10 December 2016 1 of 4
I’m on holidays once again. This time I’m in Africa for a 32 day adventure visiting and traveling with Chef/Pats/Sarah.
I’m writing this from Johannesburg, South Africa – an interesting, challenging and frustrating town. It’s my first taste of Africa and I’m enjoying it mostly – it’s one of those places where you need to lower your expectations, don’t plan too far ahead and keep a smile on your face because everything is actually alright even though it isn’t what was supposed to happen. Chef has been living in Joburg this year doing an Australian Volunteer role so is a bit of a local.
I arrived Tuesday and have spent the last 3 days doing touristy things and getting used to the altitude – Joburg is at 1753m above sea level. The Apartheid Museum was overwhelming but excellent, and provided complimentary condoms in the bathrooms just in case you were feeling a bit randy after trying to process the apartheid era… I was reading some stories told by black nannies who said they called their female white children ‘nonnie’ meaning small madam! I thought that was particularly amusing because I’m definitely not small!
I also did a tour through an old slum area that is slowly being rejuvenated which was very interesting – during the 2010 World Cup, local brothel owners were thinking about how to attract customers. One such brothel (which from the outside could be a house or single storey pub) renamed itself German Beer House and used the German flag for its sign with a picture of a bloke in lederhosen holding a stein on the front. Apparently there were many many surprised visitors to the brothel, some running away quickly, others staying too long.
Today we did a cycling tour through Soweto – the area to the south of Johannesburg where the black, Indian, Malay and mixed races were forced to live during various times in Joburg’s history. It is also where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu lived for a time. I’ve attached some photos – it’s very simple living in some areas.
Saturday we fly to Rwanda for 8-10 days of exploring, then into Uganda for another 8-10 days (including Christmas), before heading to Kenya for the final 8-10 days where we’ll visit Monkey/Pettitt/Jac. We’re traveling with a friend of Chef’s John who seems very entertaining.
I hope you’re all starting to get a bit jolly about the pending silly season.
