Mom's visit

The deck of the house we rented.

My mother visited over the Easter Holiday. In terms of living abroad, one great pleasure is to host a visitor. You can show them a few of the places you've fallen in love with, and reconnect with what you really are in terms of family, nationality, and culture. I think we are getting better at enjoying ourselves here. Rather than set out on an ambitious agenda of site seeing, we picked a few nice things and settled in for a relaxing stay. I was also happy that mom got to have a look at the boy's school, and see how things work there a little bit. That's a huge part of this experience, and often overlooked when confronted with the vast assortment of tourist options.

Brenton on the Sea beach, near our rental house.

We stayed a few days in Cape Town; she saw the wineries at walked through the vineyards. We ate at some nice restaurants, and watched the boys play soccer. After that we headed for the Garden Route, a lush coastal area of South Africa, about 4 hours drive east, along the coast. We rented a nice house, and made modest little trips out in the day. Walking on the beach, visiting an elephant sanctuary, walking through the forest, and doing a zip line tour of the canopy. Perfectly unambitious for a 5 day stay.

The broken window.

Canopy tour.

I should write about the crime that occurred; sadly, it is part of South Africa. As the photos show,  we were in a very comfortable place. The house was in a wealthy area, and seemed isolated from the poverty that is so common here. I had been warned, and generally know better, but feeling comfortable, I tossed my wallet, sunglasses, and cell phone on a counter near a window before going to bed. Around 5:45 the next morning, while we laid in bed listening to the birds and the surf, we heard the window smash. I got up and started shouting, hoping to frighten off whomever might be in the house. There was glass everywhere, I was barefooted, pacing back and forth, trying to find some shoes to put on. It was a scary morning. Who ever broke in was a timid sort, and did run off after they had taken my things. I didn't even realize I had lost those things until later, when we prepared to leave for the day. We spent the morning on the phone, calling police, security, credit card companies, etc. etc.

Elephant feeding.

Generally, the police and private security people were good. Competent individuals that see plenty of this sort of thing. The term for what we experienced is "smash and grab", and it happens in that area (according to the person that replaces windows) about 3-4 times a week! Perpetrators are non-violent, and sometimes items are recovered along the train tracks that run between the upscale housing and the townships. Something I'll never forget is the footprints around our bedroom windows. They'd looked into all the windows before committing the crime. They were bare footed.

Zach on a sunset cruise of the bay.

Anyway, the crime lowered our spirits for a day or two, and made us a little paranoid in our beautiful beach home.  We made the best of it and had a lot of fun. Ours is a common story in South Africa, everyone here has a similar story, and many of them are worse. Sooner or later I'll have to tackle what I think the future might hold for this place, but today is not the day.

Grandma and the boys.

Wild Animals

Begin looking for game before sunrise.

As we prepared to leave for South Africa, the most frequently asked question was about seeing big game. I suppose its part of the romantic ideal of Africa; sleeping under a mosquito net in a candle lit thatch roofed hut, a purple sky out the window, silhouettes of giraffes near the watering hole... But how does it stand up, really? Cynics say that a game park is little better than a big zoo. Where there is wildlife, there are traffic jams, people lean out of over-sized 4x4s with jumbo camera lenses, trying to get that special shot of a lion. The climate is too hot, the air is too dusty, there are loads of nasty insects, you'll get malaria, the food is terrible and overpriced. And on it goes.

Hyena in the morning mist.

None of these rumors deterred us from going, but we were psychologically prepared for a let down. We set decided on Kruger National Park, South Africa's largest. It's far to the north east of Cape Town, in a wetter, more tropical environment.

So, how was it? There is nothing that can prepare you for the spectacle of the African bush. Life there is lived and lost on a scale that is unlike anything else. The juxtaposition of super-abundance and deadly competition generates and dizzying edifice to evolution that you can easily spend the rest of your life contemplating.  Independent of seeing a single animal, the climate, the vegetation,  and the landscapes make the African bush a worthwhile destination.  And then the animals... they are terrific. Unless you've got an undersized soul to go along with your over-sized 4x4, you will enjoy being in a place like this.

The buffalo have soulful eyes.

Vegetation excites the imagination.

Logistically, it's not hard. You fly to Johannesburg, and then travel about 5 hours by car. The roads are good, even in the park, and there is no real need for anything more than a economy car. That being said, it was nice to ride a little higher, to see more, so we rented a small SUV.  The quality of accommodation was hard to guess in advance. There are a large number of private and semi-private concessions around the park, and  South Africa National Parks accommodation inside. The question becomes; is it nicer to stay in the park, where accommodations might not be as nice (drab 'gubmint' housing), or stay outside where you're removed from the action, but in the lap of luxury? In our case, I think the answer was to stay in the park. The accommodations are not lavish, but completely adequate. Tidy little roundavles, with a shower, air conditioner, and two beds.

Food was fine, and there were choices aplenty. There are effectively grocery stores in the park, and the premium for purchasing food in the park is minimal. The restaurants are fair, as are the prices. The sites are some of the more beautiful locales of the park; with commanding views, and real proximity to animals. For example; a hyena patrolled the fence outside of our roundavel in Satara, and Oliphants had one of the best views of a river basin I've ever experienced. As I write, I long to return, ache maybe a better word.  So, unless you want to live out an expensive (but popular!) fantasy of being pampered on an African savanna, the SANP accommodation is the way to go.

The birds are fantastic.

Voortrekker monument.

I'll let the photographs tell the rest of the story.

One final note, we returned to the airport by way of Pretoria, where we visited the Voortrekker memorial. This nation building myth, like those of most young nations, features courage and strength in the face of adversity. The Voortrekkers set out in about 1840, crossing the interior of Africa to escape British tyranny, and overcame African treachery to found a new nation. Their story is told in Italian frieze on the walls of the memorial, which was constructed from 1938-1949. This founders myth was a corner stone of  of the apartheid regime. Architecturally, as you might guess from the dates, it is somewhere between Mormon and Nazi. I'd suppose I'd describe it as a church in need of worshipers. Better it stays that way. Well worth the trip, these relics of powerful ideology remind one of just how crazy people can get. Please never let me or my country become crazy.

Concluding, it was a fantastic trip, I recommend something like it to everyone. We will return to the bush in July, when we go to Namibia. I hope it continues to thrill us, the way Kruger thrilled us.