April 11 – 13
Up early for one last run along the promenade in Cape Town. Beautiful,
sunny morning. Wonder if I will see this city again? I hope so.
Our home in Cape town. Felt like home to us.
Our location on the ocean was perfect!
Pack up went quick and then off to the airport to catch a
2-hour flight to Johannesburg. Had to allow enough time to deal with AVIS who
wants to charge $800 more than the agreed upon price from that quoted in
Canada. Also need to get receipt for the $400 for the cracked windshield from
catching a stone outside of Swaziland.
A shanty town near the airport.
Waiting for the plane in Cape Town.
Jack, our amazing chauffeur, drove us 7243 kilometres in that
big bus on our road trip from Cape Town to Drakensberg Mountains return. We are pleased with the amount of South Africa we have seen. Only a few days left in this amazing country.
Arriving in Johannesburg, we picked up a CRV at the airport
and drove the five minutes to Aero Guest Lodge. Staff was helpful and the
grounds were relaxing. The neighborhood outside the locked gate was anything
but. Somewhat dodgy and very busy streets with pedestrians and traffic. Red
lights appeared to only be a suggestion. The kids are not keen to do much
wandering around this neighborhood.
Unfortunately, too cool to use the pool.
He pool table saw a lot of use.
Tried lamingtons. Had been looking at trying them since we
arrived. Not worth trying again. The coconut made them look appealing.
Pretoria was on our list to visit. Being an hour away we
went to the Voortrekker’s monument. This monument (the biggest monument in
Africa) was built to acknowledge the Boars who left the Cape Colony in the 1830’s.
They left, crossing the Drakensberg mountains to search for freedom and
independence. The frieze that runs around the inside of the monument was
amazing. It told the story by looking at the marble carvings, but it was
interesting to see how the Zulu were depicted in battle (killing women and
children) and how the Dutch were portrayed as only attacking male warriors. Very
one sided.
I wanted to see the giant statue of Nelson Mandela in front
of the parliament buildings. This was not to be today since many city streets were
barricaded due to protests by citizens to have the current president Zuma step
down as leader. Too much corruption. His term is does not end until 2019 and it
is unlikely he will step down before that. Protests will continue.
Not being native South African, the boys seem less than passionate about the politics.
Our last day in Joburg we went for a private guided tour of
Soweto (South West Township). We saw the street were Nelson Mandela lived with
his wife Winnie, and on that same street the home of Desmond Tutu. The only
street in the world to have two Nobel Peace Prize winners call it home. Winnie
Mandela still lives in Soweto.
The (renovated) home of Desmond Tutu.
Winnie Mandela still lives in this house in Soweto.
