Hello everybody!
The ports just keep getting better and better! After a speech by Desmond Tutu the night before our arrival in South Africa, everyone on the ship was ecstatic to get off and see what South Africa had to offer. That was until the morning of our arrival, when the speaker from our diplomatic briefing scared the hell out of everyone. He began by telling us his experiences and how each and every day there was a new person in his office who had just been mugged. He guaranteed us all that “by the end your stay here in South Africa, at least one of you will have been to my office.” His demeanor was actually quite laughable; he told us about all of these recent stories concerning travelers getting robbed and/or beaten but while he was saying these things he said them with a smirk and so matter-of-factly. I looked around and people did not know whether to laugh or to genuinely be afraid.
With this guy’s stories in the back of our minds, we walked off the ship and remembered to be aware of our surroundings. However, through our immediate interactions and our surroundings (which was quite westernized) we all quickly learned that the diplomatic man was only trying to scare us into being careful and aware. The harbor was a very nice, industrialized place. There was a mall, an aquarium, restaurants, pubs, nighttime live music, etc. It was a welcoming area. It reminded me of a boardwalk in California or Miami. The only trouble that one may find would be to go to the outskirts of the area (which is night and day compared to the harbor) and see where many of the black South Africans live. I only briefly saw the “town” that some lived in on the bus ride to the airport for our Safari. It broke my heart to see these kinds of living conditions. Their homes consisted of tin and cardboard walls and no running water. Families would cram into a “house” that was smaller than the size of my room on the ship.
Walking off the ship you can still see remnants of the World Cup that was held in South Africa only months before. I really wanted to go to a soccer game at the stadium, but the closest game was to be held a few days after our departure. Even with no soccer game to see, Cape Town was simply amazing. There is so much to do there. Many people went hang gliding off of Lions Head peak, many went shark diving, and I’d say a good majority of the students on the ship went bungee jumping. The bungee jumping location was the tallest in the world. I probably would have done it myself if it did not cost as much as it did. Walking around the town, you can see Cape Town’s famous Table Mountain towering over its inhabitants. There are sometimes beautiful clouds that cover the top of the mountain which the locals refer to as its “table cloth” that is most definitely a sight to see. It is possible to hike to the top, so once we heard that this was an option we jumped on it. The walk was fairly difficult because each step was on rocks that were placed there, well, boulders more so than rocks. It took a little under two hours to reach the top and being immersed into the middle of a cloud we were all soaked due to the altitude and precipitation. At the top, one could not see twenty feet in any direction until the clouds momentarily dispersed. And when the clouds went away, right when you could see your surroundings, the table would get set again and the “table cloth” would once again haze your vision. There was a trolley at the top that went every half an hour so that once you reached the top you could easily take the trolley down and save your knees. However, lucky us, right when we found the trolley station through the thick fog, they told us it was too windy for usage so we had to walk back down. We could not feel our hands at the top but about an hour and a half later back at the bottom, the sun was brightly shining and our tired legs could finally rest. I believe it was our friend Ari who had the bright idea to walk back to the ship in order to save some money. Being at the base of a mountain and at a higher elevation than sea level we could see our port, but seeing it does not make it any closer. This post-mountain walk lasted another two-three hours and needless to say, a cold brew and warm meal really hit the spot once we reached port.
The second day Brian and I bought a ticket for one of those touristy hop-on hop-off buses so we could see Cape Town in its entirety. We stopped and grabbed a meal near a famous market called Green Square Market and did some “light” shopping after one of the best pizza’s I’ve ever had. After a few hours of bargaining and haggling, we hopped back on the bus and went to a place called Camps Bay, which was behind Table Mountain. The houses that we passed looked straight out of Orange County, very nice to say the least. The situational living disparity was overwhelming after seeing the houses that some were living in and the shack towns that existed only minutes away. Even though the Apartheid is over, white South Africans are still much better off than the black South Africans. Driving past the houses, I peered into the windows to catch the interior and saw only white people. And when driving past the shack towns its occupants appeared to be 100% black. It was a very sad reality.
The third day, a group of 5 of us went to the wine country in Stellenbosch for a day of wine tasting and enjoyment. We got up early to catch the train and looking out the window you could gradually see the hills change from a westernized culture to a more poverty-stricken culture to hills of grapes and vineyards. It was a strikingly beautiful transformation. Getting off in Stellenbosch, we caught up with our tour bus just in time. The bus took us just a couple minutes away from the train station to our first stop at a winery called Simonsig where we met up with a group of about 25 or so. It was here where they told us how they age the wine, how it is stored, when they know it is ready, how to taste it, how to differentiate, etc. After this tour, they sat us down and gave us a sheet of various wine names – ranging from champagne to white to sweet to red to desert wines - and descriptions that made each wine sound better than the last. All in all we went to 4 different wineries, each advertising their own brand and one of them even featured cheese tasting which the cheese they made themselves. It was a great day of leisure and satisfaction as our teeth gradually stained scarlet. With what we thought to be our new-found sophistication, we hopped back on a train to Cape Town and awaited the arrival of the sunrise. What’s so special about the sunrise? Well, generally nothing other than its natural beauty, however, its not everyday that you wake up in Africa and get to go on a three day Safari. It is easy to picture an elephant, a giraffe, or even a rhino; because of their foreignness to the US these animals are commonly depicted and portrayed in many different ways. One could even go to the zoo and see them, even if it is in their pseudo environments. But let me tell you, watching these animals in their unfeigned environments is humbling and in many ways aesthetic. We took part in 2 safaris a day, one that consisted of a 5 AM wake-up call and one a couple hours after lunch. Each safari was something that I looked forward to and became more exciting with each one considering the things that we saw the last one. Our hotel, the Kapama Lodge, was really nice. The food was impeccable (best breakfasts ever) and the serenity of the environment was awesome. The safari animals were not our territory, we were in theirs. I was lucky enough to be one of the two to have their own rooms. After sleeping on a rocking ship with a roommate and constantly surrounding myself with company, a room to myself aided in the tranquility. Their were 4 safari cars each layered with stadium seating and Brian and I sat in the back each time with our International Business teacher who I consider as much of a friend as a teacher. Lets hope for an A! Our drivers name was Jefferey and our spotters name was Prem. Prem was the man, he could spot things a mile away and even got out of the car (which you can imagine is very dangerous) to track down the lions, which he did! He called on the intercom and we raced to where he was. A pride of 4 female lions awaited our arrival. They were on the move so we had to follow them through the bush and in doing so our driver took down small trees and made his own path. Jefferey was also the man. There were two “teenage” lions that would constantly play and smack each other in the face with their frying pan sized paws and “nibbled” at each other’s ears. If you want to picture it, picture oversized benji and daisy going at it with more swipes to the head. In addition to the lions, which was everyone’s favorite, we had close encounters with a herd of elephants and a one month old baby elephant. I could watch these giant bumbling beasts all day, they seemed so happy and playful. However a swing with their trunk could kill a man. I promise though one little one was showing off to us, he got on his hind legs and swung his trunk around as if he was saying, “look what I can do!” His mother came over and nudged him along. We also saw a large group of baboons in the distance, but they are very skittish and ran off the second we tried to approach.
I could keep describing these experiences in detail but I think some are best told in person, which will have to wait until I get back. I have some more midterms in a few days so I’ll be staying busy in the near future on the ship. For my classes there is not much homework which is great so the only outside class work is either studying for a test, writing a paper, or participating in a Faculty Directed Practica (FDP) that consists of a “field trip” at one of the countries on the itinerary. I miss everybody so much and think about you all daily. I loved hearing from some of you after my last email, I hope that you all get my response. Again feel free to email me at trvanderboegh@semesteratsea.net. Talk to you all soon!
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