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A Perspective of South Africa – 2004

Billboards around the country proclaim “10 Years of Freedom” and undoubtedly refer to the dismantling of apartheid, and the change of white Government to the African National Congress, a majority black government currently in power, and presumably to be returned at the election on April 14 (and it happened, with a bigger majority), proclaimed a public holiday, along with April 24, now known as Freedom Day. Multiple election posters are wired onto every light or power pole on most main roads, and in rural villages.

It has been 11 years since out last visit to South Africa, and many changes have taken place during that time. After working in Durban briefly in 1970, returning for a Round Table Tour in 1983, again in 1993 for a Round Table 41 Tour, and this time in a Rotary Friendship Exchange, we could safely say the last 11 years have brought the most change to the country.

Whilst there is heavy unemployment in many rural areas, the black African population is moving upward in levels of income, housing, education and status, and segregated areas are a thing of the past. The government is rapidly constructing schools and housing for the black community, replacing the shantytowns of the old days, but there is still a long way to go. Manufacturing, tourism and exports play a major role in the economy.

A journalist writing in a publication entitled UpFront states: “A decade on, we are part of the international community, and whatever feelings people have about the pre-1994 era, and however many challenges we face and frustrations we encounter, South Africa is irrevocably a better place to live in.”

In the same publication from another journalist: “Water, sanitation and electricity have been delivered to millions. The black middle-class has grown rapidly, although poverty and unemployment are still rampart. Rapid urbanisation and Aids have meant that the population growth has stopped, with the result that the GDP growth is now higher than the population increase, raising the possibility that unemployment and poverty could be cut.”

Without a doubt, Aids is the major problem in Africa. In Natal Kwa-Zulu Province (home of Durban, with Pietermaritzburg as it’s capital) 38% of the population is HIV positive. We were surprised to find out that the unclaimed bodies are taken to the edge of the continental shelf and are dumped overboard at sea, with World Health Organisation approval. Africans are normally buried, whilst the Indian population are cremated.

Our tour was a Rotary Friendship Exchange of 13 days duration, but we chose to arrive three days earlier than the rest of the group to catch up with some friends from previous Round Table tours of 1981 and 1983. They collected us from the airport in Durban and looked after us from their B & B in Umtentweni after our 11 hour flight from Perth, and a 55 minute flight from Johannesburg to Durban.

Jean & Carl treated us to a tour of Orbi Gorge, tour down the coast to Port Edward, Zulu dancing, various craft and curio shops, too much food and alcohol, and a great time. They dropped us back to the Durban airport where we met the family of Rotary and the rest of our incoming tour participants, 10 of us in total, representing four couples from Alstonville club and one couple from Boonah club, on March 15.

Our first hosts of the official tour were Mike & Yolande Thomson from the North Durban Rotary Club. During our stay of four days with them, we did a beachfront walk, a tour of an typical African township, visited the reconstructed house of Mahatma Gandhi, and his print shop where his newspaper “The Opinion” was published. Now operating as a museum, it holds a significant place in the history of South Africa and possibly the start of a move to eradicate apartheid.

We were taken by our guide to a small typical house that was called home by 24 people, and saw some African dancing. We collected our two vehicles the next day and took ourselves off to the Durban Botanical Gardens for a walk on a hot and humid day, on a latitude line similar to Queensland’s Gold Coast, but more humid.

We were treated to a wonderful evening cruising, wining and dining, on a 42’ catamaran within the harbour, out the entrance and a short distance up along the coastal strip to take in the lights of the city.

Durban has a magnificent Hare Krishna Temple located in a previously dominant Indian township where we did a tour, moving on to the university, then Umhlanga Rocks for lunch and a walk to the beach. Our evening function was a mixed Rotary meeting where we did our first presentation and enjoyed a delicious curry at the Old Boys Sports Club. Rotary Club President Kenny is of Indian decent, typifying a new integrated South Africa.

Moving on towards Pietermaritzburg with our escort vehicle, we visited a very attractive heritage market with hundreds of lovely blooming rose bushes landscaping the buildings, then had a lunch stop in the Valley of a Thousand Hills at a Tudor style Rob Roy Hotel for lunch, arriving to meet our hosts Richard & Natalie Cartwright. The obligatory drinks, then off to a wine tasting and curry dinner, in an upmarket bottle shop attached to a supermarket owned by one of their members.

Our four days here saw us participate in the Midland Meander which is a driving tour visiting retail establishments of your choice in the hills, where we visited Clifton College, shops and waterfall at Howick, Mandela monument, Molehill Clothing, a glass studio, Swissland Cheese, Nottingham Brewing Company for lunch, and a wind chime factory, prior to going to the Old Boys Bowling Club for a curry.

From marshalling at the Pietermaritzburg Marathon, BBQ’s, shopping, we also did a tour of a cottage industry that packages spiced meat and schnapps (separately) for morning tea, then on to the Giants Castle and a tour to the Bushmen’s Cave in the Drakensberg Mountains, concluding with Zulu dancing, with the evening at a Rotary meeting of a predominantly Indian membership and some more curry.

Our host Richard was kind enough to escort us on to an orphanage for children with aids or orphaned by aids, by the name of God’s Golden Acre, where 97 kids are looked after along with surviving parents, in an effort to keep the families together. The orphanage runs many different programs including a soccer competition with 700 kids, and is currently constructing a visitor’s centre and recording studio, and houses the Young Zulu Warriors who toured the UK in 2002 for a 30-concert tour.

Onwards we journeyed, roadmaps in hand to be met by Sandy from Empangini Rotary Club who took us on a tour of ancient palms on the coast where almost extinct birds nest, then back for a delightful lunch. Nick Nicolson arrived later in the afternoon and took us on to our hosts, where six of us were together on a delightful riverfront residence in a resort setting.

Our hosts Mike & Penny Bunting, who had to work in their office supply business, made us feel at home, then it was off to a nature reserve for a wonderful BBQ dinner and presentation. Our next day was spent in the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve where we saw around 21 species of animals – a great day game viewing.

Our memorable night function was on a spacious roofed punt where we cruised to the entrance of the river for a break, then had a delightful dinner by candlelight on the way back to our riverfront accommodation returning for coffee and liquers on the deck.

The next day we did a two-hour eco cruise on St. Lucia Lake, a world heritage area, on board “Born Free”, where we saw lots of Nile crocodiles and hippopotamus close up and a wide variety of birdlife. On the way back we visited a small hospital that is also an aids care centre, called Amangwe Village that grows a proliferation of medicinal herbs for the treatment of patients. The night was rounded off with dinner at the local Clay Pot Restaurant.

Our three nights had come to an end, so it was “on the road again” winding up the elevated hills for a visit to Dlinza Forest, Eshowe, with an elevated boardwalk 22m above the ground. On to Shakaland to learn of the Zulus, where we participated in a tour of the village, culminating with 30 minutes of Zulu dancing in the big hut, followed by a wonderful smorgasbord lunch.

Met up with Rotary members of Dundee two hours later at the Royal Hotel, Dundee where we were taken home by our hosts, Helmut & Lorraine Schutte, then out to their son’s house for a Chinese BBQ, unique to us. It consists of a sectioned BBQ plate on half a 44-gallon drum with coals under. All the vegetables and meats are chopped, additives are available, and one selects the ingredients from the displayed assortment and cooks in a section of the plate to your own requirements. A great way to take the blame from the chef, and to get ladies around the BBQ, traditionally a male domain!

An early start the following morning on our journey to Isandhlwana, where on 22 January 1879, a Zulu force of 20,000 to 25,000 overran a British camp, and 1300 soldiers of the Queen were killed during a two hour engagement, the first defeat by an indigenous army in history. Cairns of white painted stones mark the mass graves of British soldiers.

Next onto Rorke’s Drift battlefield and museum, where 100 British troops defended the position against 4000 Zulus, with 11 VC’s being issued! Our evening function was at Farmers Brewery, after drinks at Waldo & Jenny Thole’s residence, and a phone call to some local friends.

After breakfast and a tour through a relatively new museum called Talana, which hosts a fabulous collection of everything but including mining, beads, battles, glass, the oldest house in Dundee, and past eras, we drove to the Royal Hotel for a nice lunch and a farewell to our hosts, the 13 days of our Rotary Friendship Exchange completed, and a fabulous time being had by all.

We drove to the Drakensberg Mountains once more to accommodation self-arranged at a wonderful spot called Hlahlanathi, which was a caravan park, resort with thatched roof cottages, pub and restaurant on the edge of a drop to the river and a view of the majestic Drakensberg Mountain range. We ate at the Tower of Pizza that night after happy hour at the gazebo overlooking the view.

After a hilltop walk, breakfast in the pub, we headed off back to Durban and stayed the night at City Lodge Hotel until our departure flight the next morning. Two couples flew out to Port Elizabeth with three couples flying to East London, the latter comprising Andersons, Devins and ourselves.

We were met at the airport by Peter & Joyce Miles, parents of Leisl Miles, our Alstonville Rotary Exchange student in 1997, who took us on a tour of their town, then to Inkwenkwezi Private Game Reserve where we did a three and one half hour tour in a long wheelbase Land Rover with a covered roof, but no sides! Whilst the road was rough and hilly, we experienced close ups of lion and rhino that were within 12’ of our vehicle, yet never felt threatened!!!! That night we had a fabulous dinner for the six of us and our hosts and family at home, prior to heading off the next morning towards Cape Town, in our new Mercedes eight-seat diesel van arranged by Peter.

Heading southeast, we had lunch at the casino in Port Elizabeth, then headed west through Humansdorp and south to St Francis Bay to our B & B for the night, l’Lollo, with happy hour on the deck overlooking the Indian Ocean, prior to Buffalo Bill’s Steakhouse for dinner.

After a delicious breakfast in a wonderfully colourful dining room, we again drove through Humansdorp stopping at Stormsriver for fuel, photos and baboons watching the abseilers in a very deep ravine, then to Plettenberg Bay for lunch, through Knysna for shopping, on to Sedgefield where we booked into Lakeside Lodge, a picturesque position on the water’s edge amidst tall pine trees, where we enjoyed happy hour before dining in an Italian restaurant in town.

After watching the sunrise for 30 minutes, then breakfast, we headed off to Mossell Bay for shopping and a railway museum, Wellendam for lunch and fuel, then on to Cape Town where we booked into our B & B followed by dinner in a Mediterranean restaurant. The garden route is picturesque with a mountain range running parallel with the sea, fantastic uncrowded roads, and the country was dry down south.

Saturday April 3, the big day! Took ourselves on a tour of Cape Town then up Table Mountain chairlift with revolving cable cars, to the cool and windy peak at 1067m where we did the mile walk around the rim. After dropping the Devins to their airport accommodation, we drove to Stellenbosch and booked into our B & B for the night, Aan de Leivor, where we tidied up and set off for the wedding venue of Leisl and Willem Brand.

It was a wonderful day for a garden wedding in a winery, a great service by a sincere coloured minister called Colin, good wines, fine food, with the majority of the speeches in Africaans, so we didn’t get the gist of everything.

We were joined next morning by Leisl, Joyce and Peter for coffee prior to our farewells and heading back to Cape Town to enable Bob & Coleen Anderson to catch their plane off to Johannesburg and on homewards. We drove on to the waterfront where we shopped for souvenirs and gifts at the market stalls, before returning to our accommodation opposite the airport for a kindy nap.

Flew out next morning after returning vehicle to airport, for our two hour flight to Johannesburg where we were collected by Dick Anstee (previous tour participant and leader in 1981 and 1983) who took across town to Marion Lawrence’s home (tour participant 1981) where we had two days with Marion in a lovely security estate with magnificent homes, winding paths, creeks and bird life.

In Johannesburg we visited the Cradle of Humanity, a world heritage area where fossils and bodies have been excavated dating back 2,000,000 years. The cave goes down 109m and in 500m and is very interesting. Marion took us to a wonderful steakhouse for dinner where we were served with a 3” thick fillet steak!

Our last day in Africa saw us visit the Walter Sisulu Natural Botanical Gardens which is an indigenous garden adjoining the estate where Marion lives. This is a very unique spot with a beautiful natural waterfall tumbling over the amphitheatre like cliff to the pool below, bounded by manicured lawns and gardens.

April 7 and off we go to Perth, then Perth to Brisbane in just four hours, assisted by 200km hour winds! A fabulous holiday with new friendships formed, previous friendships rekindled, superb fellowship, great views, and so much to see! Thank you one for all for your contribution that made our visit so enjoyable, it is truly appreciated!

Kevin & Liz Huxham, Rotary Club of Alstonville NSW, District 9640

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