My trip to Africa (6 months later)....

[peachy]

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Peachy, this trip sounds like it was amazing. I've always wanted to visit South Africa as I have a few relatives there.

Can you share some photos of the Zulu battlegrounds please?

Also, how did you handle security when travelling by yourself? Did you rely on rented tour guides to escort you around when travelling into more sketchy parts (which seems to be everywhere based on my understanding)?

Do you have any insight into the political climate in Zimbabwe. Do they generally welcome rich white tourists because of the money they spend, or do they appear to distrust white people in general as evidenced by their racist land reforms of the late nineties?
What kind of attitude do you feel is exhibited to these nations former colonists, the UK, do they tend to respect traditional European customs, or are they searching for an identity of their own.

Also, did you see any Rhodesian Ridgebacks (they're dogs)?

Thanks

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I really didn’t handle security per say. I just kinda used general “street smarts” – I didn’t go places alone, I didn’t take valuables, I didn’t APPEAR scared, I usually had guys with me, I used the same taxi driver everywhere I needed to go, I always left a note as to where I was, I had a South African cell phone during the trip. Sadly, I wasn’t as concerned as most people were, but this comes from spending a summer in Central American in dangerous places in Guatemala, etc. So I was somewhat prepared to act safely. On a few of the weekend trips we were in larger groups of about 40 or so, which broke into smaller groups to do whatever. Traveling across country I took the baz bus which has a ton of people around my age traveling Africa and is relatively safe – you just have to keep an eye on your belongings. At other times I traveled to places like Victoria Falls and what not in fairly small groups, mainly due to the fact the majority of people couldn’t afford to go (I even ended up paying for a friend to go so she wouldn’t miss out). During the beginning of the trip in Cape Town I stayed in a 4 star ritzy hotel which had HUGE stone walls and massive security without appearing overly so. They did a shuttle to popular destinations and otherwise they recommended transportation or rental car places for you. In Durban I was staying on a university campus that was on holiday and you had to have a scan card to get in the dorms, so I felt fairly safe, we only had one scare where we thought someone had gotten in, and out of the 30 people (guys included!!!) I was the first to start searching the dorms for the noises we heard!! There were some incidents while we were there, but they will happen and were mostly from people not being smart. One girl got robbed at knife point walking down the hill to get something from the store, and another student was shot and killed at the same place (we guessed from a robbery) but he was a local student! One of the guys that was with us got super drunk one night and passed out on the beach, something you DON’T do in Durban, we were warned to be OFF the beach at sunset!! He got woken up to some locals leaning over him and his book bag saying “white boy…whatcha doing out here?!?!” He called our local taxi driver we trusted at 2am to come get him!! On the weekends it was hard to keep up with who went out to where with what groups. Some of the girls weren’t so smart while they were out at local clubs and bars, but we got lucky and always got everyone home safely thanks to our local taxi man!! The worse parts of town we went into in larger groups and usually with one or two locals but there were one or two occasions where I went into town with just one other girl, and on top of that she was light skinned black, so we got very evil looks (its not too common to see whites and blacks together there – at a rugby game a couple moved away from me and my girlfriend because I was white and she was black and we were sitting together, this happened in a few restaurants as well), but I never felt in any real danger and usually had to calm others down who were panicing cause that’s when you get yourself into trouble. I guess I just had a false sense of security because of my Central America travels though, because I felt a lot less safe there vs the majority of Africa, why I have not a clue because both are extremely bad in many places.

When we went to Zimbabwe the political stuff broke out just 3 days BEFORE we arrived and we had already booked our flights, etc. We stayed on the Zambia side, but it was only 2 mins literally from the Zimbabwe side, and we spent ALL of our days over in Zimbabwe. We were in the Victoria Falls area, so I am sure the locals there act very very differently to white tourist since it is how their economy there flourishes because of Vic Falls. The only thing that happens because you are white is that they assume you are from the U.S. so they assume you are rich so they try and charge you more! I was using US dollars there (because people will ask you how you want to pay? Zimbabwe money? Zambia money? Rands (South African currency) or US? And I had been saying US because our travel agent in SA told us to take US, well the hotel advised us to use our Rand so that the locals didn’t jack up the prices so much! And the locals really didn’t treat us any differently because we were white, anyone visiting there got treated the same – harassed to buy anything and everything and they would TRADE you stuff you had. One guy was sooooo desperate for my friend to take his wood carving that he offered it to her for her hair holder!! But this happens throughout all of Africa!

Overall, throughout the parts of Africa I was in they either strongly hate one race/culture or they love them. For the most part, locals do not like people of European decent the most – usually whites that are born there – they dislike these of any tourist that come into the country. There is a lot of messed up racial stuff within the countries, and so much clan on clan hate (like Zulu vs. another small clan) that it just perpetuates everywhere. The majority of the violence occurs between local Africans themselves, they are detrimental to their selves – they refuse to put their children in school because they don’t want them learning the “white” man language, they want their children learning their tribes language and heritage – but this prevents them from communicating outside their small communities or the chances to receive jobs that would pay them an amount they could live on. This is a MASSIVE problem because some of the countries have 72 national languages and people who speak one of these may know one or two other dialects that are similar to their own tribes but it becomes near impossible for them to progress outside their local area. I could go on and on about this, and I am sure it is different in various places, I was only there for about 3 months so I am sure I am missing a lot of the big picture. But basically, it is all races vs. all races, its very sad and disheartening, and it perpetuated that the upper class stay upper and the lower class never have a chance – but this is largely in part because the majority of the lower class refuses the opportunities that it is offered for one reason or another (because it is correlated with a race they hate, etc.)

I hope all this makes sense because its too much to go back over and read, so if you need clarification just ask!!


Yes, we did see Rhodesian Ridgebacks, although I did not know their significance until I got back to the states and my close friend got one and informed me of their origin and use. When I did see them they were either being used by the police or taken out with us on our elephant safari and camping trip, for the obvious reason of fending off lions and protection.

Battlefield monument



Zulu marked grave stones



Zulu markers



Zulu memorial


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Peachy......Do you remember if these monuments were at Roarks Drift, the place of the famous battle?

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they were at the famous place that the movies have been done about...honestly its been awhile now and id have to look up in my trip journal where we were. Some of the places i didnt even write down the names of because they were so difficult to pronounce but i know where they are on a map!! But that name sounds right maybe??

[slickpoppa]

Bumping this thread cause it's awesome and I'm going to South Africa in September. Maybe someone should move this to the travel forum?

[JackWilson]

Glad you had an awesome time.

Just wanted to say it's not all rosy over here though, we have a lot of problems in our country. The way you've portrayed it in this trip report is just the beautiful, which is awesome but not really the truth. Problems like corruption, poverty, disease, hunger, crime, are all running pretty rampant here. Violent crime rate is up since last year even though overall crime is down.

To anyone wanting to visit, safety is a huge problem, don't underestimate it.

[kevin017]

peachy seems scarily similar to my gf in looks and personality. last time i visited my gf, a pink lacoste shirt of hers accidently got into my suitcase. though, i am judging off of just one picture where you can't see her face, but still.

this trip does seem pretty awesome though. i read through the whole thing. worth bumping.

[willie]

thanks for the bump, this thread is full of amazing stuff---kickass peach.

[ShipitFMA]

Africa fkn rocks, i went to botswana, zimbabwe and south africa and all your pictures look exactly the same as mine i must have a few thousand pics

[peachy]

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Glad you had an awesome time.

Just wanted to say it's not all rosy over here though, we have a lot of problems in our country. The way you've portrayed it in this trip report is just the beautiful, which is awesome but not really the truth. Problems like corruption, poverty, disease, hunger, crime, are all running pretty rampant here. Violent crime rate is up since last year even though overall crime is down.

To anyone wanting to visit, safety is a huge problem, don't underestimate it.

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Trust me, I didnt go naive to this. I was over there for that purpose and was exposed to much of the more saddening parts of this country. Working with HIV+/TB children was just a gateway into the horrors of the country and the system (to the point where 10$ meds are not given to dying children because a few political figures have stowed it away without question). I traveled in dangerous parts of Central and South America as well, so it wasnt as shocking for me. Plus, I didnt really wanna talk about the awfulness I saw in the trip report because it was hard emotionally to recap alot that i experienced or saw, but like I said, sadly it was no different than other places I have been doing similar work. I guess this also gave me a false sense of security while I was there, but i remained safe nontheless. I did include in some of the trip report the poverty, children, and unsafeness of certain places, but I didnt want to bring people down reading it. Many places have their dark corners and backwards systems but it wont stop me from visiting most. There were endless beautiful places that I enjoyed all over Africa, and to me they were worth a risk if you were cautious and preplanned. The only time I got concerned during this trip was during the uprising in Zam./Zim. when things began to unravel. We were at Victoria falls during the beginning of this and it became apparent it was about to get bad with people rushing the boarders. It was an amazing trip for me, and I did talk with locals all over as much as I could, of every race and status, in order to obtain the best understanding I could of the places I was and its history. I plan on going back and doing something similar within the next few years, this time hopefully I can talk others into coming along, I know a few friends I have here who are going to try and make this happen, its of course harder for people who have school full time or 9 to 5 jobs, but a few poker people have said they would love to go and are definately going next time I go, so I cannot wait!!

[peachy]

someone had asked me to recap somethings or elaborate somethings in a PM. Can you ask me again what you were wondering here so I can try and help!! Thanks!! [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

[peachy]

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Wow Peachy, that sounds AWESOME. You are so brave for going by yourself, I'd love to do stuff like this but I dont know if I could go solo or not. How about the languages. Did everyone speak English? Did you have any trouble communicating with people? Sounds like you had a great time. I leave for Spain in 3 weeks!

Mike

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No, not everyone speaks English, but I adjusted to that a few years ago when I started doing stuff like this alot. Africa was by far the most diverse though, with different languages being spoken 100 miles from each other. In the larger cities there most people speak English or have someone that translates, and this is definately the case in higher tourist/business areas (Cape Town, Victoria Falls, Durban, Joburg, etc). You kinda just get used to it, either they get what you are saying or havent got a clue!! Most of the time acting out things or using your hands works!! hahah In other countries I have picked up the language easier though, like in Central America (learned most of the Spanish I needed in 3 weeks or lessons every day, haha excelerated by being immersed in the culture and most not speaking a bit of English!!), but definately not in Africa - although I did understand a few words here and there from knowing French and some Spanish and Latin (cause some of its Dutch based)!! It was sad...i got super excited when i heard a word I recognized!! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I imagine I will have a hard time when I go to India and Asia this year, but just because the languages I have learned are so different, but Africa prepared me for this headache so I think I will be okay!!