SAFARI – DAY 3 (Johannesburg)

We both woke up at 3 AM again.  Tried to go back to sleep but finally gave up at 4 AM and we started talking and catching up on news.  Got up at 5:15 AM and did hand laundry and got ready for our tour to the Lesedi (lay-SAY-dee, meaning “light”) Cultural Village.  This required repacking in order to take only what we needed for the day tour, followed by another major repacking job at the end of the day to prepare for the safari tomorrow.

Our destination is about an hour drive from Johannesburg -- we had a prearranged driver.  On the way, we passed a lot of areas where houses were made up of shipping containers or just built from sheets of metal nailed together.  Very small and very sad.  Some housing developments had nice, modern-looking houses (not very big) with thatched roofs.  The last time I saw thatched roofs was in Denmark.  Lots of brick and stone houses.  Very red dirt and everything is very dry with bare trees (well, that is normal for the dry season).

Lesedi Cultural Village ( http://www.lesedi.com/cultural.htm) was fabulous.  At the village, we were met by men and women from five African tribal groups, all singing a song of welcome.  I was grinning from ear to ear the whole time.  The five groups represented are Zulu, Basotho, Pedi, Xhosa, and Ndebele.  Our guide, Miriam, was Basotho (whose tradition requires 13 cattle as a bride price – more cattle than the other tribes who usually only require 11 cattle unless the bride is the daughter of a chief). 

The village is divided into five sections, each represents village life in a different tribal tradition and includes a group of houses and a small kraal (corral) for cattle and goats.  Most of the people live here for a year or two while they work here, so this is home for them for a while.  Miriam described what everything was in each village and taught us how to greet the people in each village in their language (don’t even ask me to remember) and how to thank them. 

At the Zulu village, we had to ask the chief for permission to enter.  In general, the Zulu are the warriors and the other groups are more peaceful.  They all view cattle as wealth (today’s value for a cow is about 5000 Rand, which is about $700).  Which reminds me – if you see me, ask me to show you the traditional Zulu handshake.  I thought they were pulling my leg at first, but it was the real deal and clearly is the root of the complex greeting/handshake rituals in American gangs today.

It was a nice bit of a mind twist that they all welcomed us “home” since Africa is the cradle of mankind.  After the tour, we went into a large round building where everyone sang and danced Zulu dances.  My sister and I even joined in and had a delightful time.  Then it was time for lunch (crocodile  and ostrich were offered, along with chicken and roast beef African style which is rather tough and grisly, mashed squash, rice, steamed ground maize which is called by a variety of names of most people recognize the name “papp”, and beans).  It was very good.

I’ve started to enjoy watching rugby – we’re here during the World Cup games and it is the sole focus of most discussions and most TV channels.  It is a quite entertaining game to watch although I don’t understand why a few players don’t just get killed at each game – it looks brutal.  Watched Canada win a tense game against Tonga.

In the evening we met most of the members of our safari tour group and they seem like a good bunch of people – well-travelled with a fun sense of humor.  Learned that Botswana and Zambia will be much hotter and much colder than Johannesburg (where the weather has been quite pleasant, much like home).  We spent a good bit of time repacking, trying to meet all the airline requirements and the game drive requirements at the same time – it has been difficult.  I’ve never packed and repacked so often on a trip before.  Yuck.

ODD BITS LEARNED ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA FROM OUR DRIVER:  Our driver was a Shona from Zimbabwe but now lives in South Africa because it is easier to make a living wage there. 

·        In South Africa, Afrikaans is spoken only by whites; blacks speak Zulu.  (You probably already knew that but I wasn’t entirely clear on it.)

·        South Africans don’t tend to travel much, so they are rather insular and not very culturally flexible.  For example, if a black person does not speak Zulu, they often won’t even talk to him, even if both parties speak English.  He is expected to speak Zulu or nothing at all.

·        Marijuana is illegal, although it is also customary for tribal men to go into the hills and smoke it.

·        Polygamy is legal.

·        Traffic lights are called robots.  (Just turn right and then turn left at the third robot.)

SAFARI - DAY 2 (Johannesburg)

We got to bed by 9 pm and were wide awake by 3 AM, so we decided to have peanut butter and crackers and sat up reading (I had packed the peanut butter and crackers for just such a situation). 

We planned for this to be a resting day and ended up napping from 2-4 in the afternoon.  Realized I was in Africa when I started to hear different bird calls.  The hotel really does not want us to go anywhere unescorted, so when I decided that I wanted to buy a couple of large bottles of water, I had to give money to a staff member who went to the store for me.  For dinner, we ordered Italian food delivered to the hotel (apparently meal delivery is the usual thing for guests to do) and watched a rugby World Cup game while eating.  Rugby world cup was about the only thing on television because rugby is a national obsession, but we found it quite interesting.  Watched a soap opera for awhile for the fun of it.  The characters fluidly switched back and forth between English and Swahili and English subtitles were provided for the Swahili parts.  Rather interesting.

Did I mention that the room includes a walk-in shower and a separate bathtub? The bathtub is so long that a 6’ 5” person would probably be quite comfortable.  Longest bathtub I’ve ever seen.

During the night, there was a big storm, with lots of thunder and lightening.  Apparently this is normal because it is spring here and moving into summer, which is the wet season.

SAFARI – DAY 1

This was a 15 day safari trip to Botswana and Zambia, with some transitional time in South Africa. In general, this was a life-changing, mind-altering, beyond-spectacular trip!

My sister and I traveled together on this trip.  We flew from San Francisco to Altanta (5-hour flight) and the directly to Johannesburg (16-hour flight). 

We were warned that the Johannesburg airport has a reputation for luggage loss and pilfering, so I tried to pack only uninteresting things in my check-on bag and crammed everything else into two carry on day packs, including a complete change of clothes and my nightgown.  It was a pain in the backside to be carrying extra stuff without the benefit of wheels (a wheeled carry-on bag weighs more than we are allowed to take on the small bush planes that we will be flying later in the trip), but worth the peace of mind.

Luckily, our baggage arrived safe and sound, and the prearranged transportation service was there to meet us at the airport (the tour agency highly recommended that we not attempt to simply take a taxi to our hotel because it was too dangerous in Johannesburg –- so they arranged pickup service from an outfit that they trust) and take us to the Johannesburg Courtyard Hotel Eastgate.

I expected the hotel to be on the low end of accommodations, but it turned out to be quite nice with a very genteel happy hour that included a very nice waiter who served complimentary wine or cocktails and great appetizers and crisps (potato chips, and a very nice complimentary breakfast.  Drank a good South African merlot.  The room was comfortable and included a small, equipped kitchen, and also a complimentary can of Raid (which we did not have to use).  As with most buildings in Joburg, the hotel was entirely fenced in with a manned entry gate to screen everyone coming in.  The tour agency and the hotel strongly advised against walking anywhere on our own.