Lone Ranger

Throughout South Africa I was exploring with my travel buddy; for various reasons we have now moved apart in Australia for a couple of months - all frighfully daunting to start with.

My first night alone was spent in a private room at a backpackers and oh how easy it would have been just to sit and fester in my room feeling lonely and pathetic. It took a lot of forced will power, but I slapped some face on, put some clean clothes on and headed out to the TV lounge to meet the other backapckers. It was a fairly quiet place so I wasn't overly hopeful on the night out, but off I went in the name of making friends! It actually turned out to be a rather good night; playing a bit of pool, doing a bit of dancing and of course having a few drinks to help the evening along. Once that first night was out the way, it was much easier for me to be social and want to chat to random people.

I have since moved to a different backpackers which is busier and has a few people (also travellers) that are almost semi permanent residents a bit like me and luckily they're my kind of people. We've had some excellent and messy nights, mainly in the backpackers to conserve money.

Contrary to what people may say, it's very easy to judge people on appearance without making an effort to get to know them. I try really hard not to, but tend to form any opinions after about 3 days as you get more of a gradual chance to get to know people over a period of time. I have to say that my thoughts on a person have been proved completely incorrect and have more often than not been pleasantly surprised. It just goes to show that by making an effort to talk to people and giving them the benefit of the doubt, friends can be made that are worth having.

Tortoise World

I am continually amazed at how much I have learnt in Coffee Bay about South Africa and in particular the Xhosa culture. It is a rich yet complex country that celebrates "10 years of democracy" this year. Unfortunately the time had come for me to move on and continue my travels up the coast of South Africa - a regular tortoise, with my home on my back. First stop a non descript town just south of Durban reknowned for its scuba diving and not much else....and then Durban, King of Curry in South Africa. What a joyous feast my taste buds had there.

Durban is a hot pot of tribes; Afrikanns, Indians and Zulus plus more besides. I popped into the "City" area of Durban to sort out some travel admin (mind numbing) and decided to travel back to the hostel via mini bus taxi. These are small mini buses primarily used by "locals" ie. the Zulus in Durban. Other South Africans warn you off with the usual scaremongering of getting robbed, abused etc., but I've found nothing but curiosity and shy friendliness when travelling this way. When I left the bus at my destination, the 'conductor" (usually a young kid who takes the fares for the driver, most proably related) thanked me for taking their bus. Bless. He charged me the same as the locals and it was obvious that I was an unusual occurance in their world.

A quick visit to Swaziland was next on the list which is rather small and frightfully clean and tidy with friendly people - apparently so because they've never been ruled by outsiders...! Sadly my time there was limited so beautiful scenery was noted, plus a mental note to go back there at some point. Off from there to Nelspruit, east of Johannesburg. A small tidy Afrikaans town which appeared to be lacking in personality but a gateway to the Kruger Park, hence my visit.

The Kruger National Park is a gorgeous, natural beauty and I felt humbled to see the animals living in their natural habitat, yet saddened that they have to cope with tar roads, hundreds of tourist camps and all us humans ogling their every move. It must be like living in a rather large gold fish bowl!

So I continue with my tortoise world off to another country and another continent...
[Photo: View of Rondavel and Coffee Bay village / Credit: Bomvu Paradise Backpackers]

Polls and Politics

So the South African election passed me by this year, despite residing in Coffee Bay - an area of the Xhosa people which Mandela and Mbeki are also....

I only realised what was taking place having read news websites from abroad. The only hint was a truck that passed by a couple of times with a loud speaker. I asked Jay, one of the local gardeners what was being said over the loud speaker, and it was asking people to go to their Headman's Hut to vote. The Headman in this area is the tribal chief and much of what happens in the area is governed by tribal law; this is slowly being taken over by government municipalities, but not without some conflict for the loss of their traditional way of life.

I spoke with most of the local staff regarding their thoughts on the election (once I realised it was happening!) and apathy ruled the day. They weren't all that keen on Mbeki and the progress he was/wasn't making and nor were they enthralled with any of the opposition, therefore they didn't bother to vote. Another barrier to voting is the Passbook. All South Africans are supposed to have one or apply for one - it seems to cover their national identity details, driving licence and voting allowance. However, try living in Coffee Bay with little hard cash, no vehicle and the nearest place to get one of these books is over an hour way by car and you can see that some have problems applying and receiving their passbooks. Add on top of that the apathy felt in rural areas by some of the people I spoke to...need I say more.