29th Sept. Graskop, High Veldt.
Good to get the car serviced and those few niggles sorted out. Buying a bakkie unsighted was always a bit of a risk but the work required was mainly routine with a bit of wear and tear items thrown in. When you consider the types of roads it must have been driven on as a hire car there is no wonder some work had to be done. It goes well now, no rattles, ready for another venture next year.
Leaving Polokwane in the afternoon we headed east to Tzaneen and then on to the bottom of the eastern Drakensburg escarpment. Not that interesting country apart from the knowledge that the events leading up to Breaker Morant’s execution happened in this area. There is a memorial to the event, unfortunately we couldn’t find it.
This morning we climbed out of the low veldt, over the Drakensburg range to the high veldt where we became tourists ogling at truly amazing panoramas and attractions along the escarpment. It is the South African school holidays at the moment and some of the places were quite crowded.
There is a decided difference to the attitude the black Africans show when we wave or greet them compared to that in both Botswana and Namibia. In those countries there is an open acknowledgement to our greeting with perhaps a smile thrown in. Here, often no acknowledgement and if any, very off hand. Yet, when we talk to them and they realize we are from another country they open up, ask questions, and seem to relax somewhat. South Africa is a wonderful country and has so much going for it. But the gap between the haves, both white but more increasingly black, and the have nots is causing so much resentment. It is a problem that is going to take a long time to remedy. They expected so much with Mandela and are disillusioned with what has happened. The result is they are taking it out on the whites especially the land owners of which many have been killed in the last few years. Yet, I can see why people who emigrate become so very home sick for SA. It is a great place.
This could be my last blog. We head to Pretoria over the next few days and will spend the last couple of nights with Len and Ria, the couple we met 2 years ago. A lovely couple who we get on with so well and have kindly offered for us to store the bakkie at their place until we come back. We look forward to catching up with them again
I hope anyone reading has enjoyed what I have written. I enjoy doing it even if as only a written memory for Joan and me. I sometimes look back at the earlier ones, they bring back good memories. Maybe one day we will get too decrepit to travel like we do, we both hope that day is a long way off.
Next year we are looking at heading north from Pretoria, visit the Kruger NP then on into Mozambique where we will relax somewhere on the beach and take in the succulent seafood of which they are famous, then on back into Malawi and then Tanzania where we want to visit Zanzibar. Have tried to get there on two occasions without luck, maybe this time.
Friday, October 8, 2010
27th Sept Polokwane
27th Sept. Polokwane, Limpopo, Sth Africa.
Well, it’s all coming to an end. A week’s time we will be packing ready to fly home. We crossed into Sth Africa a few days ago and have been at Polokwane since then. On Saturday we booked the bakkie in to be serviced today and camped at the Municipal Game Reserve the first night but last night and tonight we are staying in on of their rondavel chalets. Very comfortable and the first real bed we have slept in since July. It appears they have to replace some bushes and other work which will take until tomorrow. After that we will wend our way south to Pretoria through, we believe, some beautiful country. We thought it best to have it serviced so when we come back next year it will be ready to take off.
The game reserve here is the biggest municipal one in the country; we went for a drive last night and saw our first rhinos on this trip as well as sable antelope, a type we hadn’t seen before.
Polokwane is the capital of the Limpopo Province. Joan wanted to do a bit of shopping at one of the new malls. It was out in the more prestigious areas and seemed to have more whites shopping than blacks. However the next mall we went to in the middle of town I think we were the only whites in the place. It was quite amusing. Queues of people everywhere with a paucity of baskets. Even to get too a checkout took 15 minutes of queuing.
I was getting short of reading matter, the bookshop we went to had on its shelves the South African classic, ‘Jock of the Bushveld’. By Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. The story of a man and his dog in the north east of the country in the late 1800s. I mention it because we used to have the book in the house when I was a kid. Not sure how my mother got it but at the time I was a bit young to read such an adult book. The edition I bought was a 100 year anniversary of it being written and as we are going into the area where it was set I am finding it an easy, interesting read. In those times game was plentiful, 2 metre fencing would have been unheard of and bullock carts were the mode of transport.
Something I forgot to mention when we were staying at Kasane, in the north of Botswana: the camp we were staying in was on the banks of the Chobe River. The afternoon we were there we walked through the acacia to the river bank to see if hippos or crocs were in the area. On the bank of the river was a massive dead croc. Or he would have been massive if he still had his head which seemed to have been sawn off. It was too neat to have been bitten off by a hippo. We asked the friendly lady in the office who wasn’t aware of its presence. She thought it may have been killed and its head used in some ritual, they were still common in the area she said. Religion is very strong in Southern Africa but you wonder how far below the Christian beliefs animism is still practiced.
Well, it’s all coming to an end. A week’s time we will be packing ready to fly home. We crossed into Sth Africa a few days ago and have been at Polokwane since then. On Saturday we booked the bakkie in to be serviced today and camped at the Municipal Game Reserve the first night but last night and tonight we are staying in on of their rondavel chalets. Very comfortable and the first real bed we have slept in since July. It appears they have to replace some bushes and other work which will take until tomorrow. After that we will wend our way south to Pretoria through, we believe, some beautiful country. We thought it best to have it serviced so when we come back next year it will be ready to take off.
The game reserve here is the biggest municipal one in the country; we went for a drive last night and saw our first rhinos on this trip as well as sable antelope, a type we hadn’t seen before.
Polokwane is the capital of the Limpopo Province. Joan wanted to do a bit of shopping at one of the new malls. It was out in the more prestigious areas and seemed to have more whites shopping than blacks. However the next mall we went to in the middle of town I think we were the only whites in the place. It was quite amusing. Queues of people everywhere with a paucity of baskets. Even to get too a checkout took 15 minutes of queuing.
I was getting short of reading matter, the bookshop we went to had on its shelves the South African classic, ‘Jock of the Bushveld’. By Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. The story of a man and his dog in the north east of the country in the late 1800s. I mention it because we used to have the book in the house when I was a kid. Not sure how my mother got it but at the time I was a bit young to read such an adult book. The edition I bought was a 100 year anniversary of it being written and as we are going into the area where it was set I am finding it an easy, interesting read. In those times game was plentiful, 2 metre fencing would have been unheard of and bullock carts were the mode of transport.
Something I forgot to mention when we were staying at Kasane, in the north of Botswana: the camp we were staying in was on the banks of the Chobe River. The afternoon we were there we walked through the acacia to the river bank to see if hippos or crocs were in the area. On the bank of the river was a massive dead croc. Or he would have been massive if he still had his head which seemed to have been sawn off. It was too neat to have been bitten off by a hippo. We asked the friendly lady in the office who wasn’t aware of its presence. She thought it may have been killed and its head used in some ritual, they were still common in the area she said. Religion is very strong in Southern Africa but you wonder how far below the Christian beliefs animism is still practiced.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
30th Sept. Graskop. Sth Africa
30th Sept.
Hi, A few photos uploaded but having trouble with text. Will try again later.
Gary
Hi, A few photos uploaded but having trouble with text. Will try again later.
Gary
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