Ayoba! South Africa, part 2

Ayoba time! That is a commonly used phrase here, most especially during the World Cup, which means, “excitement.” I'm calling this South Africa, part 2, because I consider Part 1 the World Cup mayhem with my group of friends. Then when they left (sniff sniff), my part 2 began and ended with my travels to Johannesburg → Pretoria → Johannesburg (also referred to as Joburg, Jozi, Jburg) → Zimbabwe/Zambia → Joburg → Durban → Cape Town → Joburg. Phew! All in a little over 3 weeks. And yes, I'm a little tired of Johannesburg. Hahah! To make a looong story short, I basically had a little snafu with my visa to Ghana and had to stay in country while that was being sorted, hence the extra unplanned and unexpected leg of more time in Jburg, 1st time to Durban and 2nd time to Cape Town. Which means that in total, I've been in South Africa for 6 weeks! Crazy! “Oh my word,” as the locals often say.

So here I'll briefly (hehe) try to highlight and summarize my whereabouts these last 3ish week and also my impressions of SA. To start, I discovered something truly wonderful... couchsurfing (www.couchsurfing.org). Now, this had been brought to my attention a couple of years ago by my LU friend Koski (for you LU people, this would be no surprise!), but I thought it was a little awkward and weird. Basically, it is an online network where you stay at local people's (I guess you would call it strangers) houses, for free! Yes, FREE! You can also use it when traveling to new cities just to meet people, like for coffee/drink or something. Because of the added expense of these extra couple of weeks, I opted to go for it. So I created an online profile, searched Johannesburg, female aged 26+ (can't start off too crazy! Haha), contacted several people based on their profile's and other “surfer” comments (made sure they sounded nice), heard back from a few, and then ended up with Carol and her family. Now, to say I REALLY lucked out with Carol is an understatement. Not only did I get my own room and bathroom, BUT Carol just happens to be the sweetest and nicest person I've ever met. She also was hosting several other couchsurfers and took it upon herself to entertain us and “keep us busy.” AND I ended up staying there for 8 nights, and she was more than accommodating. The beautiful thing about couchsurfing is staying with the locals and getting the “inside scoop” on things. I learned a lot about South Africa and “local's perspective.” Again, according to another couch surfer that was there, “we lucked out,” any typically you are on a couch and left to be. What to do in return, you ask? We would make dinner, help with dinner, help clean up, contribute towards petrol, etc. Now it's not like dinner and such is expected, it's definitely play it by ear, but what other “pro's” have told me, it can be something as little as taking the person out for drinks or buying them a meal, a bottle of wine, etc. But in the end it seems like nothing is really expected, and I think usually you really should just expect a place to sleep and it's just an added bonus if anything else is included. Here's our group:

Because of this experience, staying at hostels, and staying at guesthouses which I've again lucked out (I must have an angel looking over me) with super friendly hosts, I really haven't been “alone.” I've found that traveling solo, people are usually curious and have approached me, or I guess I would say I've probably been more open with starting up conversations, inviting myself along places (Haha), and... it's all worked out! But all and all, I literally was going to write a whole blog about this couchsurfing experience because it's been so awesome, but you'll have to try it to find out for yourself!!! Back to some of my activities, one of them activities I did with my fellow couchsurfers is go to the Lion and Rhino Reserve, a protected area where we did a safari. Although this truly wasn't in the “wild” like the Kruger National Park, it still is pretty cool to see lions, ostrich's, rhino's and other wildlife roaming about:

A section of the Reserve is an area where they raise animals and then “when they are ready” they are released into the Park. This was especially cool because I got to pet a cub and also a big o lion. Yes, I admit, I was a little nervous because the lion almost tried to bite my leg and I had some drool on my jeans to prove it, but hey, I survived! ;-) We also go to see a rhino all up front and personal, and it was just soo cute! It was making these squeeling noise, I think it liked the attention, but of course wanted food. Let's just say we got up close and personal with some of the animals:

Besides seeing more game, we kept busy. One of the couchsurfers happened to be a German filmmaker filming a documentary called Girlz Kickin HIV (girlzkickinhiv on facebook) which she followed a group of “soccer girls” before, during, and after the World Cup documenting their lives, the positive impact on sport, as well as education on HIV. She was kind enough to invite me and some other couchsurfers to join her on some shoots, and that has been by far a highlight of my trip. South Africa is super Western and often times I really didn't even feel like I was in Africa, outside of a few times when I've looked the wrong way on the street and almost gotten hit by a car (pedestrians DO NOT get the right of way here). However, the townships that we went to, or impoverished low-income black areas, “is Africa.” One day we went the school of a “soccer girl” Nellie to film her at her school in Orange Farm. They definitely don't get too many foreign visitors, nevertheless with film cameras, and boy did we create a stir! One of the teachers was almost beside himself in trying to represent his school nicely, so he totally disrupted his class, brought in students from other classes, to perform poems, dances, songs that they had recently performed at a talent show.

Many of the topics were about World Cup, but many were also about HIV/AIDS and death, kinda intense for 5th - 8th grades. One in particular approached me, tugged on my sleeve and said, “excuse me Miss? Did you like my poem?” Granted we heard a lot of poems and I couldn't remember hers in particular (oops), but I said, “yes! You are very talented.” And she replied, “do you think it can be published?” At first I wasn't sure if she meant if I personally could take them and publish it or if she was capable of publishing it? I took the “safe” approach and told her she was very talented, to stay in school, and to type up her poems, make a booklet it out of it, and present it to her teachers. I hope that was okay, but she seemed happy with that. But nevertheless, it was a little disheartening because most these kids won't go beyond 12th grade and will stay in these townships. But to see their passion with their songs and dance was really moving. They even put together a last minute traditional Zulu dance for us, which was again, an amazing performance:

It was cute, after the show some girls asked to take a picture with me, but I think it was more so that they could be close and touch a white female. I didn't care:

After the school we went to Nellie's home and while they were filming and interviewing,

my friend and I went to walk around and boy, was that an experience! We barely got down the block before a swarm of kids came to us and followed us while we walked around. It was sooooooooooooooooooo cute! They loooved us to take pictures of them, “shoot me, shoot me!” and then would run over to look at our digi cams:

It was so fun to see them in enjoying themselves not just with us, but having fun playing with each other with simple objects, like a beat up soccer ball or this cell phone that played music. It's not like what you often see elsewhere where kids are isolated in front of TV or a video game with little social interaction:

We later went to Soweto, the most famous township in South Africa because that is where Nelson Mandela and many other political figures lived, and his house is now a museum. As you could see, this is a major tourist attraction and although you get a township “vibe” for people that have not been to one, it wasn't the same as the Orange Farm experience I had. There were souvenir stands which had uber expensive souvenir's and the kids didn't even look twice at us. I kinda liked that attention! Ha ha! I even had to grab some to take a picture (they are so cute with their uniforms!):

From there we went to Kliptown, which happens to be one of the poorest townships and wow, talk about poverty. They literally live in shacks, and here both children and adults had old beat up clothes and shoes... and not much else. This is when it hits you that these are the conditions that millions live in, and makes one really feel sooo soo spoiled with all that we have. Although it was unexpected, I think spending so much time in one place (well, the country, not the cities) really gave me good insight into the country. Not only am I in the process of reading A Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (excellent book, by the way), but I visited the Rubben prison where he was incarcerated for almost 2 decades and visited the Apartheid museum. I've learned soo much about what South Africans went through, and what still amazes me is how recent everything is. I feel they are how we were 20 years ago with racism and what not. What I can tell you is that everyone, black and white and everything in between, adore Mandela. He truly is like an icon here, and the more I learn about him, the more I admire him as well. His 92th birthday was while I was here, and it is known as “Mandela day” and for that day it is asked for everyone to contribute 67 minutes of their time to do some good in the community, help someone, etc. And yes, I was the one who asked, “who not 92 minutes?” to celebrate his age. But I guess 67 comes from the years he has spent freedom fighting. Isn't that nice though? I think Americans should do something like that. When I saw his jail cell at Rubben Island:

which he spent almost 20 years, it's almost unfathomable that he came out motivated and eager to bridge the racial gap after he and millions of others really were brutalized and demoralized by race. It's just crazy to me that political prisoners were considered more dangerous than murderers and rapists, and they were the ones who were in the maximum security jail, whereas the murders/rapists were in the minimum security. We learned so many of the hardships and struggles that they went through, by ex-prisoners themselves:

and it became more real because the guides were actually ex-prisoners themselves! Again, shows how recent everything is. Although Mandela was released in 1990, it seems like apartheid was considered officially over in 1994 when he was elected for presidency, at least that is what all the locals say because that is when unjust and laws were finally abated. I think with time the racial gap will be lessened, and although it's gotten better this last decade, there is much much room to grow. Actually, it was interesting to learn that besides the black and white struggle, the Indians were looped in the mix because they too had to fight for their freedom and they often collaborated with the blacks in the fight for freedom. Then there is actually tension between the Afrikaans whites and the English whites, the Afrikaans being Dutch settlers and the English came later, and also amongst different tribes, like the Xhoso and Zulu. South Africa has 11 official languages and English consists of only 13% and the others are around 6-8%. BUT as the 1995 rugby world cup win by South Africa (in case you haven't seen it, you have to see Invictus. Very accurate, the locals say) united the people here, the World Cup in 2010 did much of the same. The energy level and excitement here was awesome. I was glad to see that even after the World Cup, people were in high spirits about their success AND that this World Cup put South Africa on the map. Soooo many locals asked me what I thought about S.A. before coming here. And really, I hated to admit it, but the majority of what we hear about through our tunneled media is about the crime (which yes, is a problem) and danger. It's not to say that I wasn't careful, especially in Johannesburg where we were almost forbidden to be out and about after dark, BUT I personally have had nothing but great experiences here. Yes, as a tourist things are always gold plated, but I don't know, if you're smart about your safety, you're fine. Things can happen anywhere. So come and visit and see for yourself!!! Alll right, enough depressing, historical, and random talk. On to the fun stuff! Where there is fun, there is the beach! And that is actually exactly what I needed, warmer climate and the laid back beach atmosphere. 1st stop was Durban, and since my “brief” summary has so far been extremely lengthy, the highlights of Durban was going up the Skywalk at the Moses Mahiba soccer stadium, rated one of the best stadiums of the World Cup:

Eating the famous Durban curry dish of bunny chow (fast fact: did you know Durban has the largest population of Indians outside of India? Well, now you do!):

And the best is going scuba diving... with sharks!!! This was a last minute decision. I heard that there is scuba diving here, and thought it was just too cold for it. Then of course I get there and every other thing I read about the diving is that it is the BEST in the World, a TOP attraction, one of the FEW places to see sharks, blah blah blah. Here's one from the UShaka Marine World, one of the largest aquarium's in the world:

So then I had to do it. And I am sooo glad I did!!! The area we went, Aliwal Shoal is known for having ragged-tooth sharks, affectionately known as “raggie's,” and more technically, sand tiger shark. To see a shark literally just a few yards from you.... I can't even describe it! At first it seems surreal, like I am at an aquarium looking at it. Then gets the excitement, like “holy crap! I'm diving with a shark... in the wild! So cool!” And then the fear sets in, “ohhh myyy gawwwdddd... it's a shark!” There were a few times when I was backing away to get a little further because I got nervous, ha ha! Actually, raggie's are quite “gentle” (hahaa, meaning, they don't really attack unless majorly provoked) and there are no known incidences of … how should we put it, well, human incidences (or at least that's what they told me, ha hah). We did 2x50 minute dives and although I know I was on the lookout for sharks (probably saw 8ish total?), also saw a turtle, super beautiful coral fish (parrotfish!), moray eels, a shrimp, stingrey.

And alas, finally besides a visit to the Durban Botanical Gardens, I topped off Durban by going to the 5th largest Aquarium in the world, UShaka, which was truly amazing! They also have adventure activities, but what I thought was cool is that all the fish live in actual sea water transported from the sea (which is right there) and they rescue and nurture many mammals, and then send them back out. Pretty cool.

Below is just a pretty view from UShaka...

I have to say in Durban I stayed at a guesthouse (decided since I saved so much with couchsurfing, to up my game a bit and stay at B&B's/guesthouses). I ended up staying with the nicest family I've ever met! From the get-go, I felt super comfortable and relaxed, and not only was the host accommodating, but her whole family was just so sweet. I almost felt like a part of the family by the end (stayed there 5 nights). They really made my stay there fantastic. Then again when I went to Cape Town, I stayed at another guesthouse with this super cute elderly couple who again, went above and beyond to make my stay comfortable. I just can't get over how wonderful the people are here. Not only are they genuinely kind and helpful, but they are so warm and friendly. I befriended a mother and daughter while I was in Cape Town, and they were so welcoming and fun to hang out with. Thanks Marlene and Chanelle for making my stay so great! :-) So highlights from Cape Town are the infamous Table Mountain... and the World's Largest Vuvuzuela (as if we hadn't had enough during the World Cup!):

The 1st time I came, there was not a cloud in the sky... except for this cloud hanging over the mountain. I guess this is quite common and it's because there are 2 currents from the sea, and when they mesh, it creates this cloud literally right over the mountain. So then the tram going up the mountain was closed and the sea was too rough to go to Rubben Island, BUT I'm glad I got a 2nd chance to come back and do both of these activities. Cape Town is really one of the most beautiful cities in the world because they have both the sea and the mountain. After doing a 2 hour hike and taking 20398432094832 pictures, here a select few of my fave's:

When I could finally check off Table Mountain from lists of things to see/do before I die, the next best thing next to Table Mountain is “the waterfront,” which again, I had been previously. For those of you from Chicago, it's like a big 'o Navy Pier, BUT not as cheesy. There are boat rides to take, but there are also lots of excellent street performers, entertainment, and of course shopping and entertainment. I ended up spending a lot of time around there which was super nice.

Sooo... then it was back to Joburg where I reunited with Carol and family. Ahhh.... like coming back home.

old and new couchsurfers, and off we went to do more sightseeing. The one day we went to Soweto, where Mandela and many other political figures grew up and home of the Soweto towers:

and we also went to the township Kliptown, which happens to be one of the poorest:

and of course had to stop at the Monte Casino:

We also did plenty of souvenir shopping and last but not least, we finished off our last day at the Gold Reef amusement park! Haha!! Besides the regular entertaining things like 3D and 4D movies,

I haven't been on a roller coaster ride in ages, but we went and I have to say, although the park is a lot smaller than say something like Great America, there were some pretty wild rides!! It was a nice way to end the trip:

Also went to see a traditional dance performance, which had great music also:

AND, for some reason we kept on passing Soccer City and this was the 1st time I have seen it since the World Cup! It was different seeing it during the day AND with no 029323094 spectators! Still an amazing stadium to me:

Phew! If anyone actually read this whole thing, I give you credit! Again, I use travel blogs almost as a journal for myself and it's a bonus if anyone actually reads it, so thank you! Next stop is I'm ghana go (hahhahah) to Ghana to do PT volunteering for a month. I'm a little nervous, but also excited. It will be nice to be in one place for more than 5 days, gasp! I get to totally unpack and not live out of a suitcase!!! I think my internet there will be spotty, so don't think I'm MIA if I don't update for a month of so. Ayoba!!!

Catching some Zzzzz's - Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Zambezi River

Welp, couldn't leave Africa without seeing the famous Victoria Falls, , or "the smoke that thunders!" Both in Zimbabwe and Zambia. It is claimed not to be the highest or widest, but largest in the world, next to Niagara Falls and Iguazu Falls when you put it all together. It's something like 1708m wide and 108m tall. And as it is winter here, it is "wet" season, appropriately so, I sure got wet! Only bad thing was that the mist and spray made it hard to see the falls sometimes.

After staying in some dinky hostels, I upped my game a little bit and stayed at a nice hotel, the Kingdom Hotel, just 500m walking on the Zimbabwe side to the Victoria Falls.

I fortunately went to see the falls on the first afternoon I was there, and later I found out that is the best time to see the falls otherwise with the sun it is hard to take pictures. Woo hoo! My first view of Victoria Falls was breathtaking... being there felt majestic (double rainbow!),

feeling the spray and mist of the water, seeing an absolutely beautiful rainbow, and "feeling" the enormity of it. I don't know why, but those first few minutes I had one of those "ah-ha" moments, like "wow. I'm in Zimbabwe. AFRICA. Looking at Victoria Falls." And as I walked around some more, then came the "I'm at Victoria Falls... and am totally wet." hahah! They didn't lie when they said come prepared with rain gear! The spray was sooo crazy and intense, but also kinda fun :-)

BTW, there was a bungy jump off this bridge (no, I didn't do it!)!

I'm glad I listened to recommendations before coming to stay on the Zimbabwe side as it covers 75% of the falls and has the best views, with Zambia sharing the falls and having 25%. The walk along the Falls took about 2 hours, there are 16 points to come across with different viewing areas, aka, different areas to get wet.

A couple of days later, I WALKED (I also get a kick when I can do this!) to Zambia.... hahaha. Hit the border crossing, got a stamp on the good 'ol passport, and off I went walking (took about 30 min total). I pretty much crossed the border and there were monkeys and bamboons everywhere, jumping on trucks, stealing food from people, hopping along trees. Now, I happen to have a great fear of monkeys. I had a couple of close incidences in Malaysia and India that installed a fear in me that only grows with these other close encounters. They are just so eerily human-like, and also have NO fear of humans. Well, anyway, after dodging the monkeys and having all the locals laugh at me, I entered Zambia, again prepared with my rain gear, and more fortunately so because I got wet! It was a different perspective from the Zambia side, but the spray was really high and it was hard to take the 023948320948230 pictures I normally take. Again, I was glad that I spent more time and am staying on the Zimbabwe side. Here's a few picts from the Zambia side...

And if you thought that seeing the falls from the land of 2 countries wasn't enough, I took a helicopter ride to see it from above! The helicopter ride was soooo cool.... actually, more being in the helicopter itself (I was next to the pilot) was the cool thing, seeing the actual falls from above was a bonus. I had these fun Aussies with me and we all just got a kick out of being on a helicopter.

So finally I had enough of the Falls and did other activities, went canoeing down the Zambezi River,

which happens to have some minor rapids, which was super fun (luckily I shared the canoe with the guide, otherwise I have a bad history of falling out of canoe's!). We saw some crocodiles (test: can you see the one by me? It's camouflaged by the bushes), elephants, rhino's, hippo's (finally saw one "yawning," aka. "scaring" away predators), more bamboons (ugh).... here's one with a baby! (I guess I'll admit that was cute!)

Also did a nice sunset cruise down the Zambezi River, which is the the 4th largest river in Africa, top 3 being Nile, Congo (Zaire), Niger rivers.

Here's also a pict of the sunset when I went on a sunset cruise down the Zambezi River...

On Zimbabwe.... now this is interesting. 1st thing that happened to me was literally the porter who was taking me to my room said to me, "do you want to see our money?" Of course I have a special interest in foreign currencies, so of course I said, "sure!" And he whips out a 10 million dollar bill! Ha!! Then followed the 50 million and then 1 trillion bill! Isn't that crazzzzyyy?! So yes, unfortunately, Zimbabwe is currently in a great financial and economic crisis, mostly due to the president Robert Mugabe who is like 100 years old (okay, around 80), who is only the 2nd president of Zimbabwe, and has been in power through different means since the early 80's. He is known for not only this hyperinflation, but also total economic mismanagement and for some human rights issues. He is not the world's favorite president. You have to feel sorry for the locals who are suffering from this. So because of these money probs, they are using the US dollar, which is always interesting. Besides the money thing, the second observation is.... where are the people? Not only was my hotel totally empty (18-22% occupancy), but so were the neighboring hotels. Granted, I went towards the end of World Cup craziness, but the locals said that typically South Africans come during their winter (now), but because of the World Cup, a lot stayed around and hence, total emptiness. I'll try to post picts, but my hotel also had a casino.... NO JOKE - it was TOTALLY empty. Seriously. Not a single person. This is me and and this Aussie I met like "where are the people?"

It was the eeriest and craziest thing that I've ever seen. Not that usual clinks and "cha chings" or NOISE for that matter that you hear in casino's. This other Aussie couple that I had met just couldn't get over it. Oh, and the bar adjacent to it had 4 people in it, us 3 and the bartender. Ahh.... fun stuff. All and all, a great experience to see other African countries and also to experience the powerful Victoria Falls. Also nice to be in a little bit warmer climate! Next back to Jburg and more of South Africa until I take off for Ghana! Stay tuned!