Southern Africa May 2016

It was another early morning this morning. We had a busy morning scheduled but the weather didn't quite cooperate so our tour guide Jason, adjusted on the fly. We were supposed to leave and head straight to Table Mountain but the mountain right down to the sea was fogged in and visibility was zero.

Instead we sat on the bus for a while, while Jason gave us a history lesson on apartheid. I love travelling to places where I can learn and understand the history and culture of the place I'm in. The segregation between whites and non-whites (blacks, coloureds and Indians - they're terminology, not mine) was to some degree in place since the Dutch settled here back in the 1600s. They brought in slaves from Northern Africa, Malaysia and the surrounding areas. In 1948 the South African government formally instituted apartheid (literal translation is apart hood)

From Wikipedia: Apartheid as an officially structured policy was introduced after the general election of 1948. Legislation classified inhabitants into four racial groups – "black", "white", "coloured", and "Indian", the last two of which were divided into several sub-classifications - and residential areas were segregated. From 1960 to 1983, 3.5 million non-white South Africans were removed from their homes, and forced into segregated neighbourhoods, in one of the largest mass removals in modern history.

Very much simplified, apartheid was instituted because the white population was less than 10% of the total population of South Africa and in order to maintain power, they needed to oppress the non-whites by keeping them uneducated, unemployed and in total fear so that they would not rise up against minority whites.

I could go into much more on this but while we sat there listening to the history, the weather started clearing so we started out and went first to a local woman's house. Her home was approximately 300 years old and it was originally bought by a Dutch man who then rented it to slaves. He started with one house but made so much money he bought several more on the same block. 300 years later, it was clear that the fact that she and her family owned it and had done significant renovations were a result of them being highly educated and wealthy. The woman was "coloured" - of Malaysian, black and white descent and she had spent the morning making Cape Malay fusion samosas for us so we could see and taste the differences in the foods and spices used throughout the country. They were absolutely delicious and we learned a lot from her as she told us the history of her home and her background. She was a total firebrand and a delight to meet and talk to!

After we left her house we went straight to the mountain which was now mostly free from the fog. We caught the gondola, which can carry up to 64 people at a time, to the top and enjoyed some of the most spectacular views ever! Table Mountain is 3,500 feet high and while the top was in the beautiful sunshine, there were areas lower that were covered by clouds and it truly felt like you were on top of the world! We walked around the circular path on the top enthralled by the vistas.

Unfortunately we had to leave the views and the blowing winds of the top of the mountain and head back down. Our next stop was the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.

Claude and I decided to take the afternoon to ourselves and so we had a nice lunch with David and Priscilla while Robb and Linda went on a short tour of a diamond store. After lunch the other two couples went on a tour of a township - an area that is where the poorest non-whites live, usually in corrugated tin shacks. Claude and I stayed at the V&A Waterfront and then made our way back to the hotel on our own.

Tomorrow is a very early start as Claude and I are going great white shark cage diving in Gaansbai, with a 4:20 am start time!Read more