We have been planning a trip to South Africa for years. Many friends and colleagues have travelled here and waxed lyrical about the country. They’ve painted a feeling of the place, often linked to rugby or wine or food. While here, we talked about why it’s taken us so long to visit. Covid notwithstanding, we concluded that there wasn’t one big thing like a Taj Mahal or Machu Picchu that had attracted us to South Africa. There were many, and after two weeks here, we have concluded that this place is greater than the sum of its parts.
Imperceptibly, the feeling of South Africa built up during our two weeks here. It started fairly benignly in Cape Town; the weather wasn’t great but Table Mountain was a highlight, and the spectacular food at The Pier was prescient of the amazing dining that continued. Around Cape Town we caught our first sight of the evocative Atlantic coastlines. Then onto Boulder Beach, penguins and the textured landscapes of the south west peninsular and the Cape of Good Hope. Heading next to the picturesque Hermanus, we sighted whales and hiked along the shore, sprayed by pounding waves along the crinkly coastline.
Into the wine regions, the landscapes softened through Rosé-tinted glasses; the hills rolled and the vineyards with their wineries offered rich and accessible bounties. From there to Oudtshoorn was like a mini-safari, with Meerkats, Ostriches and Giraffes, before plunging beneath the mountains into the magnificent Cango cave system.
Then finally to the Garden Coast, leaving behind the arid Veld to join a verdant green landscape abutting yellow sands and blue seas, airbrushed with sea mist and crashing surf. Replete with exceptional hotels, restaurants and of course a vast array of sea life.
We saw the marine big 5 without really trying. Whales, sharks, dolphins, penguins and seals. They litter the coastline like flotsam. Only the elusive Great White failed to complete the aquatic animal-bagging.
On so many measures, South Africa has been tremendous. All but the glaringly obvious… The poverty, the wealth divide, and the racial boundaries.
I touched on this in a previous post, but nothing in the past few days has disabused us of the feeling that this remains a deeply divided country along socio-demographic and racial lines. Redistribution of wealth has to happen, but like the world over, the rich don’t give it up easily and the poor have very limited means to challenge the equilibrium. Only structural reform and time will rebalance the scales. Social mobility eventually happens, but it will clearly take a lot of time.
Should you research travelling to South Africa, everything you read will scare you with warnings about your personal safety. Don’t go out at night. Lock your car doors, car jacking is rife. Don’t walk alone; muggings are common, just give them your stuff. We left jewellery at home and took care not to be where we shouldn’t, when we shouldn’t.
Only towards the end of the trip did we give ourselves a bit of a shake and recognise that this isn’t an endemic threat, it’s poverty. It’s division writ large and like many parts of the world through which we’ve travelled, the mantra is: be sensible, but don’t be afraid. Chatting with locals reinforced this; akin to the hyperbole of poisonous animals in Australia, locals share none of these fears or warnings. Just don’t be an idiot, and you’ll be fine.
So, to South Africa, a big thanks. A land of contrasts and subtle wonders. We have loved visiting you.
Travels with Sklaroffs 