Back from South Africa!

Hi everyone! So, as you know, Joey and I have just taken a two week vacation to South Africa. We literally took thousands of pictures so sorting through them and whittling them down will take some time. Unfortunately, I have to start traveling for work again immediately (as in tomorrow I'm getting on a plane to Denver!) so I may have to string out the post in parts. Also, right before our trip we went to Nashville for Tim & Lauren's wedding and had a fabulous time, so I will have to post on that as well. But since South Africa is fresh on my mind and we are excited to share some pictures and stories, I'm starting with that first.

I will break down our trip into 3 or 4 parts:

1. Johannesburg - 2 days, 2 nights - Apartheid museum, Rosebank market, Melville Koppies, Soweto/Kliptown tour, Shebeen crawl
2. Cape Town - 3 days, 2 nights - Cooking tour, V&A Waterfront, Sunset cruise, Winery, Penguins, Cape Peninsula, Lion's Head hike
3. Garden Route - 3 days, 3 nights - Driving, Hermanus cliffs, Sea kayaking, Knysna boat ride, Seaside cottage, Tsitsikamma waterfall hike, Suspension bridges
4. Safaris - 5 days, 4 nights - Mpila Camp (Braai w/ monkeys, Night drive, Morning self drive) and Thula Thula private game reserve  (Afternoon game drives, morning bush walks, rural village visit & witch doctor) with lots of animals - giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, rhino, warthogs, antelope, hyena, elephants, buffalo, baboons, and more. Oh, AND my birthday!

I'm not going to do my usual narrating through our trip because honestly it would just take WAY too long and you probably don't care THAT much anyways. This was a two week trip jam packed with activities and we all know I can write two paragraphs about a post it. So instead I'm going to give a few comments and then link to an album with captions. If you want to know more about something, give me a call.


So let's get started. First of all let me say, it was no piece of cake getting there. We flew from San Diego to Los Angeles to London to Johannesburg - for a total of 36 hours travel time. We left Friday from work and arrived in Joburg on Sunday at 7 am...

PART ONE: Johannesburg

Let me start off by saying we were semi-terrified to go to Johannesburg. We heard that it had super high crime (aka "the murder capital of the world") and we were almost guaranteed to be mugged at some point while there. We took extreme precautions and left all jewelry - wedding rings,  even fake earrings - at home. and I didn't even bring a purse. We were staying in one of the safest areas of town called Melville - where all the trendy people live - and were assured that we would be ok.

Arriving at our B&B, we weren't so sure, as EVERY house has electric fencing, spikes or barbed wire, and there were posters for security systems everywhere! Not to mention there were little booths for armed guards at every corner. We were told that this is how we knew we were safe! Hmm... 

Needless to say we were a little uneasy to walk around at first. However, after walking around a bit to the shops and restaurants we started to feel more safe and by the end of our visit we were actually quite comfortable and fond of Melville. Many of the locals there feel the crime used to be really bad but now it is much better and the media just blows it out of proportion. 

So the thing that really struck me about Joburg (and really South Africa in general) was not the scenery or the museums or the food or the activities - it was the people and the history. Let me just say that I am NOT a history type person. I don't even know when WWI was or what it was about. But I would describe Joburg, and Cape Town for that matter, as like a European city - kind of like a mix between something you'd find in England and Italy - with an underside of racial segregation and high security.As I'm sure many more of you know than I did, South Africa has a fairly recent history of racial tension and extreme disparity in socioeconomic class. 

To give you a super brief and incomplete background, the Dutch landed in SA a long long time ago and pretty much took over and made all the native tribes slaves. Then the English came and fought the Dutch (now called Afrikaaners) and took over. Slavery was ended but blacks remained unofficially "lesser" class. In 1948, the National party came into power and officially started apartheid which ended relatively recenly in 1994.  

What is so interesting about this history is that you can still feel it. Blacks for the most part are still lower class living in poor townships or informal settlements (shanty towns) and make a living in low wage jobs often as maids or gardeners for whites in cities. Some blacks have mixed in with the whites and the cities but I can count on my hands how many of these types I saw. It is really crazy. It is also interesting that the blacks (who by the way prefer to be called blacks and are in no way offended by this) seem to harbor no resentment towards anyone for this and are happy making the best out of life. Of course, we only saw the surface of the culture but according to locals we talked to both black and white, this is relatively the case. Anyways, I don't want to go on about it but seeing this culture and society first hand was the most impactful and eye opening part of the trip and I feel like a different person having experienced it. So if we chat in person, I'll most likely go on more about it. But for now, let's move on...

So some actual trip highlights: 

• CRAFT MARKET: We had a great time on Sunday haggling over sculptures and bead work with the guys at the craft market. They were all very nice to offer me "the very best price, only today"

• MELVILLE KOPPIES: A walk though the hills by our B&B. Crazy grassy rocky landscape and great views of downtown Joburg with our B&B guide Natasja (who was awesome)

 

• SOWETO & SHEBEENs - A visit to Soweto - which came from South West Townships - where blacks lived during apartheid. This is also where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu lived - two Nobel peace prize winners. The neighborhoods where mostly very poor - many shantytowns and people were out walking everywhere! Shebeens are unlicensed pubs - found in shacks in poor neighborhoods. The people were so friendly and welcoming - it was really like hanging out with friends

Here is the link to the album with captions. Enjoy!

So that's it for now. Look for Cape Town end of this week. And as always, let me know what you think! I always love comments!