Out of Africa- Cape Town- 11

Our African journey came to an end in Cape Town, which was a pleasant and "civilized" change from the bush. While it took a while to adjust to the traffic and the hoards of people, we resolved to treat ourselves to the pleasures of civilization, including some sight-seeing, as well as more good food and South Africa’s well-established reputation for the fruit of the vine.


Cape Town is characterized by its pleasant Atlantic seaside humidity and temperate climate and, contrary to the extremely dry conditions we had seen in the past few weeks, a green, lush vegetation in stark contrast to the endless brown tones of the bush. Walking along the sidewalk near the sea with the high surf and spray pounding on the breakwater was a marvellously exhilarating and refreshing experience.

We visited Table Mountain, reputed to be the oldest mountain in the world (80 million yrs), which is part of a mountain range that rings the city to the north. The view was breath-taking. It was a bitterly cold day on the mountain top and it reminded us of the Canadian winter that we would be experiencing all too soon.

Our guide, Charlotte, of Cape Town Capers Tours, took us to the unique and fascinating District Six Museum. District Six is at the base of Table Mountain, and like 22 other city districts, its black and coloured (mixed) residents were ordered by the new apartheid regime in 1921 to move out of this well-established and flourishing area. People came home and literally found their belongings on the sidewalk and their homes bulldozed to the ground. This would be like levelling Harlem. The Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are subject to the same policy. The museum had a heart-rending series of exhibitions recording the history of this vibrant community and displayed a tower made up of the street signs from this earlier era. Unfortunately, the new government has not allowed new development or building in this area because of prior legal claims; it is still a vacant field.

Sprawled over an area of some 20 miles along the modern highway north of Cape Town towards the Stollenbosch wine region is Lughawe, a shanty town, which was erected in 1921. This is grim Third World development at its worst. Medical and educational problems abound for the three generations of people who have been trapped there; even public schools cost money in South Africa, and most are too poor even to afford the mandatory school uniforms. Those who can afford it send their children to the far superior private schools. Similar shanty towns exist in Jo’burg as well. This is the institutionalized "poverty trap" at its worst. And there are no short- or medium term solutions in sight.

In this regard, it is clear that the post-Apartheid government has created a "revolution of rising expectations" (esp housing) among large segments of the population which have not been realized. This is like a long fuse. Indeed, in discussions with some people, primarily black, we frequently heard their concern that South Africa might "go the way of Zimbabwe".

Another extremely interesting excursion was to the Jewish Museum (and Holocaust Memorial). We limited ourselves to the museum, which was fascinating for all sorts of reasons. In the first instance, the museum is a history of Jews in S. Africa (SA) from its earliest days, including its involvement in the gold and diamond fields starting in the 1880s. And while there was some migration of (white) Jews to SA from Europe during the early 1930s, creating its own social and political contradictions, the Jewish population in SA from 1936 to date has remained at a constant 100,000 people. Second, what was quite striking and dramatic was the universalist tone set by the Jewish Museum, rather that the much more ethnocentric one we found last year in the Jewish museums in Athens and Venice. There was only one very brief mention of Israel. Third, the museum went to considerable lengths to record the involvement of the SA Jewish community in the anti-Apartheid struggle, and in particular, their involvement with the South African Communist Party (SACP), such as Rusty Bernstein. Significantly, half of the white defendants in the infamous 1956 Treason Trials, which put the predominantly black executive committees of the ANC and SACP on trial, were Jewish members of the SACP. Fourth, when we were in Jo’burg (Sep/08), respectable daily newspapers had front page stories about the SACP; in short, it still retains considerable legitimacy notwithstanding recent world events.

We stayed at Blackheath Lodge, a marvellously renovated B & B -styled accommodation near the ocean in the Sea Point area of Cape Town. The proprietor, Antony, was a gracious and flamboyant host who genuinely went out of his way to make people feel at home with a casual afternoon glass of wine and who always had a quick suggestion for a first- class restaurant or sightseeing activity.

We had intended to start cutting back on calories in Cape Town. Honestly. But we hadn't counted on Antony's fabulous breakfasts. How could we be rude and stick to fruit and yogourt when he and his staff went to so much trouble making tiny, exquisite cheese quiches, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and delicious fruit tarts every morning? Maybe we could have cut back on our dinners a little, but we blame Antony there, as well. Every morning, he would check on our plans for the day. We would tell him the type of meal we would like and the time we'd like to eat, and he'd suggest the restaurant, book the table, book the taxi, and even talk to the taxi driver for us to make sure we were taken to the right place.

The first night, we admitted that we were tired of fancy food; we were ready for something simple: fish and a salad. He recommended The Codfather, where we pigged out, or actually "fished-out", on mouth-watering fresh fish, such as kingklip and shell fish, which we chose raw and had prepared for us while we nibbled on sushi appetizers. It was truly a memorable meal! The following night, we again treated ourselves to more exquisite African cuisine. At the Café African, after the traditional washing of hands in a bowl, we had a varied and tasty set meal of 10 African dishes. We rolled home. The third night, Antony recommended Nelson's Eye, memorable for its name as well as its food. Eleanor had another fish feast and Richard had a fitting last meal in Africa: ostrich steak, served medium rare, of course.

The day before we left, we went on a wine tasting tour north of Cape Town in the Stollenbosch and Paarl regions. We first visited the KVW Winery, with its enormous oak casks and stained glass windows which Eleanor calls The Shrine to Wine. Unfortunately, in our opinion the wine was not nearly as impressive as the setting. The wine at the Spiers Winery was far better and we indulged in a tasting of 6 different varieties, the cab -sauv being the best. For those wine connoisseurs let us strongly suggest, as Richard’s personal favourites, the following South African wines: a full bodied robust red called Tall Horse, which has a slight tannin aftertaste, and a crisp, slightly sweet, but mellow white Riesling from Stollenbosch. Cheers, or sudsa, as they say.

It wasn’t until we had checked in at the Cape Town airport and sat down, that reality finally hit us and we had to face the fact that our journey had come to an end. During our month in Africa, time had literally stood still, but yet had passed so quickly. We felt deliciously exhausted and happy and realized that it would take quite a while to fully appreciate and comprehend all that we had been privileged to experience and see.

Out of Africa-Namibian Sunset- 10

o We have left Namibia after a fabulous week, and are now in Cape Town, the last leg of this incredible journey. The change in temperature is dramatic, from very dry and hot in Namibia, to cool, rainy, and blustery here in Cape Town. During the course of our journey, we have done more than 60 hours of game drives. In many ways, the Namibian leg of our journey was the highlight of the entire African safari. The colours, the contrasts, the diversity and an infinite sense of space leaves one in a perpetual state of breathlessness. The colours, the space, and the silence are particularly powerful and magical.

o For both of us, Namibia was a life-altering experience. Our fantastic and experienced tour operator and guide, Andre Blaauw of Foxtrot Tours (with Eleanor, right), was our driver and a great travelling companion for the entire week and the 2500 kilometres we covered around the country. We never would have attempted the drive ourselves.......driving on the left, dealing with the bumpy, unpaved gravel roads (a great African massage!), locating the animals in their habitats, identifying the various birds and plants we saw en route, knowing where to find the points of interests in each area, and of course, knowing the great restaurants and being introduced to Namibian Tafel beer....the best beer in the world. He shared his incredible knowledge of Namibian wildlife, geography and insight into its indigenous peoples with us and his ability to speak the various languages certainly simplified every step of the trip. We travelled through arid desert, high mountain areas, Atlantic coastline, the dunes, and the cities. We visited a petrified forest and saw rock art made by the bushmen thousands of years ago. Thank you, Andre, for the experience of a lifetime. We WILL be back!

o One of the highlights of the trip was our assault of Dune 45, the most

frequently photographed sand dune in the world. It is 750 feet high- a beautiful windswept cone of reddish-brown sand with a 50-55 degree slope. The original plan was for both of us to climb it, but after a 15 minute slippery climb, Eleanor made the mistake of looking down. Far below, a toy bus was discharging tiny ant-sized tourists. At that point, she decided it was time to slide back down...slowly! Richard heartlesslessly waved goodbye, leaving her to descend alone while he carried on for another 45-60 minutes, and completed the 1 1/2 mile trek to the top. He says it was beautiful and well-worth the climb. Eleanor isn't convinced. The view from the ground was much safer! Below are two of the photos she took of him after she reached the bottom. In the first, he's the tiny speck rounding the curve at the centre of the photo. In the next one, he's a little further along that same curve.

o We were both overwhelmed by the colours of the Namib desert. Its hues range from a pale beige and pink, to a purple blue, to a dazzling rust. The tones and gradations of colour are infinite and change as the light changes. The Namib desert and Etosha pan are awe-inspiring. The complete and utter silence is incredible.

o In the bushveld it is said that every lodge is worth one pound of additional weight. Alas, it is true, and we visited over a dozen lodges. The meals have been fabulous and although we always meant to restrict ourselves to fruit for breakfast and a salad for lunch, one look at the other dishes offered was enough to make us change our minds. Richard says he feels 4 months pregnant. Eleanor is planning her shopping trip for size extra, extra, extra large. For the next few months, it'll have to be nothing but tuna and cottage cheese. Maybe.

o At Cape Cross, we visited a huge seal colony. 200,000-300,000 seals! The smell and the sound were unbelievable. Almost as far as we could see, there were black dots splashing and diving in the waves. On the shore, seals were sunning, barking, fighting, climbing over each other, and otherwise entertaining themselves, ignoring the tourists walking past. Definitely a sight worth seeing. Apparently, the herd grows even more during mating season in December, but this size was impressive enough.

o Windhoek and Swakopmund, the 2 Namibian cities we visited, were both modern, beautifully maintained cities, with a strong European atmosphere and a great deal of German-inspired architecture. We'd love to return and spend a warm winter vacation here.

o Every country has a hidden history and Namibia is no exception. The 1904 German-Herero-Nam War resulted in the extermination of 2/3 of the Herero tribe, when they were driven into the Kalahari desert to die of thirst. The 1985 UN Whitaker Report called the Herero genicide by the Germans the first genocide of the 20th century.

o SWAPO, the liberation movement which subsequently came to power in 1990, seems directionless in terms of its economic development strategy, notwithstanding the generous royalty cut from various mineral companies. A thin and uneven distribution of population, compounded by arid terrain and a severe shortage of fresh water, retards economic and social programming.

o Economic facts: Namibia has an unemployment rate of 35%, not counting those who have chosen to live in their traditional tribal ways; inflation is at 11% and a housing mortgage is 15.5%.
o Social services, especially public education and medical care, seem to have a bad reputation, but the U/Namibia in Windhoek, with a student population of about 15,000, seems modern and well-cared for, much like Trent U. In reality, there is a 2-track delivery system for education and health care: private services for those who can afford it (mostly whites) and public for those (mostly Black) who can't.

o Demographically, the population is 90% black and Catholic; 10% are white Dutch Reform or other protestant denominations. As well, there seems to be a small, fairly high profile and prosperous Jewish community.

o This will be our last blog from Africa. Here in Cape Town we plan some R&R- a city tour and an all-day wine tour. Strange, maybe, that we need R&R after a month-long holiday, but there have been so many new experiences and sights that we'll need some time to digest all we've seen and mull things over.

o On our return we hope to post some of our photos and add a final installment summarizing our feelings and conclusions about our African Odyssey.

Richard and Eleanor