Journal of This Southern Africa Adventure
October, 1999
03 October
Now the frustrating stuff:
Queues upon queues upon queues. The bureaucracy is overwhelming. Empowerment is nil. It can take several months to get a new telephone line. To transfer utilities to another name takes at least three queues. Car registration can take 4 days to 4 weeks. Security requirements to get into office building change every other day. I know because it took us four weeks to get badges, so that we did not have to sign in everyday. We have been here almost 2 months, still not able to enter the cafeteria, our Badges are not yet 'program' into the security system! To wire $ into SA takes 4 days to 2 weeks, and you have to go to the bank to fill out a special form E to accept amount larger than R50K. However, if you use your debit card, you can get money (R50K or less) almost immediately; the catch is you have to go to the bank and wait in the queue. To obtain work PCs takes over a month and then several days to configure.
On the other hand, you can get a new cell phone in minutes. To order, install, and activate a satellite dish for TV reception takes less than 24 hours. Internet access signup and activation is almost immediate.
12 October
Went to a big game park called Pilanesberg, which was about 1 ½ hours from Pretoria this past Sunday. You can drive through the park in your own vehicle or go with a tour guide. We went with some friends who have a Land Rover. This was good because most of the roads in the park are dirt. Most, people there, however, were driving their regular passenger cars.
Saw lots on animals including Rhinos, hippos, a hyena, waterbucks, impalas, warthogs, zebras, giraffes, baboons, and many others but no elephants, cheetahs, leopards, crocodiles, or buffalo. We will have to go back to the park to see those animals in the future.
One interesting thing did happen at the park. We saw some rhinos and hippos in a watering hole a couple hundred meters away.
This was too far to get a picture so we found a rough and seldom used path to the watering hole. Incidentally, the only rules of the park are as follows: stay in your car (except in designated areas); no feeding of the baboons; and no littering. We followed the field path for a hundred meters or so. When the rhinos saw us coming they took off quickly, at first looking like they were charging us before veering off to the right. We did not realize it until they started running, but there were three of them, one of which was a baby.
Later we saw another rhino with a little bit bigger baby.
It was only 30 meters from the road resting in the shade of a small tree. The baby was fast asleep while the mother stood guard. The mother let us take all the pictures we wanted and did not make a move towards us.
The hyena was a good experience to see as they are rarely seen in the daylight.
The best that we saw was giraffes. There were several groups that we saw, several old and several young, playing, eating, and drinking, and courting. I will never get tired of seeing giraffes.
Another great sight was of several animals, baboons, waterbucks, impala, zebra, warthogs, ostriches, and geese and other birds, all very close to each other and intermingled in one section of a small lake. Obviously they had all signed a peace treaty. We saw them around noon, which is at a time when the lions are sleeping.
13 October
We have been trying to aid our helper in a matter. She paid R1400 ($240) for a used wall unit from a swap shop (kind of like a pawn shop). She has been having lots of difficulties obtaining the wall unit or her money back. The shop recently gave her a check (a cheque here) and then put a stop on it. The shop is unbelievable. We have been there about 4 times in the past week. Customer service is non-existent with this particular shop and they admit it but do nothing to rectify the situation. We are going back there one more time at noon and then we are going to start sending complaints to the local consumer boards and to newspapers, and obtain legal counsel for Deborah. I am writing up Deborah’s account of the history of this disturbing affair. Their excuse, like all other frustrating things in SA, is, "..but this is South Africa, you see." Hopefully, with the owner’s being white Afrikaners, and Deborah, along the controlling government being black, she will get swift satisfaction. Then again, it is South Africa, you see.
If you are keen on reading a history of this affair you can go to Deborah's complaint page.
15 October
Did a little local sightseeing. The Voortrekker Monument is a massive structure overlooking Pretoria from yet another hill. The Afrikaners are very proud of their ancestry. Note the wagon train (in the picture to the right) which circles the entire monument.
Headlines are pretty fascinating here. The latest was "Man mauled by Lion in City." In fact the city was Pretoria and the man was mauled just two blocks from where I work. You must understand that Pretoria is like a mini-Philadelphia. That had everyone buying the papers. It turns out that the man was with his girlfriend and was mugged. The man then went to the city zoo and, witnesses say, threw himself into the lion cage. That explains the story but not the man. "Police continue to investigate."
Police? I have seen very few policeman, far fewer than are in the US. I have seen armed military personnel at the government buildings, I have seen private security guards throughout the city area, I have seen private services handing sawed off shotguns to hotel personnel, and I have seen home security personnel arrive on the scene within two minutes when the alarm was mistakenly set off. The only policeman that I can recall seeing were riding BMW motorcycles riding next to a huge armored truck.
Other local news highlights include every story that can be mustered about the Rugby World Cup held in Wales. The South African team, the Springboks who are the defending champs from four years ago, have beaten Scotland and Spain, thus far and will probably make it to the finals where they will lose to New Zealand. Rugby is the most popular sport here especially with the Afrikaners. Its just like the Super Bowl is in the US. Every little bit of uninteresting news is covered and the players are constantly featured in all the commercials (which are actually quite good). The only difference is that they can be shown drinking beer on the commercials.
22 October
Last weekend we went to see a play. It was Amadeus and was held in the Pretoria State Theater. It was an excellent play with big name SA actors yet it only cost about $5 USD. Unfortunately when we made the reservations, we failed to realize that we had scheduled a ballooning trip the next day. After a late night we had to wake up at 4am in order to get to the balloon site on time.
Since it was early in the morning we also had the opportunity to do more that day and so we went with Jeff ...
to the Lion & Rhino Park.
You could drive right up to the lions, wild dogs, and, rhinos but Jeff (also known as
shaky Jake) would not leave the car to take some close-up pictures.
26 October
Strange weather here. There was some hail that left 6 inches of hail in one area. Roads were closed off for hours. This is in an area that has only seen snow a few times in the past 100 years.
29 October
Well the Springboks beat England last week to advance to the semi-finals. Some people were even surprised by that win but it was a great game. Rugby is definitely a Afrikaner's sport whereas Soccer (football of course) is the African's sport. Pretoria is the center of the Afrikaner's culture and the people are certainly excited about the Springbok's chances for their second straight world championship. I must say that I am more excited about watching the Springboks than watching the Yankees who just won the World Series again.
This is the time of year for the Jacaranda. This flowering tree blooms to a gorgeous purple for about a month in late October and early November.
The trees lines both sides of many streets. For the past few days it seems to have been gaining in brilliance and luster. It is very pretty.
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