South Africa

I arrived in Johannesburg South Africa after a 14 1/2 hour flight from Sydney Australia. I think that is the longest flight of my trip, and I am glad to have it over! That's a long time to sit.
When I arrived in Johannesburg I was taken to my Hotel, the Africa Center Lodge, ate some food, and then crashed. The time change really did me in.

The next morning I felt so much better after a long nights sleep, and I was ready to explore. However, Johannesburg is a dangerous place, so my choice way to explore was through a tour. Solomon, my tour guide drove me through downtown Johannesburg. It looked a lot like any large city, although you could tell it was more run down and crime ridden. We quickly got out of the bad area of town and headed to Soweto, a black community where the main uprising against the arpietad (legal discrimination of blacks) started. We visited the area where a protest was held about the teaching of Africans (a Dutch like language) in the black schools by children. A 13 yr old boy was shot there and that was one of the major factors that brought attention to South Africa and the treatment of blacks. From that point on, many more protests were held and today blacks are not legally discriminated against..... although a lot of discrimination and racial issues remain.

There are two areas of Soweto, the poor and the rich part. The residents of the rich part didn't look rich at all to me. They dressed normally and lived in very small, modest houses with no yards. Compared to the poor part, however, they had a lot. The poor part of Soweto was a shack city. The "houses" were tin shacks put together side by side. There were 2 toilets and one water spout for a whole street... which contained a lot of people. We visited a family who lived there... a grandma and mom with 11 kids. It was a one room shack and I have no idea how they all even fit in the room at the same time. Supposedly the government is building houses for some of the people in the shack city in 2010. Not many of the people in the city have jobs and they get their food from the government as well. Soweto's population is 4 million people.

It was a sad and heartbreaking thing to see. The children were so young and had nothing. The family didn't have any hope in the near future of getting out of the shack. What did surprise me however, was how happy the people seemed. They didn't seem angry, depressed or upset with the world. They made jokes, were very friendly and open. They had accepted their situation and made the best out of it. There isn't a lot of crime in Soweto, dispite the severe poverty.

The next day I took a day trip to a traditional African village where I was able to see some of the traditional dress and huts. It was an interesting experience, but not nearly as informative as Soweto.

The next morning I made my way to the Africa Game Lodge where I met my Gap tour. It turns out that the only people on the tour were myself and a 32 yr from England, Claire. The small number of the group made it very cool... like our own private tour. We drove from Johannesburg up the Panorama route were we saw some beautiful views from a elevated point called "God's Window", or at least we would have seen beautiful views if it wouldn't have been so cloudy. We also saw some rock formations called potholes that were formed over thousands of years and the river cut away the softer rock leaving round pothole looking things. It was interesting to learn about as well as nice to look at.

That night we went to another traditional village where they put on a show of singing and dancing that told the story of their tribe’s history. It was almost like an opera, but it was outside in a traditional village by a campfire. We had a "traditional" dinner as well before heading to our cottage for the night.

The next morning we took of early and were on our way to Kruger National Park, the second oldest national park in the world. It was there that we would spend the next two days on a safari looking for animals. We were pretty successful! The first animal that we saw was an impala, a deer like creature with large curvy antlers. They are nicknamed the "McDonalds of the bush" because they are all over the place. We then spotted some crocodile near a river, a water buffalo and some hippos enjoying the coolness of a watering hole. As the day progressed we saw rhinos. black and white, giraffes, zebras, Kudu, wildebeest, elephants, hyena, and cheetah. The cheetah was amazing to watch, because it was pretty close. We watched it rest for awhile, and then it got up and walked around. It looked just like a big cat walking around its territory. You could tell that it wouldn't be a cat you would want to mess with though. I also really enjoyed seeing the elephants. We didn't just see an elephant or two; we had two large herds, about 25 in each walk right in front of us. There were moms, dads and babies all in a line making there way. It was so amazing to be so close to that large of an animal.

The next morning we woke up at 4am for and early morning game drive. It was on that drive that we spotted 4 lions, hunting baboons for breakfast. They were circling a tree and getting as close to the baboons as they could. We didn't actually see one of them kill anything, but we were really lucky so see so many lions. The rest of the day was a good animal viewing day as well, and we were enjoying it... until our vehicle stopped working in the middle of the park. We called for help, and 2 hours later had to be towed back to camp. It turned out to be a lack of fuel, and not a broken vehicle, but it still was an interesting experience.

The next day we made our way back to Johannesburg and I said goodbye to my Gap program as I went back to my hotel. I flew out on Friday from Johannesburg to Nairobi, Kenya where my next tour is leaving from on Sunday.

Today is Saturday, and I spent a good part of the morning at an African market bargaining prices for some nice items. It is a lot of fun to do, and the items they are selling are beautiful... but they can get kind of pushy as well and it is good to know when to walk away.

My friend Kim will arrive tonight and we will be taking off on our safari tour through Kenya and Tanzania on Sunday. We will be camping and doing a lot of safaris. It should be a good time.

Photos to come....