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.)