Journal of This Southern Africa Adventure
September, 1999
Departed JFK 11:30 am on 9/2/99.
Arrived at 8am 9/3/99 which is Spring Day in South Africa.
Flight (on a 747) was long but not too bad. Had plenty of movies to watch. Had difficulty sleeping for any good length of time. Bessy had gotten a cold on Wednesday prior to the departure and felt miserable all the way to SA. I was surprised by the lack of customs inspections. The customs area was a hallway that led to the main terminal with no one checking baggage. We were greeted by a driver who watched our bags while we struggled with the ATM machine which was displaying Afrikaans and Rand.
After a brief drive we arrived at the Protea Waterfront hotel in Centurion which is 15 minutes from the center of Pretoria. The hotel lacked some niceties such as washcloths, a mega-channel TV, Iron, and ironing board.
The next day we met up with Phillippa, a relocation person in the afternoon, who showed us several very nice homes in Silver Lakes, Lynwood, Menlo Park, and Brooklyn areas.
We arranged for a car for Sunday at 11 am but the car never showed up. We then got the hotel to arrange for a car and it came now, now which was about 1 ½ hours later. We explored Pretoria on our own spending a lot of time around Waterkloof which had some very nice estates, embassies, and several thatched roof homes. We also drove up to Klepperskop Fort
which was on the top of a 2000 ft mountain near the city. Pretoria seems to be older that I thought that it would be. The center of the city reminds me of Philadelphia in building style and age. However, there are several high hills or mountains surrounding the city. Several valleys lead into the city which are occupied not by rivers but by the highways.
The climate is very dry which makes for dusty travel. Pretoria is at 5000 ft elevation, so the weather seems a lot like Albuquerque, NM.
The city is just like any city in the US. Smells the same but is a little dustier that most.
Food: They have the same stuff and lots of different stuff. I am still getting used to it. The fish is good with names like Kingklip and Linefish (catch of the day). I had antelope the other day. It was very good. An excellent bottle of wine in a restaurant is $10. Most are $3. Dinner is very cheap unless you go to a McDonalds where it is the same price as in the US.
The Telkom workers have been striking all week. Their strikes are really interesting. They sing and chant and dance. It is very entertaining. I guess this is what they do on all occasions like weddings and things.
South Africans drive like shit and have no respect for pedestrians. Someone told me that it was not against the law to hit a pedestrian. Well that at least shows the attitude. The other annoying habit is littering. Although the area is relatively clean, it is very common to throw cigarette butts into one's yard or garden. Littering is very common but cleanup happens pretty fast and Pretoria itself, usually looks pretty clean.
We have learned to drive on the left and are quite good at it.
I have been watching the US Open (the tennis one) all week. There is more coverage of it here that in the US. There is a little bit of US television. Law and Order and South Park are a couple shows that I have seen here. Although they show some nudity on the TV they do beep out lots of words. South Park was beeping all the way through the episode that I watch. There are only three TV stations broadcast over the normal airwaves (one is primarily Zulu, one is English, and the last is mostly Afrikaans). There is no cable TV. Everyone has satellite TV. The satellite TV carries a mix of US cable stations (CNN, Discovery, ESPN, etc.), European stations, and the three local stations.
14 September
Bessy returned to the US to make final arrangements for shipping of dogs and things. We still have not settled on a house in Pretoria yet. I was invited by a couple to stay at their place (to take care of their dog, while they were at Kruger. Their house is spectacular and they got it for about a $1000/month, unfurnished. It’s a great house, very new, and has a great view. We have looked at 15 houses thus far and will not be that lucky.
The house that we are most interested in is very close to the city,
7 minutes from the center of the city. It is a very old house located in the middle of all of the embassies. It is furnished but they are still asking too much, about $1200/mo. Its has a very small cottage and a very small pool. Up the street and around the corner are the SA Union
(government) building. It is high on a hill and have a wonder view of the city. Down the street from the house, in the other direction is the residence of President Mbeki, and his private golf course.
The house currently has a gardener who comes in one day/week. He is paid R55/day ($10). The maid/helper is working there every day and she also makes R55/day. She is very, very nice so we will probably keep her on. She lives up the street with an elderly couple whom she has taken care of for many, many years.
I have been going out to eat with colleagues, such as Miguel and Sandy,
a lot lately. It is almost cheaper to go out to eat than to cook it ourselves.
14 September
I took my first look at used cars this past weekend. Most of the US people working here are buying used cars for $5,000-$20,000. Leasing is out of the question because high interest rates here cause very high lease rates. New cars, like everything that is imported, are expensive. A new Toyota Land Cruiser, which is $50k in the states is $80k in South Africa. Some cars, like BMWs, however are relatively cheap because they are made here. Also, one can get very good bargains on used cars that are more than a few years old. A lot of people are driving BMWs and Mercedes. In fact I have never seen so many BMWs and Mercedes in my life. Most of the BMWs are 318 which cost about $20k US (incl. Registration, taxes, and roadworthy checks) for a 1 year old model. There are lots of used cars lots here selling 4-5 year old cars for around $5k US and even more lots that sell used cars for around $1k US. I haven’t seen the deals like I saw in Florida, however, where there was always some special deals on cars for $100. The roadworthy check is a must and is offered by the local AAA called the AA. They do a complete check of the car.
Most of the cars driven are stick shift and have very few options. Automatic transmission, power windows, door locks, and remote power locks are luxuries found only on the most expensive cars. Driving on the left, and using the left hand to shift can be challenging.
There are car auctions that offer good deals but I have not looked into them yet.
Car theft and car hijacking are popular pastimes in South Africa. Almost all cars have security systems and many have a device which lock the gear in reverse when parked. I saw a show where an inventor have a metal bar that flung out from the side of the car when a button was pressed to dissuade the car hijacker. I also heard (from someone in the US before leaving) that some people have flame throwers under the car to be used for the same purpose.
22 September
I have not had much time to watch TV lately but did see some interesting shows. One was about Traveling to the US for vacation. They highlighted Florida and the DC/Virginia area. They got it right. The other show was the live boxing match between De La Hoya and Trinidad shown at 6 in the morning. It was interesting to hear the comments from the commentators in SA. I have been getting used to waking up at 6 am because people tend to work from 7:30 to 4:00 here. They get very restless when the meetings go beyond 4:00. It is probably because they have to get to the grocery store before it closes at 6pm. All of the stores (except restaurants and their equivalent of 7-11) close early.
Also saw a news broadcast about President Mbeki visiting the US. The entire broadcast dealt with how recognizable Mbeki is to the average US citizens. Without actually naming statistics, the broadcast said that US citizens are becoming better at recognizing him although still not as well as Mandela.
The jury is still out on Mbeki. We stopped to eat near a flea market here and the waiter, a young white kid, was complaining about the R46 Million ($7.5 USD) spent on his three hour inauguration party. I would be complaining too. He also appears to be not as open as Mandela. Mandela was actually very well liked by people of all races here. It is a common belief that no one else could have come close to succeeding as he did.
Did I say anything about the minibuses yet. The place is swarming with them. Apparently it started off as an illegal business but grew so fast in popularity that the government could not control it. They are usually VW minivans which hold 8 to 20 people (very illegal). They are nicknamed Zola Budds because, some say, they are speedy, and others say, because they bump into things a lot. Pedestrians are very wary of these buses. One comment made to me was people are afraid of them because there are no laws against hitting a pedestrian with a car. I do not know if that is true but pedestrians do yield to cars no matter what the situation is.
Back to their stores. Their supermarkets are just like those in the US but the aisles are wider and the selection for some items are limited. The fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, and specialty goods sections are virtually the same as any US supermarket. Their bread and pastry section is on average better than in the US. They have Hellmann’s Real Mayo, Skippy peanut butter, and the basic cereals like Cornflakes, and Crispy Rice (Rice Crispies) but do not have Peter Pan (my favorite) nor even near the different brands of cereals that are found in the US supermarkets. There is also no Crest and (poor Bessy) no Pepsi (only Coke). Apparently, Pepsi left in the apartheid years but Coke stayed. After Apartheid ended, Pepsi came back but peoples tastes had changed to Coke and the local Pepsi bottling plant went bankrupt. Sometimes there is no justice.
It finally rained here yesterday. It was the first rain that I have seen in SA after being here for almost three weeks.
28 September
Went to a local game reserve called Rietvlei, 10 minutes from the hotel, this past weekend. Saw lots of zebra, impala and other antelope, buffalo, wildebeest, strange birds, and rhinos. The rhinos were the best.
They were enormous. There were six of them and we were only about 40 yards away from them. I do not think that they even knew that we were there. We are also schedule to go on a horseback ride through this same reserve in a couple of months. That should allow for a more close-up view.
We have also scheduled ourselves for a balloon safari. That will be in mid-October.
Several people (almost everyone) have been to Kruger Park. It is the best of the game parks and is bigger than New Jersey. It is about four hours away and has most of the animals that I would like to see. We have not scheduled this trip yet. We may wait until we get some visitors before we do that trip. On the way to Kruger, is the Blyde River Canyon. Several people say that it is the size of the Grand and just as beautiful but I doubt if they have been to the Grand! We’ll see.
Several people have also been to Cape Town and say that it is a wonderful place. Large homes on the Atlantic/Indian Ocean can be bought for $100,000 USD, not that I am thinking about buying one.
We are moving into our leased house this weekend. We have also bought a car, a
used 1996 328i with only 40,000 km on it.
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