouldn’t have been as welcomed on our own.
We started off at the district 6 museum where we had a measly 30 minutes to look at photo’s, interviews, signs and tragic poetry from the horrible ‘laws’ of apartheid. This was the kind of museum I could spend 3 hours in, so 30 minutes didn’t come close to doing it justice. The most striking to me were the signs for ‘Parking – Whites only’ and park benches that were ‘Whites only’. It made me feel sick. How could these people not see how inhumane it is to put down a whole race? Then we learnt that there were white scientists who were trying to develop a disease that would wipe out every black person. Another attempt at a holocaust.
Next stop were the townships. (Sorry, but we can’t remember the names of them!) First we visited a pub – a shanty where the beer is served in a bucket for all to share. I honestly thought the lady was doing her washing, not serving us beer! But after the comment (from the Irishman of all people) about how the Aussie (aka me) would happily drink the lot, I was a little scared for my life!! We met our next guide who waked us through the township to see what the government ‘provided’ for them when they were ‘moved’ out to the townships – and then made them pay unaffordable rent. The conditions were appauling. People crammed in tiny flats where the bathrooms were not even safe. We then visited newer flats where conditions were better, but when you compare these flats to the houses of our friends (similar to Austraila), it’s still ridiculous.
We went to see the church, which was similar to the pub, which is similar to the corner store, which is similar to some of the houses (aka shanty’s). We then drove through the centre of the town to see a witchdoctor. Me being an animal lover, I was about ready to scream at the man for having animal parts hung up on display around the whole place. It was dark, dingy, it smelt horrible and felt like death. I just wanted out of there asap.
We then drove to another township and visited a child care centre where the kids were let loose on us after they sang us a song. We think they had been filled with red cordial because they just kept on going! We left there exhausted and headed to Robben Island.
Kim concentrated very hard to keep his lunch down on the way out to Robben Island! Together with our Irish friend, we boarded a bus, expecting to be taken to the prison… except we could see the prison from the bus. The bus took off and then pulled over not 30 seconds later where the guide started cracking some ordinary jokes. We were all thinking ‘here we go’. But then he started asking which countries we all represented. He then started to tell the story of how each and every country contributed to South Africa and/or how it was involved in apartheid. Kim and I being the only Aussies, I put up my hand to say Australia to which I was instantly ostracized! He told us about how Captain Cook had brought eucalyptus seeds from Australia and left some rabbits for the sailors to feast on. As a result, the whole of Robben Island has been sucked of fresh water… oops.
Our guide was actually quite entertaining. When he showed us the canon from World War II, he also explained that it was finished being built a number of years after the war ended He also explained that in England they have watches. In South Africa, they have time.
A former political prisoner took us through the prison itself and told us about life on the inside. We were taken to see Nelson Mandela’s cell and the yard where he worked and hid the pages of his book. It was an incredible experience to see where such a great man lived for such a huge chunk of his life.
Upon leaving the island, we had to fight our way through traffic in Cape Town to make it to the airport. As if the horrid traffic wasn’t enough, when we drove past a freeway bridge that simply stopped existing was, well, terrifying.
We made it to Johannesburg where Nicci and Jono picked us up. They drove us around a few parts of Jo’burg to see a nice view of the city at night and also some HUGE big walls that apparently protected mansions (which we occasionally got a glimpse of). I’m not sure what was more sad… the fact these people had huge beautiful houses that had to be completely covered up with huge, tall fences and topped off with electric fences on top, or the fact that such wealth existed in the very same city that extreme poverty existed.
That night, we met Jono’s family and they were so lovely – and his brother gave up his bed for us 
Had a good chat, and headed to bed.
Ok, so thanks to our new version of wordpress blog, I am well aware that this post is approaching 2000 words, but unfortunately for anyone still reading, there are still 5 days left…
Wednesday morning we were up at 5.30am – ouch. This was to attempt to beat traffic. We were on the road by about 6.20am and guess what? Traffic was still atrocious! We headed to Sun City for a day cruising down water slides and floating around fake rivers! Although we had to go pruney waiting for the big waves in the wave pool, we had a ball!
Jono, Matthew and we said goodbye to the other half of the Sun City gang and we headed through the Pilanesberg game park to get to our camping site. We were so excited and hopeful to see some big game! We had the ‘big 5′ on our mind!
After seeing a few big birds, some wild boar, loads of zebra’s and lots of buck, we were only a few hundred meters from the exit when we stumbled across a beautiful big elephant only a few meters away from the car! It was gorgeous and instantly I was in love with elephants!!! I was so excited and couldn’t wait for the morning when we had an early morning game drive booked.
After setting up camp, morning came far too early when we were up and setting off at 5am. In the dark, we spotted some Rhino’s and buck and when it came to be daylight, our ranger took us to an enclosure where we saw 7 wild dogs who were absolutely adorable and all huddled up in a pack while sleeping to keep warm. We also saw plenty of zebra’s, giraffe’s, boar and a call came over the ranger’s radio that lion’s had been spotted! Just like that, we were heading over to their location and we saw two of them lazing about in the tall grass. The best thing was though, that with all the trucks around these lions, in the far distance, giraffe’s were appearing everywhere! It was amazing to see – like they were trying to see what was going on!
We headed back to camp where we lived it up a little with a cooked breakfast in the camp restaurant (yeah, we were clearly roughing it!). We had a great conversation for a number of hours then went to top up on some sleep. After our nap, we were up for another game drive through the park. This time we spotted hippo’s! Matthew and Kim are still not convinced that we saw them, but Jono and I could see them! Unfortunately they didn’t pop up high enough for any decent photo’s, but they were definitely there!!! But we saw lots of gorgeous birds and loads of zebra’s, rhino’s and buck. So beautiful! Back at camp, we saw some monkeys in the distance (but weren’t quick enough with the camera), squirrels and all sorts of birdlife. Not to mention the friendly cat that was hanging around our camp!
Next day we had a final drive through the park. This time we saw a dung beetle pushing a piece of dung across the road (highly entertaining), beautiful dragonflies, lizards and a solitary springbok! And just as we were leaving, we saw 3 definite hippos! Whoo!
On the drive back to Jo’burg, we saw countless shanty townships. Except when we stopped by the Hartebeespoort Dam (I think). The houses here were mansions in comparison, but apart from the bright green algae, it was a lovely view! Back to Jo’burg we spent the night in a heavy-metal nightclub (kinda) which was an interesting experience!
Next day we had the traditional South African Brai. For those that don’t know what a brai is, it’s a BBQ (weirdo’s, I know 
). In apparent typical-brai-style, the boys had too much sun, drink and conversation and the coals on the barbie burnt out. So our lunchtime brai turned into a 7pm brai, with the help of some hairdryers! But it was a great day, kids were swimming in the pool (that includes Kim), we were soaking up the sun and good company.
The following day was our last day in SA. We started it with a trip to the apartheid museum. This was extremely well presented and told the story of apartheid in great detail. Some of the footage shown was shocking – white politicians blatantly lying to the public. The wall full of apartheid legislation. As Matthew pointed out to me, Kim and my marriage would be illegal under apartheid.
We had lunch at Jono’s sisters house where we said our goodbye’s. What an amazing adventure with so many facets to a wonderful country.
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