Travels with Andy

It has been a long haul in South Africa that I do not exactly know where to being relating what's happened here in South Africa.

I am currently in Cape Town after spending the last two weeks on the road in southern Namibia and the Kalahari-Gemsbok National Park in South Africa. In all, I calculated that I drove approximately 10500 km in South Africa.

On a high note, thankfully, not everyone in South Africa, white AND black, is racist. Unfortunately, there is a substantial number of racists or at least moderately xenophobic and insensitive South Africans out there. There have been a few instances in which I was mistaken as "the help" in a hotel or a restaurant simply by being non-White, and there have been other instances in which black South Africans treated me with contempt for being Asian. This is perhaps so because under the previous apartheid regime, many Asians (Japanese in particular) were given honorary "white" status; therefore, many black South Africans resented that. But some of the remarks they made and other physical gestures certainly do not make you feel welcome.

The worst, by far, though, were the people at the hostel that I stayed in at Johannesburg, the Backpacker's Ritz in the suburb of Dunkeld West which is near the ritzy Illovo, Randton and Sandburg suburbs. I could not believe the openness with which they would make racist remarks. Shocking is the only word for it. And, in Jo'burg, you still run into the white women taking their black maids grocery shopping, and during which the maids would carry the entire load of groceries, and address the white woman as ma'am. And, she always walks a few steps behind. Shocking but absolutely normal to people in Jo'burg.

Then again, just about everyone else in South Africa is completely hospitable and friendly, especially since I'm Asian and for many, I am the first Asian that they've run into outside of the one or two Chinese restaurants, and the Bruce Lee movies. Yes, some kids shouted, "Hey, it's Bruce Lee" as I walked by. In the Kalahari-Gemsbok National Park in South Africa, I was invited to a braai on my last night there with a group of mates making their annual trip to the Gemsbokpark. In Kruger National Park, a family of blacks invited me to dinner with them (but I had to decline, unfortunately) and told me to call them when I arrived in Nelspruit (my destination after Kruger) to let them know for sure that I got there safely. In Swaziland, when I told the car hire agents that I did not know where the hostel that I would be staying at was, she personally drove us there and back to the capital city. I think I could go on and on with the random, hospitable, friendly gestures afforded to me as a traveler, and also some of the horrific evidences of racial tensions and the like (such as the people who looted a car after it had gotten into a smash on the highway instead of helping the victims out of the vehicle) and others. I guess you walk away from South Africa knowing that these stark realities exist. People are trying to make the best of the situation, the "new South Africa" but it's definitely tough going. As a matter of fact, there is this new rap song which says:

This is the new South Africa
You work real hard to buy a car
Then they take it from you

which is a testament to the fact that every 20 seconds in South Africa, a car is either stolen or hijacked!

I spent the last two weeks here in southern Namibia, driving over approximately 3000 km of dirt road. I could not stop laughing about how in the US, so many people have a 4x4 and dream of driving off-road and roughing it whereas here people purposely avoid the gravel roads and try to drive as much as possible on the tarred roads. And, before you go anywhere, you have to ask someone if the road is still passable as sand storms, quick showers and other calamities (such as the road works department forgot to grade the road that month) render a road impassable, or at the very least, bring along TWO spare tires for the punctures that you will surely have. I was fortunate enough not to get a puncture, although, at the border with Namibia, I did lock my keys in the car. About 20 Namibians stopped to help me try to open my car. We eventually had to cut open the read quarter window to open the door.

In the Kalahari-Gemsbok park, I was lucky enough to see the elusive Kalahari lion. The park is almost 10 000 km^2 and there are only 250 lions or so in the park. I got a very up close photo of the lion before I had to wind up my window because apparently lions have a penchant for feasting on people who lean out of the car trying to get a photo of him. What was most memorable, though, was hearing the lion roar. He also roared that night. Which reminds me, in Hlane Royal National Park in Swaziland, we heard an animal being killed by a lion. Let me tell you that the screech let out by the animal just before he took his last breath scared the living daylights out of us and we could have sworn that the loudness of the roar made us think that the lion was just outside of the safety of the electrified fence.

I'm quite sad, actually to leave Southern Africa (not just South Africa) and have already planned another trip back, or at least, can make a very good suggestion to anyone else planning a trip here. First, you MUST rent a 4x4. Backpacking through South Africa and you will miss out on meeting South Africans, I guarantee it. Nothing compares to driving through South Africa as this is how all of the other South Africans get around (busing is quite slow) and by driving, you are also given the opportunity to pick up hitch hikers, which I did despite the advice of the locals. I picked up a woman taking her child to the doctor, a teacher going from the city to a rural school and several others. Hitch-hiking is just a way of life for black South Africans who cannot afford to purchase a car and when public transport is nearly non-existent. But, picking up hitch-hikers is I guarantee you an amazing way to meet, talk to and interact with South Africans. The first thing you notice is that, to you and I, i.e., foreigners, they just refer to themselves as black South Africans. But, as soon as you talk about people from another province, then they will refer to them by their tribal name. Amazing.

OK back to the original subject, the awesome trip through Southern Africa. You would pick up a 4x4 from Jo'burg, go to Pilanesberg National Park, a smaller, more intimate and natural version of Kruger National Park, then through to Upington en route to the Kalahari-Gemsbok National Park. Then, go to Augrabies Falls National Park, up to the Orange River on the border with Namibia, then in Namibia, Fish River Canyon, Luderitz, Sossusvlei (the most amazing sand dunes in the world (I've been to all of the above in Namibia.)) then from Sossusvlei to Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, the Skeleton Coast, Twylfontein, Windhoek, Etosha National Park, the Caprivi Strip into the Okavanga Delta in Botswana, then to Vic Falls, crossing into the Zambia side to view the falls, then onward to Zimbabwe, the coast of Mocambique to swim with the dolphins, through to Kruger National Park back in South Africa, then down to the Drakensberg Mountains in RSA, take your 4x4 up Sani Pass into Lesotho, cross Lesotho and then drive up through the Karoo back to Johannesburg. I cross-checked this trip with several South Africans who have gone to all of these places and they said this would definitely let you see the most unique aspects of Southern Africa.

Last night, I went to a place called The Drum Cafe. There, you can bring your own drum or rent an African drum, sit in a circle, and you drum along with the drum leader. This to me is the new South Africa, where the blend of European and African cultures wed (hopefully) seamlessly. At least, that's what the South Africans tell me.

My 1 hour at the Internet cafe is up. I should be home in about one month so this is perhaps the last time you'll hear from me until I get to Berkeley.

There's so much more to say about South Africa, but I just must end by saying, GO TO SOUTHERN AFRICA!

Cheers

Andy

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Last updated: 20 July 98