First month in South Africa

Today marks one month in South Africa. In Johannesburg, Durban and the Drakensberg, to be precise. In a sense, yes, it's been an exhilarating time, though I've not seen a lion, nor a giraffe, nor a kudu, in their home habitat. I haven't learned African drumming - some stillborn fantasy. Kruger Park will have to wait for another visit. I will be seeing more of Jo'burg, starting tomorrow with the Apartheid Museum. The day after, I'll be going to a jazz open house in Soweto - this tradition of listening to music at a community hall or in backyards on the last Sunday of the month. The first month started out getting settled into a routine and arranging logistics - email, accommodation, etc - and getting down to fieldwork - calling, emailing, repeating myself a hundred times, and as a result, arranging interviews. My appointment book is getting filled and hectic, and driving around Joburg and Pretoria now provides adrenaline flashes that coax the thought that, hey, maybe this is a working holiday after all. Don't get the wrong impression, South African drivers are angelic compared to Malaysians behind the wheel. It's just that the city is so sprawled and the roads a labyrinth. And you don't want to stop the car and look lost asking for directions. Suffice to say, I survived, even enjoyed, my first day trip to Pretoria, one hour fifteen minutes there because I made wrong turns, one hour 45 minutes back due to a bumper-to-bumper crawl on the highway for an hour.

Some scenes from the first month...

Jo'burg skyline at twilight. Rather nondescript, except for a few communication towers
that have become the key landmarks of the city. There's one on the right. I don't have any up close and personal photos of Joburg. Sadly, it wouldn't be safe to roam downtown streets with a camera. So it's apropos that we have a distant view of the city. I do hope to capture some pictures of people in daily motions. A few times I passed by some gorgeous graffiti, but couldn't stop traffic to take a shot.

Joburg China street. Ah, the ubiquitous Chinese grocery store. I looked hard to find some text to locate these pictures. Yat Kee Chinese Supermarket could be in Sao Paolo, Warsaw or Nairobi. Of course, the posted phone numbers have the city code. But look very closely in the second picture below. Fine print somewhere in the frame doesn't read Johannesburg, but a neighbouring state. Close enough.

In front of the Union Building in Pretoria, housing the President's Office.

Makes an Asian feel so at home. The tactics are also shared with vendors in Cambodia and Vietnam, certainly elsewhere but I can only vouch for these two. "Sir, you are my first customer today. If you buy, I will be having a good day." Hmm. Well, I was just curious to amble through, not interested in haggling nor having money in my pocket anyway. Some very nice craft, though.

Some local flora. Pics taken at a friend's house.

Northern Drakensberg. Interesting formations, these rock monuments rising like shelves or pyramids.

First day at the Inkosana Lodge. I had to join in dinner that night - we were having a braai!
Afrikaners especially like their grilled meat.

Central Drakensberg. I did a long hike, starting here. You can see the morning sun hues.

A few hours later and a few hundred metres higher, a closer view of rock surfaces.

Arriving at somewhat of a plateau. I was struck by the sharply marked divide between areas recently charred by fire, which are now verdant, and areas that unfortunately escaped the flames. A ranger later told me the fire happened just a month ago.

On the descent, I was looking for a landmark called the Sphinx. After a bit of a trek (though time does tend to stretch on the way down), I was giving up finding a match. Maybe that hump over there? Until I saw...

A second experience for me - riding on horse. There exists a photograph of me at Fraser's Hill, two years old, on my mother's lap, who in turn is sitting on a horse. But there is no evidence the horse moved. I have ridden a horse one other time in sentient memory, at a recreational facility near Vancouver, together with a group of fellow students. We were schooled along in a row, and kicked up the pace to a trot. I had not built up expectations of riding a horse in the Drakensberg before arriving, but on the first night, while I was in the office asking Ed the manager about the hike, a woman became distraught that the horse-riding package being offered demands a minimum of two customers. There was no one else around. She asked eagerly, maybe you? I replied, a bit pensively, well, yea, maybe, let me think about it. Yes. This got her and Ed feeling guilty that I may have succumbed to pressure or undue persuasion. For the next few hours, over dinner, they assured me, only if you want to. I assured them, I want to; I just hadn't thought of it so I didn't jump at it.
I'm so glad I did it. The scenery was terrific, the horses dexterous to take us up rugged slopes on switchback trails, down steep embankments and across streams. And the thing I say with the widest smirk, I made it to a canter. For ten seconds. We also stopped to view rock paintings by the San people. The happy face is only there for scale.