Glamorous in Retrospect - Africa

Zimbabwe - From Above

2005-08-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

The sun rising over Zimbabwe as I flew from London to Africa for the first time. I woke up in time to catch this shot over the wing, just hours before I'd get to Durban for my five month stay in Africa.

South Africa - Home and School

2005-08-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

5 Princess Anne. 4 keys, locking bedroom doors, our own personal safes, ADT, and the landlord used to own a security company. Which was passed down to him from his parents. Kept the green mamba from getting in (fried on the electric fence - did I mention the electric part of that 8.5 spikey beast of a fence?), but we still got robbed 3 times. In all fairness, the security wasn't quite so elaborate when we moved in, and at our insistence the landlord made the house look like a prison. It was pretty creepy, though. Many a sleepless night. But we had satellite TV. And a maid who came a couple times a week. And it was 5 minutes from the campus. Oh yeah, and we had panic buttons, so we could manually set off the alarm if we were in trouble.

Note to self - never live in Durban ever again.

Howard College, one of five campuses of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Formerly known as University of Natal, Howard College is only as impressive as it is because it was one of the 'white' universities during the Apartheid era. Recently the government forced a merge with other universities, hence the name and a more equal opportunity to education in South Africa. The closer building is the law school, and the farther one is the Memorial Tower Building, literally a monument to young South Africans who died at war. These are only two of the buildings, though, and the campus is huge.

A view of Durban and the harbour from campus.

Vervet Monkeys. Vicious little beasts. This is one of the many that lived right on my campus. If you're not careful, they will attack you. And sometimes kill you. Moral of the story? Avoid the vervets at all cost...

South Africa - Wildlife

2005-08-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

On Hallowe'en weekend we headed up to the coast on safari at Hluhluwe-Umfolozi (no, it's not pronounced anything like that). Here the bull elephant is coming towards our car. Right up to it. I thought this was fantastic

...until I realized that he was so close that I couldn't fit his whole face in the frame anymore. And his ears were out. And he was kind of running. And the guide in the safari car next to us told us not to move because he was charging us. Oh.

Leaving us alone and moving on to the next suckers.

In the herds, elephants always protect the babies and will gather around them to hide them from potential danger. Sooooo cute....

Okay, so I really like elephants. This isn't even a quarter of the herd, though, as many were still heading towards the mud at this point.

Here's something different. A giraffe. Crossing the road right in front of us.

Baboons running down the road

Usually it can be really difficult to see rhinos on really hot summer days, but lucky for us, it had rained the day before. We found rhinos everywhere, lying in mud to keep cool. The zebra's peeping.

This is a rhino lumbering down the road towards us. Towards us.

Much different than the Vervets living in and around Durban, this monkey came and sat right next to us at lunch.

Oh, they're dangerous... It was cool to get this close to the crocs, but depressing to see them living this way. We were much luckier to see them the next day in the river.

On a boat tour in St. Lucia we were able to get right next to this mother croc who was sitting on her nest.

South Africa - Random Good Times and Interesting Events

2005-08-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

The Annual Zulu Reed Festival at the royal residence in Nongoma. Every year 10,000 Zulu maidens dance for the king. They each present him with a reed. If the reed breaks while they're doing this, it means that they have been lying and are not truly virgins. Poor crops have likely brought unnecessary shame to many families.

All of the girls in white beads are sisters. Ouch, that's a big family. And despite the 10,000 naked women running around, my five white friends and I got a surprising amount of attention. Apparently it is extraordinarily rare for white people to attend this type of event, and we brought these girls 'great pride' to come see what they do.

Hiking in the Drakensberg (literally 'Dragon's Mountains' in Afrikaans)

Rock art painted by the San in the Berg

Taking in the Tri-Nations Cup while drinking our Castle. South Africa rocked the Australia Wallabies (are they serious?) and we narrowly escaped the crazy drunk man with biltong. Go Bokke!

Enjoying the view near Coffee Bay with some local children.

In the water by the Hole in the Wall in the old Transkei. Guess how it got its name.

Me and an ostrich, right after he accidentally bit me. And yes, I know it was an accident. I was feeding him and he overshot. Ostriches are stupid.

On a hike to the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve north of Durban, we were able to take advantage of fresh water for the first time since we'd been to Africa. A waterfall and fast-running stream kept the water clean enough for swimming, so we did a lot of rock jumping.

This is Nelson Mandela's current home in Qunu. He grew up in this tiny little village, and always believed he should have a house there. I came threw the town on the same day that his annual Christmas Party was taking place, where he gives gifts to thousands of underprivileged children. Unfortunately, more than 20,000 more than anticipated came, and there weren't enough gifts. Chaos erupted, especially as Mandela was away in Johannesburg dealing with personal tragedy.

South Africa - The Cape

2005-08-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

A view of Table Mountain over Cape Town from Robben Island. Looks close, but that's cold water full of sharks.

Table Mountain, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A view of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain. Usually a very safe place to visit, the mountain became a problem in the week we were in town. Several tourists were attacked, with most being mugged and one even being thrown off the mountain. We decided to take the cable car, rather than risk the hike.

The entrance to Robben Island, just a quick boatride from Cape Town. The island had been used as a prison for quite some time, but during the Apartheid era it became known for housing political prisoners. Tours of the island are led by former prisoners (though they're not all political prisoners) who can give a unique insight to what life was like on the island.

The building where the political prisoners were housed.

The courtyard where many ANC meetings were secretly held within the prison. The far wall with no windows was built during Mandela's time on the island when officials discovered that political prisoners were communicating with regular prisoners through the windows in the yard. Unfortunately, the wall was built directly over the spot where the original manuscript for Long Walk to Freedom had been buried, and Mandela's work was discovered.

Mandela's cell, where he was kept for much of his 18 years on Robben Island. Later, when it became clear that Apartheid was beginning to fail, he was relocated to a prison on the mainland where he was in regular secret talks with the government to negotiate change.

Robert Sobukwe House, where the infamous leader of the PAC was kept in solitary confinement. Although he actually completed his given sentence, he was judged too dangerous to the Apartheid government, and what came to be known as the 'Sobukwe Clause' led to him being kept on Robben Island until he eventually died.

The lime quarry, where Mandela and other political prisoners were forced to work through much of their time on the island.

The Cape of Good Hope. This is the southern most point of Africa, though it's not where the two oceans meet. That's actually just a short hike to the left of this picture at Cape Point, where it's five degrees cooler on the side of the Atlantic than the Indian Ocean.

Me at the Cape

Guess who this little guy's most closely related to... an elephant! Weird, but he's definitely some sort of pachyderm. But when the Boers first found him, they thought that he was some kind of rabbit, and so he's still known as a rock dassie or a rock rabbit.

These pictures always seem to catch people offguard. "Penguins? I thought you went to Africa... Why are they on sand?" African Penguins (formerly known as Jackass Penguins for the sound they make) are native to Boulders Beach in the Cape region. They're about 2 feet tall and apparently bite really hard. Having already been bitten by a wide variety of birds (swans, ostriches, etc...) I thought I should skip testing that out, but I was able to find an answer to the eternal question of whether penguins have knees.

Yay, so many penguins!

Don't wash your feet!

Grapejuice into wine. Simonsig is one of the most famous South African wineries, and after tasting everything they had to offer, it was clear why. However, it made it a little difficult to properly sample the wines at each successive winery...

The vinyard at Simonsig. Throughout the Cape Winelands you can see beautiful scenery like this below the mountains.

Petting a cheetah at a sanctuary in the Stellenbosch region. There are fewer than 10,000 left in the world, so many places in South Africa have created breeding grounds to try to increase the population. All the cheetahs here are used for breeding, but hundreds are put into a transitional home to help re-introduce them to the wild.
Oh, and they're soft like kittens and have the loudest purr I've ever heard.

Namibia

2005-08-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

The beach in Swakopmund (or Swakop, to locals). Nambia's coast is on the Atlantic, making this the second ocean I ever set foot in. There was no swimming though, because Swakop was surprisingly cold for an African desert town. The cold currents and winds from the south and the sand's inability to hold the heat meant a little colder trip. Of course, by cold, I mean between 15-20 degrees celcius. This made me a little concerned for my return to Canada two weeks later (5 months in Africa messes with your system).

The Namib desert. Just a little further inland than Swakop, but the temperature difference was unreal. I couldn't believe how hot it was after a 2 minute drive away from the ocean.

Sandboarding. The same idea as snowboarding, but in the Namib dunes. It's a lot softer when you fall, and you won't get frostbite, but you have to climb up every time, which gets a little daunting in the heat.

My camel

Me riding my camel. Apparently they don't really spit, it's just a misconception, but in a race against a horse, a camel would lose in the sprint but win the long distance.

The Zonkey. Half zebra, half donkey. It was the lawnmower at the camel farm.

Crocodile, Zebra, and Strauss, oh my! Yes, this restaurant actually labelled the food they brought out because they specialized in game meat. Also on this platter were Gnu, Oryx, and Springbok. Separately we also tasted the Blesbok, which was unanimously the favourite, although the zebra was quite nice with the cranberry sauce.

South Africa - the KZN Coastline

2005-07-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

The Wild Coast of South Africa

South Africa's 'Sunshine Coast', south of Durban

The harbour in Durban, where we lived and went to school

Swaziland and Mozambique

2005-07-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Riding horses on the beach at the Praia de Barra in Mozambique, just up the beach from where we stayed.

The first time I'd been on a horse since a class trip to a farm in kindergarten. Pretty glad I didn't fall off.

Our backpacker was nestled in a little coconut grove, and the trees were everywhere. However, you were not allowed to take any of the coconuts, as each of the trees belong to villagers living in Tofo, the closest village (but the land belonged to the backpacker).

The sign at the Bamboozi's entrance - Live the Dream

Bamboozi - just over the hill from the beach and our home while in Mozambique

Tofo, Mozambique. We spent a week here, and the beach is virtually deserted all the time

Welcome to Swaziland

Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana

2005-07-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

The sun setting over the Zambezi

Pumbaa!!

Our trip - Durban, Joburg, Bulawayo, Vic Falls, Livingstone, Chobe, and back again

Victoria Falls Backpackers - one of the best places I stayed in Africa.

Guinea Fowl. Funny till it's 4am and you're still trying to sleep. (soooo loud...)

Christmas in a Bulawayo store - this is the scariest thing I've ever seen.

Elephants playing in the Chobe, Botswana

Me and an elephant

Hippos in the Chobe, Botswana

Babboon!!

The Falls: Zambia on the left, Zimbabwe on the right

What ISN'T a criminal offence in Zimbabwe?

Rachel, Cristi and me, after sneaking in to Victoria Falls