Just About Africa

HIKE:  Saturday we drove north of Pretoria about 70 k to hike around the Tswaing (Soutpan) Meteor Crater.  The crater is the result of a meteortic impact about 220,000 years ago and is 1.1 km in diameter.  Apparently it is comparable in size to the much better known Barringer meteor crater in Arizona, which the boys and I actually visited years ago!  It was an amazing ride just to get there and then the actual hike took us between 1-2 hours as we stopped for photos along the way.  We were hoping to enjoy the museum there besides having a good hike but it had burned down due to a recent bush fire.   What I did learn was:  “Tswaing is one of the youngest, best preserved, bowl-shaped impact craters known.  It is also one of the most accessible impact craters on earth.  Tswaing has a saline crater lake containing commercial deposits of soda ash.  It has the best preserved climatological history of the past 200,000 years in the crater fill.  Today all eleven language groups of South Africa are resident around Tswaing and their cultural contribution has added to the significance of the meteorite crater development”.  www.hartrao.ac.za/other/twaing/twaing.html

Tswaing Crater

SAFARI:  OK… we’re booked to go for a 3 day “safari stay” in Kruger!!!   We will take a 45 minute flight from  Joburg (Johannesburg also abbreviated Jhb) to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport northwest of here.  There’s been a purchase of binoculars at my urging so we can see animals when we get there.   Well actually so I can see them, he’s got his camera with a telescopic lens but my little camera won’t really show things too far away.   Apparently we’ve two “game activities” scheduled.  I’m looking forward to seeing lots of game and hopefully get close to an elephant!

BOOK:  I’ve been reading an amazing book called The Last Rhinos and I highly suggest it to anyone that’s interested not only in rhinos but Africa in general.  The author Lawrence Anthony (with Graham Spence) is a conservationist from South Africa, who started out trying to save the last 15 northern white rhinos that existed in the wild, somewhere in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) near the Sudan border.  In doing so he also ended up becoming embroiled in peace talks between the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army – Joseph Kony’s army ) and the Ugandan government (which had started in mid-July 2006 in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan).  It’s very well written and totally enthralling with both insights and stories on animal, cultural and political situations.

TRAFFIC:  As with any large city, they also have traffic jams.  I saw a few in Cape Town, luckily from the other direction, but I hear they can also get bad here in Pretoria and Johannesburg.  Fair enough as South Africa has over 50 Million people!   The freeways are big and most large highways are labeled in the English fashion with M1, M2, or N1, N2.  But I'm told that the local street names can change quite often... see the photo with the red line through the old name. 

The traffic flow is set up with driving on the left side of the road, like in England and New Zealand and when there is either a right or left turn you can do so ONLY when the arrow lights up with a single green arrow at times for just going straight.   No automatic turns on RED here.  And at times you will see the word ROBOT painted in white on the road ahead, which is a bit disconcerting.   Will we encounter robots ahead????  But it is actually to let you know that there is a traffic signal coming up as they call their traffic signals Robots!  Took me back at first!  Traffic accidents “seem” to be more prevalent here but I have to keep reminding myself that I’ve been living in a small town.  On Friday C. got news of someone working in his office that had been injured badly in an accident that day.  Then on Saturday, driving back from our hike we had to drive around an accident that must have happened just minutes before we got to the very snarly 4 way stop area and when we stopped at a local shop to pick something up, one of the owner’s workers had been involved in an accident that day and couldn’t work.  Since I’ve not lived in or around Chicago, LA or NY in ages, hearing about 3 accidents in 2 days seems “a lot”.  I love their traffic signs that warn of Potholes ahead.  We could use a few of them in AZ!



FIRES:  I’ve seen quite a few small to medium fires burning on the side of the road or away from it a bit.  As we drive around the area there always seems to be a patch of blackened ground somewhere looking very barren with only its larger rocks scattered around looking lonely.  Apparently it’s the small grasses that catches fire very easily and seems to soon burn themselves out, so mostly no one seems to pay much attention to the fires unless it happens to be near homes or offices.    C. said when there was a fire across the street from his office building the fire trucks arrived, but other than that he rarely sees them.  There are a few large houses with thatched roofs around so I would imagine they get a bit worried! 

C.’s office is moving to new quarters so he brought home a large map of South Africa which I am going to take a picture of.  Olga, the housekeeper has been giving me lessons on the names but my tongue just doesn’t seem to want to wrap around them!  It looks like this new office space will be near a shopping center so I’m hoping I can go to work with him some days and spend longer at an Internet Café than just the short time we have on the nights we eat out.  And of course a bit of shopping wouldn’t be declined!

BIRDS:  There are strange birds (to me) the size of a large duck with long thin beaks, called a Hadeda that seem to be ever present pecking at the ground.  I think they are a type of Ibis.  They have a very odd “call” which never seems to vary and tend to “echo” around the place constantly!  What’s neat is that at first glance they look like they have a non-descript grayish brown body, but once they step into the sunlight their true beauty emerges as they show off their beautiful iridescent body feathers.   I was thinking that they looked kind of ordinary until one stepped in the sunlight.  I was pondering on that thinking that we actually are a bit like that… we all think others are normal and then you find something intriguing about them and they “glitter”.!!  

FOOD:  The food has been delicious and I’m really being spoiled with different restaurants almost every day/ night – luckily he doesn’t like to cook that much!!  Food is fairly inexpensive here maybe even a bit more than USA.   Much more so than in New Zealand as eating out there was really expensive.  I’ve been trying to eat “African” food but broke down and had a Quesadilla last night.  I’ve had wonderful sea food in Cape Town and even here… prawns, fish, and some delicious lamb curries.  I did have an African lamb breadie (kinda like a stew), and although it was good, the meat was bit too fatty for me.  C. is not much of a dessert person so I rarely have it but managed to get a chocolate mousse the other night which I took home ½ of to have the next night!  And…. even with my walks in the morning around the area for an hour, I can’t say that I’m losing any weight!! Darn.!  They of course have the usual fast food places and I’ve only eaten at Wimpy’s and KFC, but MacDonalds is ever present!  I’ve spent a lot of time in the Mugg & Bean café which has WiFi.  I understand they started around San Francisco.  Good food and excellent service.

Service is usually VERY good.  At Mugg & Bean the waitresses come around often to see if you need anything and usually at fancy restaurants they whisk away your dishes almost before you are finished.  We did have one or two places where they seemed to forget about us but we just won’t go back to them.   Tips are usually about 10% but I‘ve been giving more.  Partly because at first I couldn’t figure the money out!  Now, I kinda have the knack… Just need to keep reminding myself that 50 Rand is about $6.00 and 100 Rand is about $12.  Of course it changes daily but I go by rounding off.  Once you see things labeled with prices of 200R, 300R, 499R, it startles you (not used to the 100’s part!) but when you figure it out it’s not so bad.  I have managed to make “a few purchases”… mostly clothes but also managed to buy  some amazing chocolate in Cape Town and a cushioned case for my computer.  THAT was more expensive than I had realized but putting things on credit cards does that!  It was 449R… about $50-60.  Parking at the malls costs but you get a ticket as you go in and then have a machine in the mall read it before you leave to see if and what you need to pay.  Quite a good system really.

Aside from the occasional Wine Tour, and glass of wine with dinner (had one with a strawberry in it last  night),  I’ve mainly been drinking lots of tea  and quite like the local tea called Rooibos… red and flavorful, a bit like Redbush tea in New Zealand.  Their water here is delicious and very clear and pure as the air is too.