SOUTH AFRICA . THE BIG THINGS IN LIFE

Mood status: “Tired” is becoming a theme

Location: Camping grounds, (near) Kruger National Park

The African sun hadn’t even gotten its chance to wake us up in any natural sense; we were up and seated in our game drive safari trucks and on our way to Kruger while it was still dark and bloody freezing. Nevertheless, we were all perked up and ready for the day ahead.

Starting at 6 am and following through to 3 pm in the afternoon, we were taken on one hell of a game drive. I’m not going to give you a massive, boring recount of what animals we saw – but the Big 5 were there. Straight from Wiki, the phrase Big 5 was coined by big game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. The collection consists of the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros. But we saw a whole lot more.

I found myself a little contemplative by the end of the day from something that our tour guide had said. After one of the many detailed descriptions of the sighted animals, he said: “Can I ask a question. Are you guys actually listening to me or just busy taking photos? It would mean so much more for you to see these things and learn about them, then to have photos to take home and show your friends”.

Of course, we said yes, yes, we’re listening – while snapping away - but I wonder whether we were. He would ask us questions on things he had already explained, such as “so is that a giraffe a male or female?”, and we wouldn’t have a clue. But he explained to us once again how to tell: look at its horns and see whether they were hairy or not. It was enriching for me to know these little quirky thing. Why had I bothered taking pictures of something I knew nothing about, and didn’t even care to learn about? I was ashamed to pull out my camera after that, and tuned in on every single explanation that came out of his mouth afterward.

*I have refrained from adding any animal photos for obvious reasons. However, this one of two elephants playing together in the water made the cut only because it was the highlight of my trip. They were extremely cute as they wrestled!

P.S Camping ended up being fine! I can SO do this!

SOUTH AFRICA . TOUR BEGINS

Mood status: Exhausted but in high spirits

Location: Camping grounds, (near) Kruger National Park

I've been through a few 6am starts, but this one was particularly rude. All bleary-eyed we loaded our truck, which we were told that we couldn’t call a bus, and started the 600km journey to the top of South Africa. We were making a bee-line to the famous Kruger National Park, one of the largest game reserves in all of Africa to catch the Big 5 the next day at the crack of dawn. Can't say much for the journey except for that it was bumpy, long, lacked air-conditioning and accustomed us well to the next 28 days of overland travelling.

We got to all know each other well though, bonding over card games and our mutual love for adventure. There's about a 50 - 50 split of Germans and Australians, plus 1 American guy and 2 British girls all around the same age. We discussed our first few days in Africa, and all agreed that Johannesburg was nothing like what we had expected were told. The people there were overly friendly everywhere we went and the infrastructure was more reminiscent of a developed country’s than that of a typical 3^rd world’s. Nevertheless, the city is still "transitioning" its many slums into proper suburbs. *Delete few sentences on town planning stuff that no one wants to read about*.

Upon arriving at the camp grounds, we expertly set up our tents, scoffed down dinner and then participated in an evening display of the Shangaan culture by members nearby. This group was formed by the youth who were committed to building a different lifestyle for their communities by cutting out temptations such as alcohol, drugs and gang violence, and replacing this with dance, song and strong sense of pride. The show was simply fantastic, with the group pulling up people from the crowd to join in dance with them. I was one of the lucky ones - or some would say unlucky – who involuntarily made an absolute d*ck of myself by not being able to stomp / shuffle / wiggle with the same expertise as they could.

Just about to head to my tent to snuggle up in my sleeping bag. The temperature has dropped and it's pretty cold so it’s making this camping thing all the more scarier for my novice ass. Wish me luck!

SOUTH AFRICA . SOWETO - SOuth WEst TOwns

Mood status: Grumpy

Location: Hostel room, Johannesburg

It’s going to difficult to write this post because I’m in such a grumpy mood although my day (excluding one event) was absolutely amazing. I’m still looking forward to the trip despite the very real possibility that I could be jailed insane by the end of it. May talk about this issue later.

Right. So today’s events. After writing yesterday’s post I fell asleep straight away (in my plane clothes and everything – yuck) and woke up at 2am, thank you jet lag. After rolling around for 3 hours, I hauled myself up and started my day. I met and decided to tag along with a British traveler as he visited the famous precinct of Soweto, which among its many attractions and heavy history, boasts the only street in the world where 2 Nobel Prize winners, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, called home.

This same street, Vilakazi Street, was where the famous 1976 Soweto revolt took place - an uprising against Afrikaans and the apartheid by students and youth which took the lives of nearly 100 people over two days of protest. Despite the tragedies of ’76, the street today is vibrant with tourists and smiling residents, carefully planned landscaping and vivid memorials of those events.

Upon asking our driver to take us to sample local foods, we ended up finding ourselves at the house of one of Soweto’s residents. A very homely meal was cooked and the guarantee that this dish was an “African specialty” was promised. I’m salivating thinking about it now- yum!

The last stop before heading back to the hostel was the Apartheid Museum. Admittedly, I had very limited knowledge on South Africa during the time where the ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’ couldn’t even stand on the same side of the road. The history was absolutely fascinating while being incredibly horrific. Nothing quite prepares you well enough to read and witness the oppression that the black Africans faced in the hands of the Europeans.

Most moving for me was the Nelson Mandela exhibition that documented his unbelievably difficult life and relentless efforts for equality. Walking out the doors touched and inspired, I reflected on humanity today and wondered where our world could be today if only we all had the convictions of Mandela.

SOUTH AFRICA . TOUCH DOWN

Mood status: Deliriously jetlagged

Location: Hostel room, Johannesburg 

I’m feeling so worn-out right now that I’m actually a little confused. My bum is numb. I’m all spaced out. It hasn’t hit me yet that I’m in Africa. It should’ve hit me days ago that I was going to Africa. Jet lag could be to blame, or maybe this surprisingly comfortable bed and mismatched décor that feel too much like home. 

Africa. Cat. Camping. Seriously? But here I am and here we go! 

No dramas on the flight here. I slept for most of the Sydney to Johannesburg leg, only waking up to watch The Dictator, a documentary on Steve Jobs, a strangely captivating doco on motherhood in the animal kingdom (One Life, for any takers) aaaand.. to catch a glimpse of the South Pole! Isn’t that the coolest? From up high, the ice sheets look thin and delicate, when in fact they would stand tough at several metres high if you were to face them front on. 

 

Waiting for me at the airport on arrival holding up a sign of my name was a big, African man who could probably pick me up and toss me all the way back to Australia. It was short-lived fear, as he flashed the biggest smile I had ever seen and introduced himself as “Gemma” - although I’m absolutely sure that this is only what I heard, and not what he said. Big, black man named Gemma, touché.

Gemma was fantastic as an impromptu tour guide while driving to the hostel, and even tried to teach me a little bit of Afrikaans. There was a food delicacy that he was trying to get me to pronounce that went something like “oo – click – noosh” to which I plainly said “oonoosh” and awkwardly felt like I had said something rude as he giggled to himself for the next 5 minutes. 

Tomorrow I have a free day to roam the city before the tour starts and I haven’t planned anything at all. I’ll hopefully be able to keep you all posted but so far wi-fi has been hard to come by, and then once I’m on my Safari odyssey updates might be even scarcer. But I can’t wait to share with you guys my adventures over the next month, and of course provide coverage on all the mishaps which - lets face it – there’ll be plenty of!