Last Comments about South Africa, 2/29

I now have a loaner laptop and have uploaded the South Africa photos to flickr (see link on right). They are as annotated as they’re going to get for now!

A few more comments about South Africa:

The other safari group had an interesting experience with an elephant who wanted to go through the camp (why? to get to the other side!) one evening around 9pm. The elephant was pacing back and forth just outside camp, so the guide sent everyone to bed and the elephant lumbered through camp and on his way. In the morning when the group went to drive out of camp, a tree had been pushed down over the road, totally blocking their way out. The elephant taught them a lesson about making him wait! So don’t ever keep an elephant waiting.

Other animals we saw: jannit, kingfishers, many hawks. We saw many white rhinos but no black rhinos (the latter is much more rare). We also saw a BIG snake trail across the dusty road one morning. BIG, I say!

On ship, we are now 9 hours ahead of the East Coast. The latest rumors are that our stay in Hawaii has been extended (false); we are sailing into a hurricane (false); everyone has to stay inside the ship when we pass through the Panama Canal (false). Who knows how some of these rumors get started.

Another rumor that started on Monday morning was that Global Studies was canceled. In fact we had a surprise lifeboat drill during classtime, so this rumor was technically true. We are to dress in long pants and shirt, hat, close-toed shoes, and dorky orange lifejackets. Most people got it right except one young woman in our muster area who showed up in leopard-print slippers. This breach was discovered only just before the captain came by to review the troops. The offender was quickly sent to the back row (usually reserved for men: yes, women and children really DO go first) and we collectively held our breath as Captain Roman came by, smiling but with his eyes riveted on the footware. Thank goodness, he missed the infraction. I’m not sure who gets in more trouble, the offending party or the crew in charge of mustering us; and fortunately we didn’t find out!

We dock in Mauritius tomorrow morning. It looks to be a lovely place, very small and lush, and we expect to eat some good Indian food. More in a few days!

Two Night Safari in Kwazulu-Natal at the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, 2/22-2/24

Our long-awaited safari was an utterly different experience, in some ways unexpected. We flew to Durban, South Africa, met our guides, and caravaned 3 hours to the gates of the Kwazulu-Natal Game Reserve. On the way in our group of 19 saw stunning zebras, an abundance of impalas (deer-like animals with gorgeous brown, white, and black markings), and kudu (a kind of antelope). I earned the nickname of ‘Eagle-Eyes’ for my animal-spotting abilities (which is better than my other nickname of ‘Four-Eyes’). We arrived in the heat of the day, so felt fortunate to see any signs of wildlife.

An hour’s drive brought us to the Sontuli camp by the Imfolozi River. It was everything one pictures when imagining the African bush: impressive umbrella trees, swaths of tall, lush grasses, wide, dusty riverbed with a small stream of water. Our rustic campsite included large tents on platforms and A-frame wooden structures with thatched roofs. No mosquito netting, but fortunately we didn’t seem to need it or the 100% DEET we’d brought. Not sorry about taking malarone, though, because where malaria is concerned, it is better to be safe than sorry. There was running water (which we were warned not to drink) but no electricity. ‘Mama Cook’, a rotund black woman, prepared our delicious meals over a propane stove, and a 3-day supply of ice kept perishables fresh.

As the sun set we rode through the park looking for wildlife, and we were not disappointed. Most fascinating was coming across a herd of impala being carefully watched by a male and a female lion! The impala knew of their presence a few hundred feet away, for they would occasionally freeze and start snorting and twitching their tails to communicate the nearby danger. The lions never charged, and somehow the impala suspected they didn’t have to move away. As I write this I regret not asking our guide more about these protocols! I think lions are kind of lazy, so maybe they weren’t that hungry. A bit later we saw a mother and three little cubs near a stream, but it was quite far off and hard to tell on the photos. On the night trip our group was in one large open jeep-like vehicle with a canvas roof. (Open, I say! Apparently there was always a guy with a gun whenever we went out, but happily we never saw it.) When I spotted my first rhino right on the side of the road I gasped, alerting the others to his presence. Rhinos are utterly massive, and with an enormous horn that could easily skewer… a jeep. But our excellent guide knows how to read the body language, and sure enough, the rhino just turned and ambled away. Other thrilling sightings included a herd of buffalo, a hyena (in our camp!), stately giraffes, and finally on the last morning, across the river from our camp there was an elephant! Unbelievable!!

The remnants of Apartheid were apparent even in the bush: what seemed an innocuous comment about others in our group visiting Robben Island was met with an angry retort about how ‘politicized’ that tour is, which led to a brief but uncomfortable exchange of words. The angry comment seemed to indicate a lack of understanding about why Westerners such as me find South Africa to be so compelling. I protested against Apartheid in college in the 1980s and I am still amazed to find myself here in 2008. And although South Africa has made incredible progress in 14 years (perhaps as much as the United States has made in the century between outlawing slavery and legislating civil rights), there is still a long way to go.

South Africa is an amazing, complicated place. It isn’t hard to understand the mystique. I loved being here and would return in a heartbeat.

Cape Town, Post-Apartheid 2/21

Our education continued on Thursday when we took a delightful tour of the Bo Kapp neighborhood, where many Muslims live, and we shopped in the aromatic spice shop and learned about the incredibly fresh and delicious ingredients of real curry. Even better, we then visited the home of Faldela Tolker, who gave us a hands-on lesson in the art of forming, rolling, and frying roti, and spicing chicken curry. Better yet, we sat down to eat it and it was utterly scrumptious!

Our wonderful guide, Nazaam, was born in 1980, and gave us his first-hand experience of being a ‘colored’ person under Apartheid (‘colored’ is not an insulting or derogatory term, he assured us). Nazaam told us he had very little idea of the institution and its actual impact on his life. In the strictly stratified society he said he knew and interacted with only colored people. The white, Indian, colored, and black people lived separately until Apartheid was dismantled. It seemed a bit of a tidy explanation, but Nazaam may not want to be viewed as a victim, or perhaps he prefers to downplay his country’s recent history. Tourism is his business, after all. Or maybe Nazaam’s parents just did a good job of protecting him.

Cape Town, Post-Apartheid 2/20

On Wednesday we visited the Robben Island Museum, the launching point for the ferry to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held for 25 years before his release in 1990. Robben Island was an exile for all kinds of ‘undesirables’ for many centuries: criminals, political prisoners, and those suffering from mental illness or leprosy or even venereal disease. Unfortunately we couldn’t get onto a tour of the island, but the museum itself was really fascinating. There aren’t too many details known of the earliest years (1500s-1800s) but there were a lot of comings and goings and So-and-So claimed the island for Britain but was largely ignored, and So-and-So was sent to the island for ‘suspicious behavior and insubordination’. The Dutch started sending political prisoners to Robben Island in the 1960’s and Mandela was released only a few years prior to the dismantling of apartheid in 1994. The museum has hundreds of posters and photographs documenting the protests not only in South Africa but around the world. It was all very moving to see the positive result of massive, global political action.

Docking on the African Continent!! 2/19

We departed almost immediately from the ship with about 30 others help build a small Habitat for Humanity house in a Cape Town township. Over the next four days four different SAS crews will finish the cinderblock house for Ethel, a woman with four children who has been living in a tin shack for 15 years. After the prosperity of the wharf area, it was naturally quite sobering to see how others live, and will continue to live. Habitat has a waiting list of over 100,000, and they are the ones who are landowners. The poorest South Africans and the refugees from Zimbabwe and elsewhere will never even have a cinderblock house. The work we did was hard and therefore gratifying: mixing cement (three wheelbarrows of sand, one bag of cement, add water and mix with a shovel until your back is killing you) and then slowly constructing the walls. Others varnished the door and windows, and we all used sponges to wipe down the walls and smooth out the cement. Ethel served us a milky hot tea for a break, and chicken and veggies with rice for lunch. Incredibly delicious, all the more so for having worked hard. While it is a small thing to give a day toward one small project, it felt good. It all reminded Margie and me a lot of going to Mississippi after Katrina, of course. But some of the students have never done anything like this, and one said it was the most amazing experience she’d ever had. Not bad for a day’s work.

After returning to the ship for a shower and short rest (and feeling very privileged to have such a sanctuary where we can eat and drink and clean up and be completely safe) we went back into the very civilized wharf area with its exclusive shops and touristy mall and had an extraordinarily lovely dinner with a faculty member we ran into. I am not unaware of the juxtaposition of our afternoon and our evening experiences. There were over 250 wines served by the glass, and I had a delicious Pinotage, a variety that is popular in South Africa (there are MANY wineries in the area). Everything from the bread to the rib eye and shrimp was so fresh and delicious, and we three had to sample a dessert with peppermint, caramel, chocolate, and biscuits. Yes, I see you understand! And very good coffee, too. We capped off the evening browsing and buying South African wines before toddling home to bed as we pondered our varied experiences of the day.

At Sea, Dinner with the Captain 2/17

Sorry to be offline for so long, but my laptop had an unfortunate meeting with the floor during our turbulent seas on Wednesday, and the hard disk crashed over the weekend. Most unfortunate. Looking into alternatives here on the ship, but for now I’m using the Lab computers which is complicating my ability to blog and to upload photos! But I will persevere in the face of such adversity.

 NewRumors I heard today:

We will be escorted by helicopters through the Straights of Malay to prevent pirates overtaking us. And there are laxitives in the lettuce.

So, the Captain’s dinner: I want to be a Captain when I grow up! Captain Roman (and his crew) looked so dashing in their black dress uniforms (alas, I do not have a photo, Mary). We had a delicious 5 course meal, preceded by a very civilized cocktail hour with better wine than we usually get. We ate in the larger dining room at around 8pm, after closing. We were divided into three tables (name cards indicated where we were to sit) and Margie and I sat with Mats, the Swedish Chief of Staff, and several other faculty and staff. The entrees were chicken or swordfish (both delicious) and the wine flowed freely! It was really delightful and I tried to catch Captain Roman’s eye to wink and flirt (on your behalf, Mary). Everyone has this delightful experience only once, and we certainly enjoyed it!

At Sea, with Rumors 2/16

Not surprisingly, this place feeds on rumors: We are skipping the next port due to civil unrest; the choppy seas and the pitch and sway of the ship indicates that we ought to be scrambling for our lifejackets; there is a submarine following us for our protection. I am not making this up. But these rumors are, alas, just rumors. It would make a great story if there really was a submarine following us.

The staff had a South African wine tasting last night. We sampled four wines from various regions. Naturally, I do not recall much about any of them, except that they were pretty good. But I’ve had much better wine from South Africa and hope we can tour a winery, or at least have some good wine with dinner. Probably we’ll have wine on safari, possibly right before I get eaten by a lion. Now THAT would be quite a rumor to start.

At Sea, with Neptune 2/14

The day dawned on choppy seas. Apparently Neptune was not pleased with us pollywogs (those who have not crossed the Equator). King Neptune, Queen Minerva, and their extensive royal court paraded through the decks beating on pots and pans to awaken us all, and eventually led us out onto the pool deck. The King told us we were not worthy of becoming shellbacks; so proceeded to instruct his court to first dump disgusting-looking green liquidy stuff over the heads of the initiates, then they were to jump in the pool, then kiss the fish, then kiss the ring of the King. And then, off with their hair! The brave ones shaved their heads, something like 40 of them (which I believe broke the SAS record!). Plenty of young ladies participated, as did a few of the male staff. I did not, you will not be surprised to hear. See photos on flickr!

At Sea, With Four Daughters 2/13

Semester At Sea runs a great program for students to become extended family members of faculty, staff, and lifelong learners. Margie and I signed up, and we now have four daughters! We had a nice dinner at a reserved table in the larger dining hall last night. We’ll probably continue to dine together every few weeks, celebrate birthdays, that sort of thing. Nice for us is that the students self-select to be in the program, so it’s not like they’re being stuck with a family they don’t want. At least that is what I’m telling myself!

Yesterday was the first Global Studies exam. I thought I’d have a quiet morning in the library but the students were disappointingly quick! We lost another hour this morning, which means we are now 5 hours ahead of the East Coast, somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic; and we will lose several more before docking in Cape Town. We’re all dragging today but tomorrow is a No Class Day because it is Neptune Day! I will have a report on that, and maybe photos, in a few days.

Is there anything my faithful readers would like to hear about ship life, or academics, or ports-of-call? Drop me an email or comment on the blog.

At Sea, to Africa! 2/11

A note to my niece, Rain Carla:

Hello Little Miss Rain! I thought of you yesterday during Global Studies class. We learned about African music and rhythm and instruments and singing, things I know you like. Some of the students and staff formed a band with these instruments: bells, wood block, clapping hands, rattles, and drums. Did you know your own hands can be instruments? Now that you are almost 18 months old, I bet you are an expert clapper! After hearing and learning about different sounds and rhythms made by these instruments, we were taught how to sing a verse of the African National Anthem:

Nko-si Si-ke-le-li A-fri-ka

Ma-lu-pha-ka-nyi-swu pho-ndo lwa-you

Yi-zwa i-mi-tha-nda zo ye-thu

Nko-si Si-ke-le-la

Thi-na lu sa-pho-lwa yo

I don’t have the full translation, but it starts, “Lord, Bless Africa” and the rest of the words are very pretty. Unlike English, every consonant is pronounced. It was hard to learn the words but it was a very beautiful melody… and I finally realized why it was so familiar: IT SOUNDS LIKE ‘ITSY-BITSY SPIDER’!!!! So I bet you never thought I would be able to find a way to connect your favorite song with something I learned in a college class while on my way to the African continent. But I think about you all the time, even when I’m so far away from you, so I guess it’s not so unlikely. I hope you are having a wonderful day today filled with dancing and singing.

Much Love,

Aunt Melinda