The second half of our South African journey took us down the East & South Coasts of the country all the way to Capetown. Along the way, we did a five-day trek through the “Wild Coast,” realized Alexandra’s missed calling as an ostrich jockey, plunged into frigid water with great white sharks and ended with a week at a good friend’s house in Capetown.
DRIVING THE FRIENDLY ROADS OF SOUTH AFRICA
Driving in South Africa, particularly in the Northeast part of the country, is about as relaxing as being in a shipwreck on a stormy night. Since the roads are all two-lane, two-way thoroughfares, every pass requires one to speed into oncoming traffic while forcing other drivers onto the shoulder, where they routinely drive at 75 mph. If you look anywhere but forward for even a moment, something will end up in your lane: cows, horses, goats, children, cars… In one particularly palm-sweating drive, we saw three dead horses and one dead person by the side of the road. And that was all within a couple of hours.
A LONG WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
There’s a stretch of coast in the Transkei (Northeast corner of SA) that is so remote and undeveloped, it has been dubbed the Wild Coast. At the strong urging of just about everyone we met, we decided to park the car and lace up our hiking shoes for five days of walking what many consider the most beautiful part of the country.
Our guide “Jimmy the Fake Rasta” showed up the morning of our departure with a smaller backpack than I used in fifth grade. We had been encouraged to hire a guide to keep us from getting lost, help us learn about things around us, speak with the locals (most of whom only spoke their tribal tongues, clicking and popping sounds we could never emulate, though we tried) and keep us from getting robbed. Jimmy did all of these and more.
The scenery, some of which closely resembled Northern California, was stunning. We walked barefoot on beaches that stretched for miles with nothing but cows and local children. Then the trail would climb steeply up through the woods revealing breathtaking views of dolphins surfing the waves below and dip back down to shark-filled rivers (so they told us), most of which we forded in the safety of some entrepreneur's rowboat.
Two of the nights, we stayed in dung huts in the villages. We happened to show up to our second village on Dung Day just after they lay a fresh layer of cow manure on the floor where we slept. This, combined with the luxury of going to the bathroom in the goat and cow pens and eating the white tasteless gruel that feeds much of Africa, gave us a small but real taste of rural village life.
One of the highlights of the hike was a visit to a “Sangoma Gathering”. Sangomas are the local witch doctors, and much of the healing and spiritual practices of the region are done through them. At our gathering, the young female sangoma worked herself into a sweaty trance through the beating of drums, chanting and music. Once in the trance, she communed with the ancestors of the village, taking care of whatever business was on the agenda for that evening. Eventually, everyone was up and dancing around the hut trying to keep up with the frenetic pace of the drums.
OSTRICH EGGS, OSTRICH STEAKS - HELL, EVEN OSTRICH RIDES
Back in the Fiat, we turned inland for a taste of colonial South Africa. After exploring one of the longest underground caves in the world, we showed up for our tour of an ostrich farm. Farming of these flightless, virtually brainless birds is big business down there. We got to feed them, stand on their eggs (which have the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs inside), eat some ostrich steak and browse the prohibitively expensive ostrich products in the gift shop (a small purse costs $250).
Showtime came when Alexandra took one of these birds for a test drive. Climbing onto the back, which forms a natural saddle, she tucked her legs under its wings. With the aid of an ostrich jockey, she charged around the pen with a look of surprise, fear and excitement on her face. She did a few laps around the pen and looked right at home (well, more at home than the two guys that fell off into piles of ostrich dung). Yet another of my wife’s many talents was revealed.
"SHARK ON THE BAIT!"
Going against all reason and good sense, we climbed aboard a small boat on the South Coast and charged out through huge seas to one of the world’s foremost feeding grounds of Great White Sharks. During our pre-trip briefing, to which all six of us paid our undivided attention, we were told the ground rules:
1. Keep your hands and feet inside the cage at all times
2. Never try to touch the sharks
3. Don’t pee in the wetsuits
When we finally set our anchor in the 8-10 foot stormy swells, the crew began to chum the water to attract the sharks. Within two minutes, we had a nine-foot shark next to our boat as the captain yelled, “Shark on the bait!” They keep the cage at the surface, so all we needed was a very thick wetsuit, mask and underwater camera. The flimsy chicken wire cage can hold two foolish people at a time, and the Grahams were the first ones (and the only ones, it turned out) in.
You might think that being underwater with a great white shark four feet away would be terrifying, but it was more fascinating than anything. With a tuna head on a rope as bait, they lured the sharks to the cage, snatching the bait from it at the last second. One of the more exciting moments of an exceedingly exciting outing was seeing a twelve footer breach out of the water with the tuna head in the its mouth, thrashing and ripping the line out of the captain’s hands.
YOU CAN'T TASTE A CANDY WITH THE WRAPPER ON
AIDS is ravaging Southern Africa, with estimates of HIV infection as high as 40% in South Africa. AIDS orphans are everywhere in the country, and the disease is affecting all levels of society. Along the way, we met a young British woman who was doing volunteer work near the border of Zimbabwe. She told us that many still believe the disease was introduced by America to keep the Blacks down and that AIDS really stands for American Introduced Disease Syndrome.
Among the disturbing statistics we heard about HIV were:
1. There is a great deal of promiscuity in many African cultures, and the men often visit prostitutes when they move to the cities for work, then return to spread the disease through their villages.
2. Thanks to the administration and lack of proper education, many people don’t believe that AIDS is transmitted sexually, that AIDS comes from HIV or that condoms help prevent its spread.
3. Certain religions continue to forbid the use of contraceptives.
4. In spite of the staggering effects of the disease, many people still refuse to use condoms claiming, “You can’t taste a candy with the wrapper on.”
5. Perhaps the most twisted AIDS anecdote we heard – repeatedly – is that many witch doctors, who are revered for their medicinal knowledge, tell men that the only way to cure oneself of AIDS is to have sex with a virgin. This happens more than anyone would like to admit, affecting even baby girls.
LIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Sadly, one of the best-known facts about South Africa is the crime rate. In a country that is only ten years out of Apartheid, racial division, violence and crime are big factors. A woman we met from Johannesburg, whose company paid for her to attend handgun training, told us that over 30% of people polled in Jo’burg recently had been robbed in the last year. This is the same city that boasts 25 car jacking PER DAY. It is common practice and legal to run a red light if you feel in danger and many drivers stop a car length behind the vehicle in front for quick getaways.
The only problem we had was when Alexandra jumped out of the car in a busy town to take a picture of an ANC billboard with a rainbow behind it. Within one minute of stepping out of the car with her flashy camera, a man was walking right behind her, touching her hair and saying something about “I still remember…”
Despite the above, we couldn’t escape the feelings of optimism and hope that pervade South Africa. People we talked with feel they are living in a historic period and that because of the lack of red tape, they have the ability to create change and affect the course of their country. We were there when they won the bid for the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, and the celebrations were the biggest the country has seen in years. This global vote of confidence is yet another boost to a country that many feel is poised to lead Africa in the 21st century.
THE MAN OF THE MILLENNIUM
It was interesting for us to hear people talk about Nelson Mandela. Universally credited as the savior of the country, the Blacks revere him for helping to bring about Democracy and the end of Apartheid. While many Whites feel the same, they also venerate the 86-year-old statesman for preventing all-out race war in 1994. According to many, all he needed was to say the word, and the pent up fury of centuries of abuse would have been unleashed on the White minority.
But Mandela, who spent 26 years in prison under Apartheid, told his people that one cannot found a new country upon hate, violence and vengeance. Instead, he preached forgiveness and reconciliation, and from this has sprung one of the strongest feelings of Democracy one will find on the planet. Mandela is so compelling and has so many friends around the world (among them are Clinton, Oprah and Bono of U2) that when someone gets a call from him, they simply grab their checkbooks and go.
THE HOME STRETCH
Once we thawed out from the cage dive, we pulled into Capetown for our last week in the country. Our good friend Rowan treated us to five-star hospitality in his home and gave us an inside look at what it’s like to live in South Africa in 2004. Considered by many to be the most beautiful city in the world, we couldn’t help but notice Capetown’s similarities to San Francisco. The fog, sea lions at the wharf, the bay, the hills, the nearby wine region, even the island prison that has become a major tourist attraction all made us feel strangely at home.
We watched the full moon eclipse from Table Mountain our first night, spent an afternoon hiking around the Cape of Good Hope, drank wines in Stellenbosch, waddled with penguins in Simon’s Town and harassed Rowan at work repeatedly. It was easy for us to see why Capetown’s residents love their city so, and our minds scrambled to figure out a way to spend more time there.
The people of South Africa floored us with their friendliness. Despite the fact that South African sentiment toward America is not good (along with the rest of the world, but we’ll talk about that later), we found the people everywhere to be helpful and hospitable. From the fellow safari-goers who would stop us to point out game they had just seen to the guys at the gas station who pressed us for details about R Kelly and J Lo to Nick whom we met on our honeymoon three years ago who treated us to a fantastic evening in Capetown, the South Africans constantly made us smile and feel welcome.
All too soon, however, it was time for us to mail home a few ostrich eggs (which still haven’t arrived), pack our backpacks and get back on the road. So many people had raved about neighboring Namibia, we made the executive decision to nix our trip to England in exchange for a trip there. So after a final night of great food and too much delicious South African wine, we grabbed our tickets and boarded the flight for Windhoek, Namibia and some of the most remarkable events of the entire journey.
