South Africa - A Pleasant Return but Troubling Undercurrents

After 5 nights and 4 full days of safari (and eating), we were ready to return to reality.  We were tired of sitting in the safari jeeps and boats and just wanted to have our own schedule (when we did not need to get up at 5:30 a.m.) and get some exercise.  Cape Town provided the perfect recovery destination. 

Between the Maldives, Dubai, Zimbabwe and Botswana, we had been away from our floating home for 21 days and we were happy to reunite with the MV World Odyssey in Cape Town harbor.  The ship was docked near the V&A Waterfront so we spoiled ourselves with familiar comforts and amazing food.  Looking ahead to Ghana we knew we needed to stock up!

After a sedentary few weeks, we were psyched to do the steep 2+ hour hike up Table Mountain.  We enjoyed the stunning views from on top before taking the gondola back down.  The second day we walked along the water front for hours and just enjoyed being in the comfortable bubble of Cape Town. 

We were sorry we did not have time to revisit our favorite places around Cape Town.  In 2009 & 2012, we overnighted in the townships, toured Robbin’s Island and went to Cape Point.   We also regretted that we missed meeting Desmond Tu Tu, who sailed on our ship between Mauritius and Cape Town (when we were doing our own independent travels).  How special for the shipboard community to interact and learn from the leader who partnered with Mandela to bring about peace and forgiveness at the end of Apartheid.

South Africa’s economy has weakened and the currency had dropped by half against the US dollar.  In US dollar terms, everything we bought seemed incredibly cheap due the weak Rand.  There seems to be more unrest and increased tensions within South Africa.  Without Mandela, there is no political leader that everyone supports and the current president, Jacob Zuma, is widely (and correctly) viewed as corrupt.  However there doesn't appear to be an alternative as the ANC has strong overall control.  

There is a widening gap in wealthy and poor and increasing frustration with the lack of upward mobility for the masses.  The current crop of new voters are referred to as "Born Frees" as they were born after Apartheid came to an end and the expectation that this would lead to new opportunities for them has been largely unrealized.  The most disturbing trend is the rise of racially motivated nationalism and talk of how Zimbabwe did the right thing by expropriating land from (wealthy) white land owners and putting the means of production in the hands of the (poor) black majority.  If you wonder how that went, look back two posts to see our blog post on Zimbabwe.  Desmond Tutu is one of the last links to the era of forgiveness and reconciliation and there are true concerns of what will happen when he is no longer around to symbolize the Rainbow Nation.  

Not all is lost though.  As in our previous voyage in 2012, we saw hopeful signs that South Africa will overcome.  We noticed in 2012 that the mix of people in shops, both customers and staff, was more diverse than we had seen in 2009, suggesting to us that the new generation were integrating.  We saw even more evidence of that in 2016 and hope that is an indication that, to many in South Africa, race is less of a barrier than it had been.  We are hoping for the best for South Africa.  It is a place of great beauty and people and we hope it can live up to it's promise to show the rest of us how reconciliation is possible!

South Africa - A Magical Complicated Country

The lucky Orris clan returned to picturesque Cape Town, South Africa. Our second visit allowed us to dig deeper and discover a layer of South Africa that we didn’t see in 2009.   We added to our knowledge of South Africa’s history through our classes on the ship and our inter-port lectures, Bob and Alice Evans.  Desmond Tutu was supposed to have joined us on our voyage between Ghana and South Africa, but had to postpone the trip so he could receive some international prize.  The nerve of him! 

 

During our visit we tried to better understand apartheid and South Africa’s progress (or lack thereof) since apartheid’s repeal in 1994.  We struggled to understand how the South Africans could live so peacefully now with so much past oppression and so much current inequality.  If you want to learn more about apartheid and the current situation, you can read our essays in the next post. 

The highlight of our visit to Cape Town was our homestay in Langa Township. The townships are black and colored cities that were created by the Apartheid government to control the population and separate the white population from others.  Langa is the oldest township in Cape Town and has only 50,000 people.  The largest townships in South Africa have more than one million people.

We were apprehensive about staying overnight in the township and did not know what to expect.  Our fears faded quickly when we met our housemother, Mama Rachel and her granddaughter and great grandson.  They had a clean and spacious home and made us feel immediately welcome. 

The township had a huge disparity in income levels with expensive homes right across the street from shanty homes.  We spent the afternoon at Happy Feet, an inspirational afterschool dance project that kept kids off the street.  Read our stories and poems to better understand what we felt and experienced in the township. 

Another highlight in Cape Town was our connection with a group of Aspen Institute Fellows who just happened to be in Cape Town for their global seminar.  We joined old friends and some inspiring new fellows for dinner followed by a discussion on the future of South Africa.  Fellows from South Africa, Egypt and Nicaragua shared their personal experiences and enlightened us on the struggles that exist across the globe.    Our cheetah and bird rescue field trip that day ended with wine tasting that happened to be at the same hotel where the Fellows were staying!

  

In addition to these life-changing experiences, we did some more touristy things in Cape Town too.  We went to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held for the majority of his 27 years of prison.  And we followed that with a full day trip with an insightful taxi driver who took us to see penguins and the picturesque Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, the southernmost places in Africa.  We packed a lot into our 5 days.

South Africa -- Our favorite port so far!

South Africa, with its friendly people, spectacular scenery, and comforts of home, was our favorite port so far.  Luke has declared that he will live there someday and that it is better the US.  Time will tell, although we would certainly be happy to visit if he decides to spend some time there.  We are not sure what prompted such a definite statement, but we guess it was because he got to go on safari, hang out with cheetahs, climb Table Mountain, visit the aquarium with grandpa and meet many kids in the townships.

The port in Cape Town could not have been a nicer location.  We harbored at the main waterfront with 5-star hotels, restaurants, shops and entertainment right at the end of the pier.  It was very convenient to sleep on the ship and be at a coffee shop within minutes in the morning. 

We spent six days in South Africa and did our best to see the different sides of the country and learn as much as we could.   It is a country of extreme economic disparity and it is confronting an almost overwhelming range of challenges.   One of our friends described it best when he said, “South Africa is like a microcosm of the whole world.  If we can change things here, it will pave the way for the world to change.”

From the photos you can see that part of Cape Town is as advanced and wealthy as any city you’ll find in the world.  The Townships, which were created during the Apartheid-years as places for “blacks” and “colored people”, are a sharp contrast to the wealth of the formerly white areas.  The homes are made of every imaginable material, ranging from sheet metal and wood structures to more permanent concrete dwellings.  The government does a lot to subsidize the poor and has a massive home building program.  Most homes in the Townships have electricity, running water and trash removal.  The Township we visited was the largest in Cape Town and had more than 2 million people living in it.  Despite the size of the Townships, unofficial shantytowns are forming around the edges and in other places as people migrate to the cities from the countryside and other African countries.  Our pictures cannot convey the vastness of these poor settlements.

Through connections that Christy has with the Aspen Institute Global Leadership Network, we arranged a lunch with Karl Flowers and Ralph Freese.  They shared their views of what was happening in South Africa and talked about the NGOs they founded or are part of that are making positive change in the country.  They were so inspiring we wanted to move to South Africa and help them with the many changes they are trying to implement.

In addition to learning about the country, we also had lots of fun on safari at the Inverdoorn Game Preserve and saw lions, giraffes, rhinos and lots of antelopes.  The highlight of the safari was interacting with cheetahs that had been raised by the hotel owner.  They licked and drank from our hands and when we scratched their necks, ears and heads they purred like Harleys.  They are beautiful and awesome creatures.  The drive to and from the Reserve took us through some truly spectacular country, even by the standards of Coloradans!

Towering above Cape Town is Table Mountain.  Everyone we spoke to said Luke and Ryan were too young to climb up to the top and that we should take the cable car instead.  When we got there, the cable car line was very long so we decided to try the hike.  2 hours and 45 minutes later, the whole family arrived on top hungry and happy.  We were so proud of the boys.

We left Cape Town wishing we had more time to take in the natural beauty of the area and continue to learn about the past and bright future of this wonderful country.  We know we will return sometime!