African Safari
African Safari — This term may suggest a wild exploration on the rugged mud roads of an African grassland, roaming amidst lions, tigers and wildlife of every kind. I recently visited South Africa and yes I did see a few lions and tigers in nature reserve places. But it was far from a ‘safari’ that brings images of an adventure in the African forests. It was an adventure of another kind. What follows is some of what I experienced in my recent South African trip — the things I learnt, the places I visited, the things I observed etc.
Lets begin with the images.
Initially when the plan for a South African trip was emerging in my mind, I had two choices for routes to go to Johannesburg, via Dubai or via Kigali in Rwanda. The Kigali route was more affordable but it came with a caveat that it’s an unknown airline (Rwanda Airlines) and my brother advised me not to take it. But I had other ideas. Lets give Kigali a chance.
So here I am at Kigali airport. The whole airport is less than the size of a big convention hall. At the immigration counter, the immigration officer asked me If I had ‘Yellow Fever card’. I had been only told about it the day before, way too late to act upon it. “Let me check with the South African counterparts and we will confirm you” the immigration officer told me. I had to wait along with 5 other people who were going to different cities in Africa. After what seemed like an eternity (10 minutes) they came back and said it was okay and we can proceed to our respective connecting flights. Thank God, I don’t have to go back without visiting South Africa.
Landed in Johannesburg on a Monday morning, took the day off for rest. Met my family people especially this little fellow called Sai, my nephew.
A few highlights from my travel in no particular order:
~ Casino culture in South Africa. One thing which I noticed in South Africa was that most major cities in South Africa have many casinos. I visited one of them called Montecasino. These casino buildings have all the trappings of a mall with shops, food courts, theaters and the casino of course. In Durban we visited the Sun Coast casino where we had a choice to watch ‘Keeping Up with the Kandasamys’, a film about two Indian families who have settled in South Africa.
~ One of the best experiences I had while in Johannesburg was visiting the Apartheid museum. The entrance to the museum was so well designed and appropriate to the context. Inside the museum there were so many artefacts and installations about the apartheid era. Anyone who is planning to visit Johannesburg should visit this museum and plan to spend atleast half a day. And if you have a whole day, DO spend it there as the museum has many artefacts related to the history of Apartheird and about Mandela. One new thing I learnt in the museum was about the truth and reconciliation hearing that was held after Apartheid fell in 1994. Headed by Desmond Tutu, many people who had undegone abusive treatment from the erstwhile white government came forward to share their experience to the commission. These hearings were later televised nationally.
~ The best part of our Durban trip was this stop over at Howick where there is an installation of Nelson Mandela. This well designed installation commemorates the spot where he was arrested for his fight agains the apartheid rule and spend the next 27 years in prison. While at Durban, we also made a trip to Lesotho. In my childhood, one of the countries I was fascinated about was Lesotho. Landlocked country and completely surrounded by one country only. Why didn’t SA annexe Lesotho? The answer to this question and a few others got answered while we went through the Sani Pass and towards the new country Lesotho.
In Durban, we got to visit the Moses Mabhida stadium and the Ushaka Marine World as well.
More on these places and other aspects of this travel later.
