We spent our first night in Africa at Gloria's house (family friend of the Churrs) in Florida (suburb of J'burg). I think everyone here is into interior decorating as the house looked like it came from the pages of a Home Beautiful magazine except it was behind a massive security fence. All houses have big fences here, more often than not with razor wire on top. On our first night here Gloria informed us that people she knew around the corner were murdered by their black driver the other day. I found myself wishing her fence had razor wire too! I still slept well albeit I woke up 4.30am bright eyed and ready to go.
We left at 7am to go and collect Dave and Michelle and my bag (hopefully) from the airport. On the way Annalise and Heinrich pointed out all the black shanty towns that literally spring up over night. Apparently they can settle on any vacant land and you only have 24 hours to evict them before they are allowed to permanently stay there. This includes golf courses. You might find one day that hole 18 is unavailable as it has become a black settlement!
Thankfully my bag had arrived from Hong Kong on time and in one piece - big relief. It worked out well as it came in around the same time as Dave and Michelle. Pity I don't get extra frequent flyer points for the detour. On the way out a guard called over 3 girls with backpacks who were walking in front of me. It looked like he was going to slash their packs as he was carrying a very large knife and pointing at their bags. I put my head down and kept walking. Thankfully no one tapped me on the shoulder. Once everyone was collected we drove 270km north west of J'burg to go bush as Molopo Oog (name of a river). There was no opening car windows, doors always locked and some times no stopping at lights - very different to back home. The landscape looks much the same except for the occasional diamond mine and rhino in the fields.
I have already seen some great metal sculptures that would be fantastic for the garden and they only cost $20. I am already thinking how on earth I could send them back home! I don't know how I am going to control myself - it is a form of torture!
It is going to be a few days before the next post due to limited internet access so stay tuned...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment