Physical Status: Lobster-like

1/21/2011

Such an exciting day! We left at 8:00 for The Cape of Good Hope.  It took us about an hour to drive to the national park.  At the park we were allowed out to either climb up to the lighthouse at the top of a hill, or go down to the ocean. Only about 5 of us decided to go play in the ocean- and boy am I glad I did! The stairs to get down to the beach were terrifying; there was no stand and measure for the height of the steps and many were not even straight across. With an app. 200 stairs down it was a tricky affair. But well worth it; cliffs soared above our heads, the sand was soft, and HUGE waves crashed in to the shore. It was gorgeous to say the least.

These guys were fishing way up on the cliff! 

Our next stop was to see the African Penguins.  The area with the penguins had been turned into a national park since the immigration of penguins had increased tourism in the area- and the penguins kept wreaking havoc on the neighborhood’s gardens and such.  There was far more penguins than I thought there would be- they almost outnumbered the Japanese tourists that were looking at them!

Babies! 

We ate lunch on a public beach just outside the penguin park.  After playing in the water for a little bit I realized that I had turned an alarming shade of lobster-red. Oops. Guess that’s my cue to get out of the sun.

After our busy morning we headed back to St. Paul’s guest house to finish packing and do any last minute shopping. 

Finally some sleep!

1/20/2011

For this morning’s speaker we traveled into a township on the boarder of Cape Town to talk to a pastor. The Way of Life Church  had spent the past few years holding services in whatever building they could get; classrooms, school auditoriums etc.  Three years ago they finally were able to buy their own property and start building a church. The church is still in progress and barely has four walls, and it doesn’t even have floors bathroom yet. But you can see how proud of it everyone was.

First we sat through a morning service. This was something new that they were trying to implement since many people in the congregation couldn’t make it to a Sunday service, so now they offer two short ones a day.  Then the Pastor talked to us about how important community and unity is for black and colored people. He discussed how the apartied might be over, but there is still so much segregation and judgment in South Africa. He also talked about how other nations need to stop coming to try and fix South Africa that South Africa needs to figure out how to fix its own problems.

After our speaker we were thankfully allowed a free afternoon. Most people went shopping. However, those of us who were woken up at 3am by the crowd of girls that came home completely drunk, decided we really needed a nap.  Our nap followed by supper, and then back to bed to try and catch up with sleep. Now that is a good way to spend a free afternoon. 

Welcome to Jail

1/19 

*yawn* Busy day, early morning, no sleep= a very tired Anna.

We started the day at District 6 museum. District 6 was an area of Cape town where black, colored, Islamic, Jewish and other non-“white” families live.  During the 1966 it was declared a white area under the Group Areas act of 1950. This was an act that grouped people together based on their skin color, religion etc. It is responsible for ripping people apart during the apartied. By 1982 60,000 people had been forcibly removed from their homes.  At the museum we met Noor Abrahamson. Noor’s family had five generations living in a house in District 6 when they were forcibly removed and their house bulldozed. He told us what it was like to see families torn from their homes, ripped apart (if they were different races) and left with nothing. It was quite haunting.  Noor told us a story of how a family had been given notice that the next day they were required to leave their home.  As they were eating breakfast the next day a bull dozer started tearing apart their house.

Noor also described to us the recontribution that the government gave to these people. In Noor’s family’s case their house was worth, at the time, 32,000 Rand, now it would be worth about 2 million Rand.  Noor was given simply 1500R, and he said he was one of the lucky ones.  Now the government is offering free land for previous residents. While this is great, it is not without its own price;  the people must fund the building of the house themselves, and the waiting list to get land is immense and very slow moving. Noor said that he is on the list and it might be 10-15 years before he ever sees any land again. Of course the land being given won’t be a guarantee of the same land as the land they once owned. In Noors case part of The University of Cape Town was built over his house. 

Our next stop was The Slave Lodge. Here we were greeted by the vibrant Lucy Campbell. She showed us around the second oldest building in Cape Town; the slave lodge. This immense building has a terrible history of human oppression.  I think the most important thing that we all took away from this tour was that not many people nowadays know about the slaves that build the city, and certainly they don’t know about the horrifying conditions that these slaves were kept in. The slave lodge is located in the middle of downtown Cape Town. Yet many people walk past without a clue of the buildings dark history. Lucy Campbell made it very clear that we cannot forget history no matter how dark it might be. We must acknowledge it to learn from past mistakes.

Lunch was on our own again. Alyssa and I took the advice of a parking attendant and went to Mr. Pickwicks House of Food.  There we had massive milkshakes and toasties (mine had smoked salmon and cream cheese on it. Mmmhmmm).  Cape Town definitely knows how to do good food.

After lunch it was on to Robben Island!  It was just a quick 30 minute boat ride across the harbor.  Once there we hopped on a bus and were introduced to the history of the island and all of the different structures on it. We then met our guide for the walking tour; a former prisoner. Though I can’t recall his name, I can tell you he was a political prisoner during the liberation struggle. He had been arrested during the Soweto protest (this was the protest that killed 4,000 school children).  After showing us around the relatively small prison we got to see Nelson Mandela’s cell.  It was tiny. Furnished with a blanket, night stand, and a couple books it was hard to imagine anyone spending years locked in such a small room, much less such an icon as Mandela. 

Robben Island Prison

Nelson Mandela's cell

Table mountain with Cape Town nestled at the bottom

On To Cape Town!

1/18

We spent Thursday morning traveling from Windhoek to Cape Town South Africa. What normally would be a pretty short flight was made four hours long because we had to fly to Walvis Bay first and then down to Cape Town. Oh well, we’ve all gained a lot of patience for flying this trip.

The first thing I noticed about Cape Town was the Cape Flats that surrounded the airport. These informal settlements reminded me a lot of Katatura except that there was a lot more graffiti.  Gangs are a huge problem in Cape Town and that is why there is so much more decorations on the make shift houses.

Some of the cape flats

Coming into Cape Town

We are staying very close to down town Cape Town/ the Harbor at a little place called St. Paul’s Guest house. It’s quite cute, and you can tell it is a very old building with a lot of character….and no AC and not a whole lot of breezes blowing through. Thankfully we’re all used to sleeping in saunas by now.  We settled in and then hit Long Street for a bit of shopping. Long Street is vibrant; full of shops, restaurants, bars, and hostels. It’s colorful, loud, busy and full of people from around the world. We hit up the open market for a while before grabbing burgers and fries at a little Cuban restaurant.  I’ve decided that the problem with Namibian and SA food is that they don’t know how to properly deep fry food.  Fries tend to be very mushy and unappetizing here.  Obviously these cooks just need to hang out at the MN state fair to find out how deep fried food is supposed to be done.

Thursday night we had to watch Cry Freedom. It might be a great movie. However due to our exhausted state of being, and the over whelming heat being crammed into a tiny dining room on hard straight back chairs for 2 hours and 40 minutes we really couldn’t focus  on the movie very well. It was a disaster.  Poor planning by our professors since this movie could have easily been watched during one of our empty evenings in Windhoek- where there is a large room with comfy chairs, and we generally weren't quite so exhausted. 

On the road again

1/15/2012

Today wasn’t a very exciting day. We were in a van from 9-5 driving from Swakopmund to Etosha.  It was very very long drive. I read a book (Sarah’s Key) straight through from start to finish- all before lunch time.  I then had to con a book off of someone else for the rest of the trip. Thank goodness Alyssa had just finished the book she was reading for this class (we got separated into  four groups, each one has a different book. I finished mine the day we landed in Johanessburg). It’s not the most fascinating book ever written, but it kept me entertained.

Our lives picked up once we actually got to Etosha National Park. Suddenly we saw zebras, springbok, baboons, guinea fowl, and giraffes- all before we got to where we are staying!  We are staying at Okaukuejo, which is a resort type place that is in the middle of Etosha. It’s fenced in so that the animals won’t join us in the middle of the night. We get to share a little bungalow with one other person. Oh My Goodness, are these nice bungalows!  It’s definitely the best accommodations we have had yet.  For supper we had the buffet at the restaurant- at which I enjoyed Eland.  Delicious!  We ended the evening watching the sunset over the watering hole.  The watering hole is semi-surrounded by Okaukuejo and has big flood lights that light it up after dark. Alyssa and I are going to try and get up at two in the morning to see what wild life is out. 

Game Drive!

1/16/12

Today was the day that I was looking forward to the most- Safari day!  Alyssa and I got up at 2 am to check the water hole. We didn't see anything, but we did hear what we thought was a baby lion. Oh well, back to bed for us.

We were up at 6:00 to grab breakfast before our early morning game drive. After piling into the vans once again we set off. The first animal we saw came up quickly; a small herd of Springbok. This was followed by more springbok, springbok, and just in case you missed them…Springbok. It’s no wonder that this is the national animal, they’re everywhere! While we were on the plains we also saw a few zebras and two giraffe’s way off in the distance. 

As we moved more into the park we got into more of a bush/small tree area. We saw less springbok and zebras and more small animals and birds. This went on for a few hours. Just when we were all starting to fall asleep Wilfred, our driver extraordinaire, slammed on the brakes. He mumbled something in Namlish(a mix of Afrikaans and English) which we somehow translated to RHINO! AH! Hidden behind some bushes were two black rhinos! We could just barely see them. They only hung out with us for a couple minutes before diving deeper into the bush. It was just enough time to take a couple pictures. 

Now much more awake we had all eyes peeled for more animals- a leopard? Elephant? Lions!? They must be out there somewhere! Sadly we only saw the flooded roads from last night’s thunderstorms.  Because it is currently the rainy season the animals don’t have to go to the waterholes to find water so they’re much harder to spot.

Once we got out to more grassland we were back in the land of springbok, black-backed jackals, black faced impalas, a Damara Dik Dik, Steenbok, and blue wildebeests. We also spotted a flock of ostriches.  As we were heading back to Okaukuejo we came across one more gem- a family of giraffes!  There was a dark male, three lighter females and a little baby! 

After lunch we had a 2 hour break before visiting the Etosha Ecology center. There we learned  about some of the principles and projects that the park does. Apparently Etosha completely allows the animals to live as nature attended. They do not try to control diseases or mess with the dynamics of the habitat. They do use some of the diseases that are prevalent as research to gain further understanding of diseases but they do not vaccinate or treat anything. .  They do track elephants and rhinos to help fend off poachers and track their migratory patterns. They’re also working on reintroducing the wild dog. But they haven’t had much luck since the wild dogs that they’ve tried to introduce didn’t know what to do with the lions…meaning they got eaten. Ooops. 

We had once last game drive after that presentation. We left in high desire of seeing lions or elephants- but with the knowledge that both of these are extremely rare to find during the day time. We first drove to Wolfsnes where the lions typically hang out. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything in sight. Ah well, there went our dreams of seeing lions.

We went back to the search. Kilometer after kilometer passed with only springbok in sight. Maybe a zebra here or there, or a couple wildebeests, but mostly just springbok as far as the eye could see. On we went. At one point the van in front of us stopped but we couldn’t see a single thing out on the plain.. Until we looked down. There a GIANT lizard was hanging out in the sun. It looks like a komodo dragon, but I don’t know if they actually live here.  As we were all taking pictures it started going back in its den. At this point Wilfred leaps out of the van and chucks a rock at the poor lizard. I think Wilfred probably went a little crazy from all of the springbok.   Needless to say the lizard did not take this as an invitation to come back out.

Thankfully Wilfred got back in the van we started off again. Eventually we spotted what looked like ostriches on the horizon and a jeep parked on the side of the road. So Wilfred stopped for us. We quickly realized that the people in the jeep weren’t looking at the ostriches but rather at something under a tree.  Whatever it was was too far to see with the naked eye. But those of us with decent zoom on our cameras quickly turned them towards the tree. There we saw tan haunches, a rounded ear, and just once a tail flicked up…. It couldn’t be! But it was!  We found our lions!  Two females were sleeping in the shade. At first they wouldn’t raise their heads at all. Which was fine; in our pictures we could still tell they were lions. Then Wilfred lost his head again and started throwing rocks at the lions! This might be the worst idea he’s had yet.  Luckily for Wilfred the lionesses were more interested in sleeping and merely raised their heads to look at the crazy man.  The one rolled over  and went back to sleep laying out  with all four feet up in the air while the other stayed awake to keep an eye on the crazy man.

Now thoroughly content with the animals we had spotted (and very happy to have Wilfred get back in the van) we headed back to the resort for dinner. Tonight our meat choices were Lamb or Kudu. I went for the Kudu and it was DELICOUS! 

I have a ton of pictures from today but the internet is dying rather quickly on me so I can't upload anymore. I will make sure to upload them in their entirety once I get home.  

Fish, Fish...and rolled newspaper on my head?

1/13/2011

                Since we were given an allowance to find our own meals in Swakopmund; so Alyssa and I went for a walk early this morning to find a grocery store. After wandering for a bit the wrong way, we eventually got turned around in the right direction.  Swakopmund is very nice in the fact that we felt perfectly safe wandering around in just a group of two. It reminded me a lot of when Kaitlyn and I backpacked through NZ. 

                After breakfast we drove to Walvis Bay to visit the Export Processing Zone. There we were supposed to take a tour of some of the manufacturing plants, but unfortunately everyone is on holiday so we were only able to listen to a speaker.  He told us all about how critical Walvis Bay is to the Namibian economy. Afterward we were standing around the lobby and a bunch of us were looking at the Walvis bay crest which has a couple of Flamingos and, what is very clearly, a blue whale on it.  One of our professors (neither of which is actual teaching this class, merely chaperoning) turns to our speaker and asks if the whale is a dolphin, and then she tried to tell the other professor that  Pelicans and Flamingoes were the same bird.  I might have to go buy them a picture book of animals that live on a coast….

Our next stop was a fish processing plant. We suited up in coats, hairnets, and shoe covers and had a tour through the plant. Unfortunately the machinery was so loud it was very difficult to hear what our guide was saying. Thankfully the actual process was very simple to understand.

After lunch back at our home base we left to take a tour of Swakopmund. We were a little confused by this, since what we have seen of Swakopmund- there isn’t that much too it. It’s very touristy, and easy to get around. However, this tour took us to the non-touristy parts.  Our first stop was in the single courters- which looks a bit like the first Katatura. We walked to a little courtyard   where we met Vocal Galore- a Namibian acapella group.  They sang us four songs, three of which were African songs and the other was their own version of Hakuna Matata. They were very very good.  We then went to DRC- Democratic-something-community.  It was the government’s temporary housing…ten years ago. It’s since grown substantially, and there is no way to build permanent housing for all of the DRC residents.  It’s kind of sad; at one point street lights and street curbs were built in preparation for the 800 houses to be built. But now there is no way that these 800 houses could fit all of these people, and there must not be funding to start this huge project. Now hundreds of streetlights just sit deserted in the desert.

We went into a kindergarten in the DRC. Here 10% of the funds from our tour go to the kids to help them pay for kindergarten. They sang to us, and danced  a traditional Nama dance. It was adorable. Our final stop was the house of a herero(a Namibian tribe) women’s house. Our guide explained a bit of Herero history and culture before asking for three volunteers.  I decided, hey, why not… and quickly found myself dressed in the traditional Herero dress complete with head dress.