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Saturday 24th April 2010

My flight was quite good, although I can never sleep well on a plane. Before take off the pilot said "I regret to inform you that airspace over the U.K. has been closed again...no I'm only joking, we'll take off in five minute." A good joke but a risky audience, half of which had been waiting here for about a week to get home.

I chatted to a nice South African man on the plane and relayed my experiences to him. We arrived at 6am on my birthday and were the first plane to land at Heathrow after bouncing along the runway!

My lucky streak on the luggage carousel ran out and I had to wait ages for my bag. Outside I met Clare and my mum who drove me home. It felt nice to be home, but I felt a little adjustment would be needed to settle in.

That concludes my blog. Thank you for persevering with it and I hope it provided some entertainment. It will be an interesting document to look back on in the future and I hope it's made you want to go to South Africa. I'd highly recommend it!

Take care

Paul

Homeward bound

Friday 23rd April 2010

After a leisurely morning I showed Karen the Company's Gardens and some other sites. I was picked up by Charmaine at 1pm and driven to the Bagleys' house in Parkwood. It felt good to be back and I was reminded of how at home I felt there. I also felt safe, not anxious or in any danger as I had felt on my arrival. Les was away for the week but after a couple of barks from Zoe and Dulla I found Lecia in good spirits in the kitchen. I said hi to Lester upstairs and when I went to my old room I found Callum was in bed ill. He thought he might have picked up food poisoning from the restaurant last night...I'm glad I didn't have the lamb! I picked up some of my things that I had left behind and was then driven to the airport.

I got to the airport ridiculously early in case of problems. Flights home had been operating as normal for about 3 days now. The time gave me plenty of chance to reflect on the past two months (after answering questions for a man from S.A Tourism).

It has been quite a journey. I have experienced unforgettable things, seen wonderful sights and met fascinating people.I leave with a new knowledge and understanding of this country's culture and politics, its wonders and problems, its quirks and customs. I leave feeling like South Africa had become my home, and a part of my heart will be left behind here. It seems like a long time ago I landed here in Cape Town, so much has happened and it will be difficult to know where to start when I am asked back at home about my experiences here. I hope this blog will help to do that.

My final day

Thursday 22nd April 2010

I had today by myself and decided to make the most of my final day. I had lunch in the cafe in Company's Gardens and afterwards I visited places I didn't get round to seeing when I was last here, the Slave Lodge and the South African Museum, the latter being a natural history museum.

The Slave lodge was once used to store slaves, hence its name. It is now a museum remembering such times when the Dutch East India Company set up a refreshment base in Cape Town for ships travelling around the cape between India and Europe. This is how Cape Town was founded. Once the company discovered the resources and possibilities of the area, millions of slaves were brought in from Madagascar, India and Indonesia in the 18th Century. This event began the centuries of racial oppression that would follow.

The museum also houses the round table around which William Wilberforce and others discussed and penned the bill to end slavery in 1808. There is also a good Mandela exhibition on at the moment.

After this much time in the country I do not feel as though I am in a foreign country anymore, but walking through Company's gardens again reminds me of how different everything felt all those weeks ago when I first stepped into the park.

I was again reminded of the diversity and dangers of South Africa as I walked through the park. I was approached by an old, white Jewish lady who commented on squirrels drinking water cleverly from a fountain before launching into a tirade against the black majority Government here. I was on guard but after a short time I decided that she was no danger to me, just eccentric. She claimed that the Government are not interested in whites, only requiring their intelligence and expertise. She also complained about the Government's failure to provide what the country needs, and while I agreed with her on this point I was keen for her to go away, which after about 10 minutes she did.

The South African Museum was also interesting. Before reaching the expected stuffed animals there was a section concerning African diseases and medicine. In a surreal manner, this morphed into the animal sections with cabinets containing both creatures and medical equipment. For instance, there was a rabbit wearing an oxygen mask and a llama with a bandaged head. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos. As much as I tried, I couldn't rationalise this transition but I soon found normal exhibits more conducive to a natural history museum.

I returned to Ashanti to scribble all of this down! In the evening Callum arrived with one of our favoured Cape Town cabbies Charmaine and we went to Long St. We met Karen and Kelly (who is staying at Ashanti too) and went to Mama Africa, a restaurant on Long St followed by our old haunt Neighbourhood. It was a nice night, I kept my memory and Callum took it easy! He told me that things have quietened down a bit now and only two people are staying with the Bagleys.

Wine tour

Wednesday 21st April 2010

Wine tour day. After a strategic heavy breakfast several of us got into a van from the hostel and merrily made our way to a tour of 4 vineyards in the area. The wineries were Simonsig, Fairview, Boschendal and Tokara. We got to taste 5-6 wines in each one, with cheeses in the Fairview winery. Surrounded by the cape mountains and bright sunshine, it was one of the most decadent days of my life:





Here I am with Alex and Emily, two fellow tasters:



It was a lot of fun and a very sociable event but by the fourth vineyard I think everyone had had enough wine. The third Vineyard, Boschendal, was very old and displayed some Cape Dutch architecture:



The final vineyard gave us lovely views of the vines and grounds:







We returned to Stumble Inn around 5pm and were picked up to meet the BazBus for the short trip to the final hostel of my journey, Ashanti in Cape Town. Our room was en suite and was housed in a heritage building around the corner on Union St. Spooky to walk there after dark though.

Stellenbosch

Tuesday 20th April 2010

The weather was again bad in the morning and we decided against a tour of a rasta village and township. We watched the news which was dominated by the travel chaos, and got the BazBus at 12:30pm. At Wilderness, we stopped and got a great view of the beach:



We had a long afternoon in store, our destination was Stellenbosch. The driver put on a movie called New in Town with Renee Zellweger. This was oddly the second time I have seen this film whilst in transit, the other time being on a plane home from Egypt last year.

After a transfer and short bus ride we arrived at the Stumble Inn in Stellenbosch, which appears to be a student town mainly. The hostel is busy and noisy, serving as a base for our wine land tour tomorrow.

I persuaded Karen that we should go out for a drink and so we walked to a bar which was extremely studenty and altogether western before returning home. It felt strange to walk around at night. I hadn't done this for so long but Stellenbosch is a safe town.

Although I'm excited to be going home, I am also excited about going back to Cape Town, doing a wine tour and seeing the people I met there.

Knysna Elephant Park

Monday 19th April 2010

This morning we visited the Knysna Elephant Park, home to 12 adopted elephants. We walked with them and were able to have photos taken with them, which felt alien to me because my elephant experiences so far have involved hostility or wariness on behalf of the elephants. One particular baby elephant had its mother shot for ivory not far from the GVI project in Limpopo.

These elephants are relatively tame and have been trained, including to stand behind a metal bar and wait to be fed:



Like Humans, the babies don't obey the rules and when told to get back they sink to the ground trumpeting in protest much like a child would:



Here I am with a young elephant and then a quite large one (I'm quite scared in the second picture):





Afterwards we were driven to The Heads which is the entrance to the Knysna lagoon. This is one of the most dangerous tidal waters in the world so no boats use it regularly:



Here is a view looking in to the Knysna lagoon:



In the afternoon I wandered around the town. Knysna is a quaint little place where many people have come to retire. It also has some charm and is filled with craft shops and independent restaurants. Like Port Elizabeth it feels safe. Rains hit at 3pm and we were confined to the hostel.

Volcano newsflash: Parts of northern Britain may be open for flights tomorrow but it is being monitored very much on a day-to-day basis. South African Airlines flights home are still cancelled.

Indemnity

When you partake in an activity in South Africa, whether it be bungee jumping or walking over a bridge, you agree to waive any legal proceedings or responsibility of the company/landowner. This extends to absolutely everything. The other day I agreed such a caveat to walk in a woodland. I cannot figure out the reason for this. Either several lawsuits have occurred costing a significant amount, or the powers that be consider many activities to be unsafe. In any event each activity, however trivial, remains the sole liability of the participant and therefore any negligence would be difficult to prove. My attention has been drawn to signs which explain this on many occasions, even when I crossed a sturdy footpath over a small waterway in Knysna.