Southern Africa - Day 24 (Part 2)

Wednesday, 5 February 2020 - Johannesburg, South Africa 

The guards inflicted psychological torture on the inmates in isolation cells; they switched the lights on and off at different times, so that the prisoners didn’t even know what time of the day it was. Diet was only rice water which is the water that is left after washing the rice. In these dire circumstances, cell number 13 became known as Lucky No. 13 because it was facing the courtyard so sometimes when the window is opened you can see and communicate with the other prisoners. 

The Awaiting Trial Block stood at the heart of Number 4 where it operated as a jail for nearly 100 years. The cells held black male awaiting-trial prisoners. It was demolished in 2001 to make way for the new Constitutional Court which was established under the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa in 1993, and opened by Nelson Mandela in 1995. The 4 stairwells were retained as a haunting reminder of the horrific experiences of many black South Africans.

I also visited Mandela’s cell, which was in one of the sickbeds (wards). His second stay here was in August 1962. While in hiding, Mandela posed as a driver but was arrested outside Howick in Natal. He was held in one of the sickbeds for a few weeks before being transferred to Pretoria to stand trial. The authorities told him that he was held here due to his status; he had privacy, a bed, his books and the space to prepare his defence. Some suspect that he was put here because it was easier to guard him here than in the crowded communal cells, because they were worried that he was planning an escape. 

Then I visited the women’s prison (certainly better conditions than Numbers 4 and 5, but also segregated between whites and non-whites. There is a Flame of Democracy in one of the Awaiting Trial Blocks; it was originally ignited by Nelson Mandela on 9 December 2011 and has been burning ever since. 

Then on the tour again and we passed the Nelson Mandela Bridge. This bridge is about 295 m high and connects Braamfontein and Newtown across the railway lines. We also passed Carlton Centre, a 50 storey office building which is also a shopping centre. It is the tallest building in Johannesburg (possibly in South Africa) but I didn’t go inside to go all the way up. 

Next, to Hillbrow which according to Arthur is the second most dangerous place in South Africa after a township called Diepsloot. Actually I wouldn’t have known it, it looks ok from the outside. There are many immigrants here from Nigeria, Mozambique, Congo, Zimbabwe etc and they are involved in drug activities, prostitution, robberies, hijacking etc. Unfortunately I can’t tell the difference between the immigrants and the locals because I can’t really tell the different languages apart and they don’t really have distinctive features from one country to another. 

Ever the adventurer, I walked around this area to just have a look at the everyday life of the people in the heart of Johannesburg. I could tell that Arthur himself was nervous although he would not admit it and although he tried to play it cool. One thing I noticed is that there are no whites around at all. The streets looked quite old and dirty, and it was very crowded. To be honest, I don’t think I would’ve dared to walk alone here.

Southern Africa - Day 24 (Part 1)

Wednesday, 5 February 2020 - Johannesburg, South Africa 

Today I do a city tour which includes the township of Soweto.

My guide’s name is Arthur and he drives a Mercedes. I am his only client for the day so I felt a bit like a princess. The place where I am staying in is known as Midrand, it is literally in between Pretoria and Johannesburg city. The land here was previously used for chicken and cattle farming but now it is developing into a small town of its own. The African Union’s Pan African Parliament is located here.

Johannesburg first started developing due to gold found in the area. It is (or perhaps was) known as the city of gold. The cars registered in Johannesburg all end in ‘GP’ which stands for ‘Golden Province’. During the apartheid regime, the government built townships which were only for black people. Some of these townships were located near the mines, so that the black workers could take a train to the mines to work. One of these townships is the largest one here, built in 1932 and known as the southern western township (later, Soweto). Houses were made of zinc and there were public toilets outside the houses. They have their own schools, churches, etc. There are people still living in these townships today but it is slowly developing to brick houses, indoor toilets etc. 

First stop was Constitution Hill, which used to be a jail complex. On the way here we passed Sandton city, where the rich and famous live (mostly a white area). Apparently Michael Jackson stayed here before in Michaelangelo Hotel. Then Constitution Hill. In 1892, commissioned by the President of the Transvaal, Paul Kruger, the Johannesburg Gaol transformed from a pretty residential ridge into an intimidating site of suffering. It was used as a fort during the second Boer War, and went back to being a prison from 1900. There is a tunnel which was the entrance to the old fort, and then the entrance to the prison complex. I quote one of the prisoners: “People disappeared into the hillside and the great gates closed behind them”.

I went to Sections 4 and 5 of the Old Fort Prison Complex, commonly known as Number 4 and Number 5. Number 4 was a jail complex specifically for black, Asian and coloured men, and this is the site of the first jail where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. White men have a separate prison up the hill. They were kept in smaller cells, usually on their own (much better living conditions than Number 4). Number 4 was built between 1902-1904, and was torn down in 1983 as it was a health hazard. In 1953, the maximum capacity in Number 4 was about 979 prisoners, but there were more than 2,027 prisoners. Each cell was designed to hold about 30 prisoners, but it often held up to 60. Overcrowding was common, and there were many political prisoners alongside real criminals. 

Over the decades, the prison authorities employed various means to enforce power and inflict punishment on the prisoners. In the early 1900s, prisoners who contravened prison rules had their punishments handed down to them by visiting landdrosts (magistrates) which were recorded in the Prison Journal. These punishments included solitary confinement, up to 25 lashes on a flogging frame in full view of the other prisoners or hard labour for up to 21 days. Prisoners were also ordered to wear leg irons for indefinite periods. Later, punishments and beatings were more arbitrary and became a constant feature of prison life. 

Toilets were deliberately built in front of the places where the prisoners eat; it is designed to make them lose their appetite and deter them from eating. Some prisoners starved to death in this way 😔. Toilets and showers were in the open; there was no privacy at all. The most extreme form of punishment was to be placed in isolation cells, known as the ‘Emakhulukhuthu’ or the ‘Deep Dark Hole’. Prisoners would spend up to 23 hours in there all alone, 1 hour outside for exercise. Officially it was only for 30 days but some spent over a year inside. 

Southern Africa - Day 23

Tuesday, 4 February 2020 - Zimbabwe to Johannesburg, South Africa

For the first time after a very long time, I didn’t have to wake up very early. However I did wake up in a panic because my trip is coming to an end fast and I am getting more and more stressed about going home and looking for a job and sitting quietly in an office and working for the next 5 years. I’m a “rover, wanderer, nomad, vagabond”; I don’t belong in an office 😭😭😭

I went down for breakfast at 8 a.m. where I met Jette and Carla. Then to my room to shower and pack, check out at 10 a.m. and then I hung around the pool area with Jette, Carla and Jack as my transport to the airport would only be arriving at 11.20 a.m.

Then I said goodbye again to the 3 of them and continued my solo journey 😢. To the airport and on the plane to Johannesburg which is approximately a 2 hour flight, but we arrived half an hour early! 

And then finally in Johannesburg. I’m not sure I like it here. It’s very different from Cape Town although it’s the same country. The people here are not very friendly, I asked for a city map and the person behind the TOURIST INFORMATION centre was with a sour face and asked me why I needed a map. Really?? Reminds me of Europe all over again 🙄. 

Then I met my driver and he was also quite guarded but when I started chatting with him he opened up and was quite nice; maybe it’s the city life that made them this way - a bit hardened perhaps.

Anyway I reached the hotel and figured out what I wanted to do for the next 2 days. Then I had a beer (Black Label Carling Beer from South Africa) and sat in the garden by the pool all by myself writing this blog and I really missed my guys from the tour because there was always someone you could talk to (whether you wanted to or not) but here there was no one, I was really all alone 😢.

But then I went to order another beer and there was this couple from Denmark who said they remembered me from Cape Town and we ended up chatting about our trips; they did 20 days on the eastern route, we did 20 days on the western route but somehow we ended up in the same place. We were later joined by 2 Swedish couples, they were all really nice which made me think that maybe I should make a trip to the Scandinavian countries soon. They certainly seem nicer than Europeans 🙄. 

But maybe I’m too judgmental.

Southern Africa - Day 22 (Part 3)

Monday, 3 February 2020 - Botswana to Zimbabwe

After lunch we walked about a km along the pathways around the falls. What can I say. It was just beautiful. Got wet from the mist as if the falls were showering me with its fresh water. There is a statue of Dr. David Livingstone (1813-1973). He was a Scottish missionary who visited the falls on 16 November 1855 and widely publicised its existence to the outside world. He spent over 25 years in Africa traversing over 45,000 km of uncharted territory. He dedicated the last 5 years of his life to shutting down the slave trade in East Africa. 

This was where his famous meeting with Henry Morton Stanley took place, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, where Stanley greeted him with the famous quote, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” It is a line dripping with sarcasm because he was the only white man there. Upon his death in 1873 in Chitambo Village, Ilala, Northern Zambia, his companions Sussi and Chuma buried his heart there. The rest of his remains were laid to rest in “Explorers’ Corner” in Westminster Abbey but symbolically his heart has always remained in Africa 😢❤️.

Then back to the truck where we met a guy who could custom-make t-shirts. I ordered 4 (including 1 for myself) which had the map of my journey from Cape Town to Victoria Falls at the back. I think it’s pretty cool that I did this on my own (albeit with a tour) and why shouldn’t I advertise the fact. 

In the afternoon Jette and I walked around town. It is really a very small town with one main street, and very, very touristic which also means that everything is expensive and people trying to sell us things everywhere we went. It’s actually quite tiring telling them “no thank you” over and over again so we just spent a short time at the craft market which sold local made stuff (I bought some souveniers here) and then we went back. 

Our last dinner together at 7 p.m. There was a group of singers/dancers from the Zulu/Ndebele tribe performing some numbers and dances which was quite fun to watch. It is Clever’s birthday tomorrow and earlier I had arranged with the restaurant that this group sing him a birthday song and bring him a birthday cake. I would have paid for it but they very kindly told me that it was all complimentary. I could see that Clever and Taro were pleasantly surprised and touched by this gesture as they really didn’t expect anything like this. They didn’t know I planned the whole thing and I didn’t tell them.

Then the t-shirt guy came with out custom made t-shirts (so fast)! and I gave him all my last remaining poolas. 

And then it was finally time to say goodbye to everyone. I am sad. I will miss them, especially Clever and Taro. Clever is still jealous about Emanuel, and I keep teasing him about how intelligent Emanuel is and Clever gets so agitated 😂😂😂! I am also nervous because I had gotten so used to someone telling me what time to meet, where to go, what to do, and now I have to figure everything out on my own all over again. And this incident about losing money has shaken my confidence a bit.

But I have no choice. I am all alone in this world and I chart my own path in life. 

Southern Africa - Day 22 (Part 2)

Monday, 3 February 2020 - Botswana to Zimbabwe

Going into Zimbabwe, the others had to pay for a visa but for me it was visa free (😁). The capital of Zimbabwe is Harare. There were archaeological remains of a Southern African ancient city built of stone, located in present-day Zimbabwe which was once the centre of a vast empire known as the Munhumutapa Empire (also called Monomotapa Empire) covering the modern states of Zimbabwe (which took its name from this city) and Mozambique. In fact, the word 'Zimbabwe' means 'house of stone.' It is said the these stone cities were built in the 15th century, but people had been living on the site from about 400 AD.

The population was overwhelmingly made up of Shona speakers until the 19th century when the Nguni tribe of the Ndebele (the click language!) settled in what is now Matabeleland (in 1839-40). Then in the 1880s, Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company arrived and applied for some concessions. The region was named Rhodesia after him. Later Southern Rodhesia became Zimbabwe and Northern Rodhesia became Zambia post-colonialisation. 

The United Kingdom annexed Southern Rhodesia from the British South Africa Company in 1923, when the country got its own government and Prime Minister. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favoured whites in power. In 1965, the government unilaterally declared independence, but the UK did not recognize it and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority. UN sanctions and a guerilla struggle finally led to both free elections and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980.

Robert Mugabe was the first leader of Zimbabwe and was in power from independence in 1980 until he was overthrown in 2017. From 2000 onwards, Mugabe instituted a policy of extensive land redistribution on party political lines favouring his cronies. Following Mugabe's removal from power, the President of Zimbabwe now is Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former Vice-President under Mugabe. 

They have their own currency known as the Zimbabwe Dollar but it is not recognised internationally and crazy inflation means that they have a billion dollar bank note or bond or whatever which is pretty much worthless. So everything is priced in USD here which is then expensive for me 😢.

Cross the border and straight to Victoria Falls, which is also known by the local name of “Mosi-oa Tunya”, meaning the smoke that thunders. It is the mighty Zambezi River dropping into the Batoka Gorge below. The cliffs of the Batoka Gorge are made up of basalt rock that was laid down 150 million years ago and when this lava cooled and solidified, it contracted, thus cracking or “faulting” in the area of Victoria Falls. It is the second highest waterfall in the world after the Niagara Falls; falling almost 2 km down into the gorge. This creates a cloud of mist that can be seen up to 32 km away! The constant spray from the falls makes this area an important traditional site for rainmaking ceremonies even until today.

We had lunch here but I just had a local beer (Zambezi beer) as I wasn’t in the mood for food; I was still upset. I guess I’m not as street smart as I thought I was. Boy, you let your guard down for ONE MINUTE and shit happens. It’s very tiring to be on guard all the time. Right. Stop whining.

Southern Africa - Day 22 (Part 1)

Monday, 3 February 2020 - Botswana to Zimbabwe

The second last day of the tour and then I’m on my own! 😱😱😱

Today was really an early day, we had to leave our hotel at 6 a.m. for a game drive; it is our last chance to see some animals before I leave Africa.

We drove around Chobe National Park (11,700 square km) in a safari for about 3 hours. We drove along the Chobe River for a bit before heading deeper into the jungle to look for animals. From the Chobe River you can see an island called Sedudu, beyond which is Namibia. This island used to be disputed by Namibia and Botswana, both claimed ownership and the dispute was referred to the International Court of Justice which decided in favour of Botswana. The flag of Botswana flies proudly over this island now.

It was actually quite a disappointing drive as there were not many animals out and about; certainly not any of the Big 5 except a Cape buffalo far away in the distance. The animals we saw included waterbucks. They are also known as toilet seaters because they have a white ring around their bums 🤣. If you see them, it means water is nearby. They secrete a musky smell when threatened, this is to deter predators. We also saw plenty of Marabou storks. They are scavengers and eat almost anything from carcasses to nuts, seeds, fish etc. They actually help to clean the environment because they eat almost anything, usually leftovers. They are also one of The Ugly 5 😅. I didn’t ask what the other 4 were because I honestly think all creatures are beautiful. Except insects (6 legs). Oh and human beings 😅.

We saw hippos playing in the water, ducks, white egrets, an African fish eagle, impalas (today it’s impalas everywhere!) Egyptian geese, African jacanas, plovers (birds), an elephant in the distance busy eating, guinea fowls and a giraffe.

Then back to the hotel where it was a rush as we had about 20 minutes to eat breakfast, pack and leave the room by 10 a.m. A short drive and we were leaving Botswana. We stopped at an ATM and I just checked my wallet to see whether I needed more money and to my horror I discovered some money missing. As usual everyone was in a rush so I had to go withdraw money in a hurry as I still had some expenses before leaving for Johannesburg. 

After all that and while crossing the border to Zimbabwe, I was really so upset because it must have been one of the cleaners who took it from my wallet. Sometimes after checking in to a hotel I just took with me the essentials, leaving heavier things behind so that I don’t have to carry many things with me when I go for excursions. Honestly, I never did this before when I travelled alone; I guess I felt safe and comfortable travelling in this group tour that I let my guard down. It is my own fault in the end. 

But that was precisely the reason why I was (and still am) so upset. At the same time, you never expect the cleaners to go through your things, this I find to be really annoying. My wallet is always in my hand carry bag so that person would have had to go through my bag and then my wallet. This is a nonsense. I will leave it to karma to deal with them. Also I think I am more upset than usual because my period came today. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it is a real nuisance being a girl. I’m not gonna mention my lost money to my parents because I’m not in the mood for yet another “I told you so” lecture 🙄.

Southern Africa - Day 21 (Part 2)

Sunday, 2 February 2020 - Botswana

Story within a story : The Mystery of the Missing Sunglasses

The facts

1. There is photographic evidence that Carla had her sunglasses with her when we went on the day trip to the delta (Jette’s camera).
2. Carla claims she left it at the lunch site before we went on the walk around the island with Emanuel. No one saw this except maybe Julius, but he appeared unsure.
3. I observed Julius’ clothings - tight t-shirt and jeans (he, too, is quite skinny) and no place for the sunglasses.
4. I also observed Emanuel’s bag when he asked Carla to check it for herself - he held it open and went through the compartments one by one - no sign of sunglasses.
5. Mokoro is small and open - cannot hide anything and no sign of sunglasses. 

Theories 

1. In order not to get into trouble, Julius claimed he was at the lunch site at all times when in fact he wandered off, leaving the things behind.

         In which case, who took the sunglasses? Person(s) unknown or animal(s)  unknown?

2.      Julius took the sunglasses.

        

          Where the hell did he hide it to bring back to the poling station? I am quite sure  it wasn’t on his person, he didn’t have a bag, and the mokoro is open. How could he have done it?

3.       Carla misplaced the sunglasses. She has found it but now cannot admit that she found it after her accusations.

    

         Today Carla bought a new pair of sunglasses at the souvenier shop in the hotel. I asked her if she still couldn’t find it and she looked genuinely distressed. So it looks like it is really lost.

4.       Carla thought she left it at the lunch site but it was actually with her and she misplaced /  dropped it during the walk, especially when retreating from the buffalo as it was quite a panicky situation for all of us. 

          She is 70 years old and sometimes quite forgetful and clumsy (my own observation).

Verdict

Theory No. 4 but no evidence whatsoever.