I can't believe I haven't written anything about South Africa! While I was there, I kept thinking, "I'll write about this, I'll write about that. " I think my list got too long and then I couldn't figure out where to start.So to start out at the beginning, The Koalaman and I rented a car when we got to Johannesburg after an all-night, no-sleep flight from London. We drove five hours to Kruger National Park. It's about the size of New Jersey and is home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. Of those, we saw:
- Crocodiles
- Hippos
- Rhinos
- Elephants
- Giraffes
- Zebras
- Cheetahs
- One hyena
- Impalas
- Kudus
- Waterbucks
- Bats
- Baboons
- Vervet Monkeys
- Warthogs
- Cape Buffalo
- Klipspringer
- Wildebeest
- Lizards of all sizes
- African Rock Python
- Leopard Tortoises
- White Throated Monitors
- Ostriches and guinea fowl and vultures and lots of other birds, ducks, & geese
After our two-day, two-night stay in Kruger, we drove back to Johannesburg. In the morning we picked up CR, one of our rock-climbing friends from London. She hadn't gotten much sleep on the plane either, but we spent the day driving around Johannesburg and seeing some of the remnants of apartheid. South Africa is a fascinating place full of contrasts, sometimes not very comfortable ones. There still seems to be a huge gap between the white upper class and the black lower class, which I think is left over from Apartheid. It didn't end that long ago, after all. We saw mile after mile of shacks made of corrugated tin or wood, with dirt floors and no running water. Somehow, though, everyone's clothing is clean, absolutely spotless. I don't know how they do it. Anyway, there are government programs to get people into better housing, but the waiting list is very long.
I thought the most fascinating part of Apartheid was how it ended. The adults had given up hope of ever being free of oppression from the whites. It was high school students who finally rose up and crippled the government enough to make it change. The last straw was a law that black students would only be taught in the Afrikaans language, and the students recognized that that would put too much of a barrier between them and the English-speaking whites. They organized in a church in Soweto. There were still several years of fighting until Apartheid was finally ended, but it was all due to teenagers!
The other two rock climbers, JS and MR, arrived the next morning, and JS's parents arrived to take us all to their place. They own a holiday guest farm - Wyndford Farm - in Free State, near the town of Bethlehem, and they had invited us to come and stay for a week to set up an abseil route and do some rock climbing. We were only too happy to oblige. Wyndford Farm is home to many animals (horses, dogs, cows, geese, ducks, chickens, rabbits, guinea fowl - and those are only the domesticated ones) and has a ton of fun things to do. They have a swimming pool, horse riding (my favorite), 75 km of hiking trails, some beautiful tree houses, a zip line, tennis, lawn bowling, mini golf, and a rec room with darts, pingpong, pool, and snooker. And to top it all off, the most gorgeous scenery. It was sunny and warm every morning and there was usually a short, terrific thunderstorm in the afternoon. They feed you five times per day: breakfast at 8:00, elevenses at 11:00, lunch at 1:00, tea at 4:00, and dinner at 7:00. Plus they'll bring tea to your room first thing in the morning, if you want. We were never, ever bored.
During our stay, the rest of the climbing group set up two abseil points on a huge boulder, one for beginners (me) and one for the more advanced. This involved drilling holes into the rock and setting long eye-bolts in with epoxy. They also drilled holes to set up a chain railing across the rock so that beginners would feel more safe on the rock, but the railing wasn't finished while I was there. I did go down the beginner's abseil. It was kinda scary, but I'd do it again!
We also went on a couple of hikes at the farm, one to the top of a huge plateau overlooking the farm and way beyond, and one near the river to find the bushman paintings. We also took a day and drove 3 hours to the Drakensberg Mountains for a hike to the top of the Ampitheatre. Two and a half hours up, then lunch at the top, then two hours down. Absolutely stunning scenery, and since it's springtime there, many lovely wildflowers.
We did one day of rock climbing at Wyndford Farms. There are many cliffs and rock faces there that might be good for climbing, but the experienced Koalaman picked out one for us to try. Three of us had never done trad climbing before, and it was my first time to climb outdoors. Trad (trad
itional) climbing is where there are no bolts in the rock to clip into while climbing. The lead climber has to place equipment in cracks and holes to clip into and make themselves safe. They are belayed by the person below. The second person to climb up takes the equipment out as they go up and is belayed by the person already at the top. I seconded, and it was great fun!That pretty much sums up our trip to South Africa. It was the best holiday ever!
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