SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is a bizarre place. The inequality is absolutely mind boggling. I had no idea how much racism had been present, and is still lingering. I did not live thru the civil rights movement in the US, but I feel like South Africa is just coming out of the 1960’s US. I have so much more respect for Desmond Tutu now. He truly is a man of peace and nobility. We were very lucky to have had him talk to us about the Apartheid and we could ask him questions, and it is just truly amazing what he has seen. In the city are these incredible high rise million dollar apartments overlooking the beach, and 5 minutes away are the townships with people who have no running water.
First thing I did was go on a 3 day safari. We had to fly there from Cape Town.
It’s funny the things that make you feel comfortable, such as when I got into the airport. I felt so comfortable in the airport, which I guess comes from all the time I spent in airports in Scotland. Also, South Africa was under British rule for a while, so they drive on the left, and speak English with an almost British accent. I had tea and scones and Banoffie pie and the airport looked just like London! It was all very British and I was loving it!
So we fly to Port Elizabeth on a small plane, there were 40 of us, and we took up almost all the seats. Security was so easy, we could bring as much liquid and food as we wanted! The safari place was really nice, we stayed in a kind of lodge, 6 of us to a chalet. I didn’t really know anyone, except Lauren who I went on the camel trek with, but she had 2 other girls she knew and I just kind of tagged along with them for a while, but we weren’t in the same chalet.
My chalet had nice girls in it, and the 6 of us went with 3 other people (the theatre professor who has been on Broadway, her husband and the trip leader) in the safari truck with a guide, who took us thru the park for the 3 days. We saw lions, elephants, monkeys, hippos, ostriches, rhinos, water buffalo, giraffes, wildebeest, zebra, impalas and lots of other animals up close!
The only problem was we weren’t prepared very well. They said wear shorts and dress comfortably and it turned out to be cold and rainy. I had one pair of pants I was going to wear to sleep in and a hoodie…luckily they had blankets and ponchos we could use.
I got one of the rooms with twin beds, so I had to share my room. I love people, and I am all about socializing and meeting new people (I keep telling my friends here I am really quiet and shy, but they insist that I talk a lot!), but honestly I am so sick of never having time to myself! Just some privacy, but my roommate always seems to be in our room with 3 other people then I have to find somewhere else on the ship, but there is nowhere to be alone, I can’t even remember the last time I ate a meal by myself. I’m not complaining….its just one of the things I kind of miss about being on land: I can always disappear for a while alone, but that’s pretty impossible on a ship of 1000 people.
The safari was great, so here are my 3 highlights of the trip:
1. Sitting in the truck, videoing an elephant coming towards us, then the guide telling us not to move and I record the elephant literally walking within arm’s length of us!
2. I met a girl that I actually sit next to in Anthropology named Jane, so we talked and we went for a walk in the park by ourselves, and we got to walk with wild giraffes who were just walking down the road…amazing!
3. I ate ostrich and crocodile!
　
We fly back to Cape Town, and I am pretty happy to be “home” because I couldn’t change clothes the whole time because it was so cold, and I missed my friends (it’s funny how easy it is to miss people I’ve only just met).
I had no plan for the next 3 days, so when I got back, everyone was on field trips. We were so lucky to have a huge mall right across the street from the ship, so I walked over there because I desperately needed a new camera and new sneakers. The mall was so British, I had a complete heyday in there! I bought a camera and 2 pairs of sneakers and I got shampoo and body wash and just a bunch of things that I should have originally packed.
I also found Lysisene, some sort of herb for canker sores, which somehow I had 5 in my mouth ( I have no idea how), but I could hardly talk or eat, my mouth was so sore.
After finishing my major shopping spree, I was just browsing and saw my friend Carren with her roommate Jeanette (who I actually met at the bull fight in Spain). They were going to get sushi and invited me along. So I tagged along, we got some sushi, then went to a British dessert place where I got a scone, jam, tea and clotted cream! We met another friend Emma and she showed us where to get free internet and we stayed there until midnight.
　
The last day, I had an FDP trip for my leadership class, which Carren was on as well. We went to a township. I had no idea what a township was; all I knew was that we were told not to go to townships, it was not safe.
Townships are basically all black people and they have built little shacks to live in. There are few doors on the little shacks, no running water, they are built side by side and there are thousands of people who live in these townships.
They are basically squatters, because they don’t pay for anything and the government can’t really do anything about them. We met up with students that live in the townships. They were so nice! We first went to a daycare center and met a bunch of young kids, all under 5 years old, and the headmaster.
The headmaster told us about the kids, and the worst story was about a little girl who was raped by her neighbor, who just snatched her from outside her shack. And this little girl has to walk by this man who raped her everyday after school ends, and she is only 5 years old. There were lots of kids with many traumas that have plagued them, but just like in Ghana, they never cease to amaze me with their smiles.
We also went to one of the students homes, which was a shack with no door or running water, but they had a makeshift kitchen with a stove, a bed and a TV, with dirt floors.
South Africa was an interesting place- all of Africa was. I am going to miss it. I can't remember what I thought of Africa prior to this trip, but I feel like I know it so much better now, and I really hope to go back someday.
I now understand why there are people on this voyage who have done Semester- At- Sea multiple times; some have done it up to 20 times!