Sunday, March 25, 2007
First Impressions of India
Filthy... Smelly... Chaotic... Noisy... Crowded...
We didn't appreciate the meaning of culture shock until we got to New Delhi!
The airport itself was shabby & dirty & as soon as we left the baggage hall we were confronted by the chaos - swarms of people & vast numbers of took-tooks (auto rickshaws), bicycles, motor scooters & taxis (old Morris Oxfords/Ambassadors). The roads were choc-a-bloc with hair-raising traffic executing death-defying manoeuvres accompanied by constant ear-splitting hooting - the Indian horns are much shriller than British ones!
We'd booked into a hotel in the Main Bazaar in Pahar Ganj which wasn't the best place to ease ourselves into Indian culture. The price of 4 pounds a night for the room had been tempting but foolish! Cows, goats, pigs, rickshaws, scooters, fruit & veg carts, cars & people all milled about the narrow streets & the stench was unbelievable. Our hotel had a rooftop restaurant but we couldn't actually stomach eating anything there because of the smell drifting up from the streets. We retreated with our breakfasts into the relative safety of our room - the bathroom left a lot to be desired with it's floor toilet tray & lack of cleanliness.
We did do some sightseeing during our initial 2 days in the city & some of the buildings were stunningly beautiful, not to mention wonderfully peaceful. Lal Qila, the Red Fort, is a fantastic palace complex, in a large garden, behind a massive stretch of red sandstone wall. The buildings were somewhat dilapidated but it wasn't difficult to imagine how splendid they must have been when inhabited by the Mughal emperors. We saw the Jama Masjid (the biggest mosque in India) & an amazing Jain Temple. We wandered around the Purana Qila, another fort, & the world heritage site of Humayun's Tomb which was built in the 16th C & is thought to be the prototype for the Taj Mahal. It was magnificent & again set in lovely gardens, complete with live Langur monkeys, parrots & deer.
To be truthful, that was what we enjoyed most about visiting all these historical sites - to be able to escape into the tranquillity away from the clamour of all the touts & beggars swarming around us outside & to escape from the glaring poverty & hubbub of the streets. A trip to the neighbourhood of Nizamuddin was not so successful - it was like going back to the Middle Ages. We are very grateful that we have spent our entire lives in the 20th & 21st centuries in Scotland!
The contrasts we came across in these first few days were extreme. We've never been anywhere like it before & we're not sure that we like it! We should say, though, that most of the people (beggars, touts & government officials excluded) that we've met & talked to have been lovely!
We didn't appreciate the meaning of culture shock until we got to New Delhi!
The airport itself was shabby & dirty & as soon as we left the baggage hall we were confronted by the chaos - swarms of people & vast numbers of took-tooks (auto rickshaws), bicycles, motor scooters & taxis (old Morris Oxfords/Ambassadors). The roads were choc-a-bloc with hair-raising traffic executing death-defying manoeuvres accompanied by constant ear-splitting hooting - the Indian horns are much shriller than British ones!
We'd booked into a hotel in the Main Bazaar in Pahar Ganj which wasn't the best place to ease ourselves into Indian culture. The price of 4 pounds a night for the room had been tempting but foolish! Cows, goats, pigs, rickshaws, scooters, fruit & veg carts, cars & people all milled about the narrow streets & the stench was unbelievable. Our hotel had a rooftop restaurant but we couldn't actually stomach eating anything there because of the smell drifting up from the streets. We retreated with our breakfasts into the relative safety of our room - the bathroom left a lot to be desired with it's floor toilet tray & lack of cleanliness.
We did do some sightseeing during our initial 2 days in the city & some of the buildings were stunningly beautiful, not to mention wonderfully peaceful. Lal Qila, the Red Fort, is a fantastic palace complex, in a large garden, behind a massive stretch of red sandstone wall. The buildings were somewhat dilapidated but it wasn't difficult to imagine how splendid they must have been when inhabited by the Mughal emperors. We saw the Jama Masjid (the biggest mosque in India) & an amazing Jain Temple. We wandered around the Purana Qila, another fort, & the world heritage site of Humayun's Tomb which was built in the 16th C & is thought to be the prototype for the Taj Mahal. It was magnificent & again set in lovely gardens, complete with live Langur monkeys, parrots & deer.
To be truthful, that was what we enjoyed most about visiting all these historical sites - to be able to escape into the tranquillity away from the clamour of all the touts & beggars swarming around us outside & to escape from the glaring poverty & hubbub of the streets. A trip to the neighbourhood of Nizamuddin was not so successful - it was like going back to the Middle Ages. We are very grateful that we have spent our entire lives in the 20th & 21st centuries in Scotland!
The contrasts we came across in these first few days were extreme. We've never been anywhere like it before & we're not sure that we like it! We should say, though, that most of the people (beggars, touts & government officials excluded) that we've met & talked to have been lovely!
P.S. A Scary Moment
We've just realised that we've forgotten to mention what could have been an early end to our travels!
When we returned to our bungalow on the farm at Limpopo one afternoon, we were puzzled to find a dessicated frog lying in the middle of the floor. The cause turned out to be a small snake lurking nearby. It looked pretty harmless (perhaps not to frogs, of course) - only about 18" long - so we thought that it would be pathetic of us to call for help & decided to tackle it ourselves. Howard did manage to capture it in a towel with some difficulty, but as he carried it towards the door it's head got free & was swaying uncomfortably near his wrist - so he dropped it. It wriggled into a big plant pot which we eventually manoeuvred outside & the snake finally slithered into a flowerbed.
We felt quite pleased with ourselves until our hosts informed us that it was almost certainly a deadly puff adder!!!! Not to be messed with!!!! Next time we plan to scream & run..........
When we returned to our bungalow on the farm at Limpopo one afternoon, we were puzzled to find a dessicated frog lying in the middle of the floor. The cause turned out to be a small snake lurking nearby. It looked pretty harmless (perhaps not to frogs, of course) - only about 18" long - so we thought that it would be pathetic of us to call for help & decided to tackle it ourselves. Howard did manage to capture it in a towel with some difficulty, but as he carried it towards the door it's head got free & was swaying uncomfortably near his wrist - so he dropped it. It wriggled into a big plant pot which we eventually manoeuvred outside & the snake finally slithered into a flowerbed.
We felt quite pleased with ourselves until our hosts informed us that it was almost certainly a deadly puff adder!!!! Not to be messed with!!!! Next time we plan to scream & run..........
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Sterkfontein Caves
We spent our last 48 hours in S Africa staying at Bob's Bunkhouse in Jo'berg, where we prepared for moving onto India - top priority was re-activating a debit card which Abbey had unaccountably decided to cancel - & we took one more day trip. We felt that we couldn't leave without visiting the Cradle of Humankind - in particular, the Sterkfontein Caves.
We know that our culture traditionally dates the world at 5767 years old, but fossil records discovered in these caves dates the earliest human ancestors as having existed here 2.5 million years ago. In the early 20th C miners searching for gold, found extensive lime deposits instead, which kept them digging. In the process, they uncovered the famous "Mrs Ples", 1.6 million years old, & are still working on chipping out the even older "Little Foot" (actually a whole body!) preserved intact in the rock. Interestingly, one of the leading experts & researchers working on the evolutionary evidence discovered in these caves, is a Professor Philip Tobias whom we saw honoured in the Jewish Museum, in the grounds of the orthodox shul in Cape Town.
The Caves themselves are wonderful, cool caverns "decorated" with stalactites & stalagmites. There is an incredible & dangerous underground lake that stretches for 40 kms, but the main wonder was to stand on the spot where it's almost certain that human beings evolved & have lived ever since.
Swaziland
To round off our time in Africa, we spent 3 nights in Swaziland. All border posts were in full working order & we managed to get a full set of stamps on our passports, after they were carefully inspected & we had paid the requisite taxes. On our way out of the country, we were much irritated by a huge Boer & his busload of Austrian tourists who tried to aggressively queue jump, while we were negotiating the bureaucracy - but we had sharper elbows!
Our 1st stopping place was the Big Bend Inn (can't verify how big the bend was, or even what was bent!) which was actually a motel in the classic U.S. style of the 1950s & yet managed to make us feel as if we had been transported back to colonial Africa. The only sign of the 21st C was a huge state-of-the-art TV. The Inn was spookily empty & the staff, including the cleaner showed us just about every room in the place before we insisted that Room 10 would be fine - we'd seen enough, really.........
The following day we headed for Mkhaya Game Park - hitting a suicidal dog on the way. We were the only car for miles but a large bumper-denting dog decided that was the moment to dash across the road. It cost over 200 pounds in repairs, but at least the car was still driveable. Not sure what state the dog was in - it wasn't a good idea to stop & suspect it would have been beyond help anyway.
We left our battered car behind, to be driven around the Game Park in an open top Landrover. The wildlife thankfully proved less troublesome than the local dogs, although an elephant got restive at one point. There were only 4 of us on the drive & it was a much more intimate encounter with wildlife than had generally been the case at Kruger. We saw elands at last ( apart from in Koisan rock art, where they featured heavily), elephants at very close quarters, a family of warthogs, white rhinos wallowing & farting in the mud, pregnant hippos, nyalas, antelopes, gnus (hows do yous dos?), giraffes, dung beetles rolling a ball of dung across the road. We were ridiculously excited about this last sighting!! We had a lovely lunch in an enormous open hut under a magnificently high thatched roof.
After a stop for supplies in Manzini, where we were unnervingly the only white people in town (but didn't feel threatened in any way, as we might have in S Africa), we drove on to the Swaziland Backpackers. We spent most of our time there in conversation with David Applebaum, a Montreal Jew who'd worked in Edinburgh for 6 months, has relatives in Glasgow & has lived in Quito for a year - he's going to e-mail us tips for our forthcoming stay in Ecuador. Hello David!
Our final stop was at Mantenga Nature Reserve - where it turned out that we had saved the best for last. It was one of the most wonderful places that we had ever stayed. Our "room" was a tent erected on a high wooden platform, under a thatched roof deep in the forest. We had a balcony, complete with loungers, looking out to the Mantenga Falls. There was a fridge & a kettle & an outdoor shower room, with vervet monkeys in residence in the treetops around us - it was just idyllic!! We spent most of our time on the balcony in complete tranquility soaking up the views. The only time we stirred out was for dinner & to wander round the cultural village that is part of the reserve, where we were treated to an ebullient display of traditional Swazi dance & singing.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
St Lucia
This was where we decided to go kayaking with crocodiles! At one point a big wave erupted in front of us - it was a croc! which then swam under our kayak, really rocking the boat! It was a stomach churning moment. Apparently more people are killed by hippos than by crocs (there were hippos around too in the distance) but that didn't necessarily calm our nerves at the time....
Our main reason for visiting the St Lucia wetlands was to try & catch a glimpse of the loggerhead & leatherback turtles which come ashore to lay eggs there. Sadly, on our night drive along the beach, the closest we got to seeing any turtles, were empty shells left behind after honey badgers had raided a nest. We did see ghost crabs, white rhinos, hippos, a chameleon, a nightjar, a bush baby, a porcupine, bush bucks, kudus & a magnificent display of stars but it was still disappointing.
Our final outing in St Lucia was a boat trip on the estuary. The main excitement was that we got within a few feet of quite a few hippos & we saw masses of birds - pygmy & egyptian geese, jacanas, goliath, purple, grey, greenback & sqwacko herons (never knew there were so many different kinds of herons), white-faced & yellow-billed ducks, pied & mangrove kingfishers, sandpipers, plovers, swifts, swallows, sea eagles & a lourie (had proved very elusive up until now).
Our time in St Lucia ended in an internet cafe listening to Steven in a debate on the legacy of Thatcher (another fearsome old croc) on Radio 5 Live. Life is varied!!
Our main reason for visiting the St Lucia wetlands was to try & catch a glimpse of the loggerhead & leatherback turtles which come ashore to lay eggs there. Sadly, on our night drive along the beach, the closest we got to seeing any turtles, were empty shells left behind after honey badgers had raided a nest. We did see ghost crabs, white rhinos, hippos, a chameleon, a nightjar, a bush baby, a porcupine, bush bucks, kudus & a magnificent display of stars but it was still disappointing.
Our final outing in St Lucia was a boat trip on the estuary. The main excitement was that we got within a few feet of quite a few hippos & we saw masses of birds - pygmy & egyptian geese, jacanas, goliath, purple, grey, greenback & sqwacko herons (never knew there were so many different kinds of herons), white-faced & yellow-billed ducks, pied & mangrove kingfishers, sandpipers, plovers, swifts, swallows, sea eagles & a lourie (had proved very elusive up until now).
Our time in St Lucia ended in an internet cafe listening to Steven in a debate on the legacy of Thatcher (another fearsome old croc) on Radio 5 Live. Life is varied!!
Lesotho
We journeyed to Lesotho, hidden away on the other side of the Drakensbergs. Our trip was to an extremely rural corner of the Kingdom was undertaken in a 4 wheel drive. We couldn't have negotiated the unbelievably dirt roads otherwise. We drove past the Sterkfontein Dam, through the Zulu homeland of Qwa Qwa to a remote border crossing up in the mountains. We were disappointed not to get Lesotho stamps on our passports but as you'll see from the photo their border post was never great & is now abandoned.
Our guide for the day was Power, a local schools teacher. We couldn't visit the school as it was being used as a polling station for the4 national elections, which passed off peacefully on this occasion unlike previous occasions in the recent pats. We did visit another rock art cave & a village pub where we tasted disgusting pineapple beer. No marijuana beer was available at that particular pub, luckily. We also had an audience with a Sangoma, a 67 year old mother of 10, ho asked for payment in cigarettes & money. She specialises in treating colds, chest complaints, headaches & fertility problems (connected?). She also acts as the local midwife.
The houses were mainly traditional round thatched huts. There was no electricity in the area & they have communal standpipes. They survive by subsistence farming of mainly maize, veg., although marijuana is also grown extensively. Their staple diet is pap & wild spinach which we sampled. They keep goats, cattle & sheep. Everything is transported by donkey & horse. They dress in blankets manufactured in Britain from Lesotho wool.
The Besotho were all very friendly & the mountainous valleys they live in were spectacularly beautiful. There was a bit of a panic to get back to the border before it closed at 4 pm but we wouldn't have been unhappy to spend more time there.
Our guide for the day was Power, a local schools teacher. We couldn't visit the school as it was being used as a polling station for the4 national elections, which passed off peacefully on this occasion unlike previous occasions in the recent pats. We did visit another rock art cave & a village pub where we tasted disgusting pineapple beer. No marijuana beer was available at that particular pub, luckily. We also had an audience with a Sangoma, a 67 year old mother of 10, ho asked for payment in cigarettes & money. She specialises in treating colds, chest complaints, headaches & fertility problems (connected?). She also acts as the local midwife.
The houses were mainly traditional round thatched huts. There was no electricity in the area & they have communal standpipes. They survive by subsistence farming of mainly maize, veg., although marijuana is also grown extensively. Their staple diet is pap & wild spinach which we sampled. They keep goats, cattle & sheep. Everything is transported by donkey & horse. They dress in blankets manufactured in Britain from Lesotho wool.
The Besotho were all very friendly & the mountainous valleys they live in were spectacularly beautiful. There was a bit of a panic to get back to the border before it closed at 4 pm but we wouldn't have been unhappy to spend more time there.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Drakensberg
To round off our time in S Africa we had 2 weeks free to travel wherever our fancy took us. We started by drivng south through Gauteng & the Free State to KwaZuluNatal. We spent 1 night in Thendele Hutted Camp in the Royal Natal N P described quite rightly in our Rough Guide as "1 of the most sought after places to stay in S Africa" & without straining our budget overmuch at only 45 pounds a night. Luxurious as the accommodation was, the reason it's sought after is it's location at the end of valleys dotted with Zulu villages & farms at the foot of the Amphitheatre, a 5 km rock wall in the Northern Drakensbergs. The views were awe-inspiring.
We did some walking there, 1st to Tiger Falls & then a 22km hike along the Tugela Gorge. There was a good deal of confusion at the end of this 2nd walk! A group of assorted Europeans (Czech, Dutch, German, Scottish) spent more than an hour trying out various unmarked trails which we hoped would lead to the 900 m high Tugela Falls which we'd expected to find as the reward for our efforts in the blazing sun. We eventually gave up & settled for a picnic by a 10 m high waterfall instead. We later discovered that the Tugela Falls dry up at this time of year, but the park management didn't think it was worth mentioning.
Our next 3 nights were spent at the Amphitheatre Backpackers Lodge - a great place to stay (fabulous bar & delcious veggie food) with terrific views of the mountains. In fact, we were treated to the most fantastic sound & light show while we were there. As we huddled in the shelter of our patio, thunder rolled & lightning fashed over the mountains all around us for several hours. We had experienced several spectacular stoms while in Africa, but this was the most amazing of them all. We were dumbfounded by the sheer power of the elements on display. (Howard says, " Don't worry Mum, really, we were safe. We stayed away from trees & couldn't find a golf club to swing about!")
We did some more walking at Cathedral Peak, along a riverside & up into the hills, with a Zulu guide called Moses leading the way, to Bushman's Rock, where we could see the rock art left behind by the Koisans, the aboriginals of S Africa.
We did some walking there, 1st to Tiger Falls & then a 22km hike along the Tugela Gorge. There was a good deal of confusion at the end of this 2nd walk! A group of assorted Europeans (Czech, Dutch, German, Scottish) spent more than an hour trying out various unmarked trails which we hoped would lead to the 900 m high Tugela Falls which we'd expected to find as the reward for our efforts in the blazing sun. We eventually gave up & settled for a picnic by a 10 m high waterfall instead. We later discovered that the Tugela Falls dry up at this time of year, but the park management didn't think it was worth mentioning.
Our next 3 nights were spent at the Amphitheatre Backpackers Lodge - a great place to stay (fabulous bar & delcious veggie food) with terrific views of the mountains. In fact, we were treated to the most fantastic sound & light show while we were there. As we huddled in the shelter of our patio, thunder rolled & lightning fashed over the mountains all around us for several hours. We had experienced several spectacular stoms while in Africa, but this was the most amazing of them all. We were dumbfounded by the sheer power of the elements on display. (Howard says, " Don't worry Mum, really, we were safe. We stayed away from trees & couldn't find a golf club to swing about!")
We did some more walking at Cathedral Peak, along a riverside & up into the hills, with a Zulu guide called Moses leading the way, to Bushman's Rock, where we could see the rock art left behind by the Koisans, the aboriginals of S Africa.
Big News!
After our sojourn in Limpopo, we spent 2 days in Jo'berg, relaxing by the pool in the lush gardens of the Aquarius Backpackers & trying to catch up on communications with home. We'd felt somewhat cut off in Limpopo. We also managed to catch up with our Jewish culture when we stumbled on a delicious kosher deli in a nearby mall. We snapped up blintzes, borscht, chicken soup, coleslaw, tsimmes.......
But that wasn't the Big News - the BIG NEWS is that we are going to be grandparents for the 1st time. Matthew & Laura are expecting a baby on the 31st of August. We immediately set about rearranging our travel schedule for the 2nd half of the year so that we can be in Glasgow for this wonderful event. We are dazed but delighted!!!!!!
But that wasn't the Big News - the BIG NEWS is that we are going to be grandparents for the 1st time. Matthew & Laura are expecting a baby on the 31st of August. We immediately set about rearranging our travel schedule for the 2nd half of the year so that we can be in Glasgow for this wonderful event. We are dazed but delighted!!!!!!
Horror Stories
Over 40% of S Africans have AIDS or are HIV +ve & the country has the worst rate of HIV/AIDS in children at 54%. The traditional healers(sangomas) & witch doctors usually counteract any attempts to educate people on the true causes & cures. They say worms in people's chests are causing the problem & must be cut out. They say that having sex with virgins will prove a cure with the result that sometimes babies as young as 2 - 3 days old are raped. They say that eating turtle meat will be a cure & so an already endangered species is almost wiped out in places.
According to all that we have heard, African culture is very sexual & they start to be sexually active at as young as 9 years old. Children cannot necessarily expect protection from the adults around them. There are numerous cases of fathers sexually abusing their children. The most sickening story that we heard about was of an aunt who gave her 9 year old niece over to be raped by 5 men - in exchange for air time for her aunt's mobile phone.
It was grossly depressing to realise just how desperate so many peoples lives must be.
According to all that we have heard, African culture is very sexual & they start to be sexually active at as young as 9 years old. Children cannot necessarily expect protection from the adults around them. There are numerous cases of fathers sexually abusing their children. The most sickening story that we heard about was of an aunt who gave her 9 year old niece over to be raped by 5 men - in exchange for air time for her aunt's mobile phone.
It was grossly depressing to realise just how desperate so many peoples lives must be.
Down on the farm
Local hippos,
7 a.m. reveille accompanied by dog chorus,
our bungalow,
Ellanie & Dolf
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Miami 65, Eiland, Limpopo
We had a wonderful week staying in a bungalow in the Van den Bergh farm compound. The hospitality was outstanding. Ellanie lives there with her parents & 2 brothers - Marnes & Neil - & 9 dogs, which are kept for security reasons. They all live together for security reasons too. We learned that 1500 white farmers & their families were killed in S Africa last year - 1 of those families lived on the same road as the Van den Berghs. We felt, in many ways, that they were living under siege. There are real fears that S Africa will go the way of Zimbabwe. During our week's stay, the family heard that their farm is to be compulsorily purchased by the government so that it can be black-owned. (They don't expect it to happen for several years, bureaucracy being as it is in S Africa.) Ellanie's forebears have lived in the country since the 17th C & in common with most white S Africans that we talked to, they are uncertain about their future. They feel that they don't belong anywhere else but may not be able to stay in their homeland.
The family don't rely entirely on farming for their living since they also run a water drilling business. One of the problems that brings is the rife corruption that seems endemic out there. For example, the head of a school asked for a kickback to award the contract for a borehole at his school & when a bore hole was being drilled at his brother's home, he suggested that Marnes make out a bill for drilling 60 metres & then just drill 40 metres down, with the difference in cost going to the head master! Ellanie also had a kickback demanded of her, from an official in the education dept., if Ellanie wanted to be successful in her application for a grant!
We were not the only ones benefiting from the Van den Berghs hospitality & sense of moral & social responsibility. The orphans at the school were all being sponsored by Elllanie's parents & a single mother, Marika, with 5 children, who had nowhere to live are now staying rent-free in a rondavel on the farm. Marika's elder son is employed in the drilling business & 3 of her children attend the school. Marika & her eldest daughter help out at the school & Marika is now having the opportunity to train as a teacher.
We couldn't have enjoyed the company we found ourselves in more. We were particularly taken with how well informed Ellanie's father was about Jewish history & culture (he'd read more than we had!) & will always remember a trip to a local reservoir where we got to see rhinos & crocs extremely close up.
Finally, we have to mention the lovely Dolf (short for Rudolf), Ellanie's boyfriend, who was spending a week at the farm at the same time as us & shared our bungalow. If anyone's interested, he runs game & safari drives in the Eastern Cape. We'd highly recommend him as a companion!
The family don't rely entirely on farming for their living since they also run a water drilling business. One of the problems that brings is the rife corruption that seems endemic out there. For example, the head of a school asked for a kickback to award the contract for a borehole at his school & when a bore hole was being drilled at his brother's home, he suggested that Marnes make out a bill for drilling 60 metres & then just drill 40 metres down, with the difference in cost going to the head master! Ellanie also had a kickback demanded of her, from an official in the education dept., if Ellanie wanted to be successful in her application for a grant!
We were not the only ones benefiting from the Van den Berghs hospitality & sense of moral & social responsibility. The orphans at the school were all being sponsored by Elllanie's parents & a single mother, Marika, with 5 children, who had nowhere to live are now staying rent-free in a rondavel on the farm. Marika's elder son is employed in the drilling business & 3 of her children attend the school. Marika & her eldest daughter help out at the school & Marika is now having the opportunity to train as a teacher.
We couldn't have enjoyed the company we found ourselves in more. We were particularly taken with how well informed Ellanie's father was about Jewish history & culture (he'd read more than we had!) & will always remember a trip to a local reservoir where we got to see rhinos & crocs extremely close up.
Finally, we have to mention the lovely Dolf (short for Rudolf), Ellanie's boyfriend, who was spending a week at the farm at the same time as us & shared our bungalow. If anyone's interested, he runs game & safari drives in the Eastern Cape. We'd highly recommend him as a companion!
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