On the Sea Again Still (with 2 months to go) -- headed east, then north
The Long Crossing
We left the South Georgia Islands and headed out for our long trans-Atlantic crossing - seven days total, with only one short stop. This far south, the wind and waves can be quite fierce, especially now that autumn is arriving.
Life Onboard MV Discovery
So, now we're off across the wide Atlantic, with only one stop before reaching Cape Town, South Africa. Seas remain high; Kathy electronic-shock sea sickness prevention band is getting a full-time workout.
The MVDiscovery is known for the caliber of its onboard educational lectures, and there are currently three-four lectures scheduled daily. The extremely knowledgeable Antarctica support team is still onboard, and we learn yet more about wildlife, climate, and geology in this region. One thinks of Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic Oceans as being frigid and near lifeless, but in fact the wildlife is abundant. Huge schools of krill (small shrimp-like creatures) form the base of the food chain. Besides the innumberable penguins, there are millions of Antarctica fur seals (back from less that 5,000 only 60 years ago) and other seals, and millions of sea birds, including half a dozen albatross variants. Whale sightings are common - many different species. Some islands are completely covered with a combination of seals, penguins,and nesting birds. Islands that have been inhabited by man are a different story. Even if they've since left, the rats and mice (and sometimes bunnies) have remained, and have decimated the indiginous birds. Curiously, New Zealanders have developed quite a skill set in completely eradicating unwanted rodents from islands, and they're now in demand all over the world for this niche, often in Antarctica.
One side effect of the high seas for Kathy is that it makes her unquenchably sleepy, so she's often napping between lectures. Scott communes with his computer (he's been doing some long-put-off computer-based training) and helps old ladies figure out how to make their email work.
We have met a wonderful couple on-board, Gavin and Jackie, who introduced themselves to us as "Zimbos" (i.e. from Zimbabwe). They are lecturing on African wildlife, and are both fascinating and hilarious to listen to. They have run a game reserve, and Gavin is experienced in animal translocation (i.e. you have a bunch of wild lions or buffalo or giraffes in location A, and they need to be moved to location B hundreds of miles away). Ask us about elephant "drippy dick" syndrome, and why it should it make you wary. Or what to do if attacked by as ostrich.
Everyone is looking forward to our next stop, Tristan da Cunha is the largest of a series of volcanic, speck-sized of an island about half way between Ushuaia, Patagonia and Cape Town, South Africa. It has just a couple-hundred inhabitants, mostly farmers. Little to see or do, we hear, but it is one of the remotest inhabited spots on the planet, and nearly impossible to get to, so we get bragging rights at least.
2/23/09: Well, Tristan, like South Georgia, proved inaccessible. Ironic (telling?) perhaps: we got up at 5:30 in the morning to view the sunrise birdlife on an uninhabited island near Tristan Da Cunha, called, yes, "Inaccessible Island" (sheer cliffs all the way around the island) . At the time it was raining lightly and breezy. Hardly worth getting up for.
Inaccessible Island - well named, Don't you think?
Three hours after "Inaccessible" we arrived at Tristan, with 7' swells and a brisk wind. There really isn't a harbor at Tristan. The Captain, once again, decided against trying to land in zodiac boats. The passengers are grumpy, the staff are disappointed. On the one hand, there are a lot of infirm passengers (one wheelchair, although he gets around quite well; lots of canes). It'd be hard for them to get in and out of zodiac boats (below) safely.
Team Zodiac
As a consolation prize, a couple dozen locals come onboard. A little bazaar was set up in the lounge area, and soon passengera are buying Tristan da Cunha postcards, T-shirts and coffee mugs. While a few locals manage the booths, the rest are off shopping in the ship's store and bartering for items from the ship's pantry. We get a lecture from the island's Police Chief, about life on the island, and he autographs his book for purchasers: "Rockhopper Copper". Sorry, it isn't available at Amazon.com just yet.
Then we set off for three more sea days to South Africa. We haven't been off the ship for nine days, since the Falklands. Everyone is going a little stir crazy. On the upside, it is now warm enough to go outside without a jacket on.
Cape Town
2/27/09: Land Ho! We arrive in Cape Town more or less on schedule. Our first port of any size since we left. Very nice. Our Captain, who completed 50 years "on the seas" this month, was greeted by water cannons from our pilot (tug boat) -- apparently quite an honor arranged by some of the officers working under him.
Cape Town, seen from Table Mountain
So, finally, we arrive in Africa! A new continent for Kathy (though Scott has been several times on business). We sailed into the magnificent Cape Town harbor, overlooked by Table Mountain (a massive tall, flat mountain, often blanketed with a cloud cover referred to as, you guessed it, “the table cloth”). Cape Town reminds us of Sydney and Vancouver, with magnificent natural setting and lovely surrounding city. The summer is ending here – the weather is warm, humid, and windy. The waterfront area where we docked is very upscale and trendy, with boutiques, restaurants, and expensive hotels. It is somewhat ironic to finally land in Africa, only to find oneself along the equivalent of San Antonio ‘s Riverwalk.
We caught a cab, a 70s-vintage Mercedes, to the base of Table Mountain, and took a cable car up for a magnificent view over the entire city. Normally a 4 minute trip featuring 360 degree revolution of the base of the tram car for maximum views, we got stuck mid-trip and had several more minutes for photos. Quite a hilly area, the suburbs are in valleys between the hills, often with a magnificent seafront setting. Stunning.
We drove through much of central Cape Town on our way to Table Mountain. The city is very upscale and well built, with sturdy British colonial buildings, new shopping centers, wide streets – you could be in any tidy Western European city (actually, nicer than most). A lot bigger and spread-out than when Scott was last here. Seems like we’ve moved from San Antonio to Stuttgart. We see mostly white people, with a good smattering of upscale blacks and “coloureds” (which means Indian/Indonesian/mixed race). Where are the townships and the shanties and natives?? It would take another couple days to get an answer.
Meanwhile, Cape Town is fabulous and would be a wonderful place to spend a winter sometime. The South African Rand has halved in value to the dollar, so prices are very reasonable.
Cape of Good Hope Standard Tourist Shot
We spent our second day in Cape Town on a tour down the Cape Peninsula, a long strip of land south of Cape Town that ends in the Cape of Good Hope (southern trip of Africa). We drove past the toniest suburbs and the finest South African vineyards on our way south, with big beaches and big waves to the east. It got more and more windblown and less and less populated as we went south, till there was no further south to go
At this point the wind was blowing steady at 40MPH with gusts to 60MPH, I’d guess.
Bad Hair Day
Small wonder people hated sailing around here!
Baboons Behaving Badly
Our first African wildlife were some baboons sitting by the side of the road. They’re listed as endangered, but in reality it was the tourists who were endangered as the baboons tried to grab their lunch and anything else loose.
On our way back, we stopped at a beach inhabited by several thousand African penguins (formerly known as Magellenic penguins, before that Jackass penguins because of bray they make). We saw more penguins in Africa than we did in Antarctica. The wind was blowing about the same as Antarctica, too – they penguins were on a sandy beach, and we were literally sandblasted by the blowing grains. We were picking sand out of various body cavities for days. Nonetheless, it was very interesting to see them so up-close, and without shivering. Click on the photos below for a couple of samples -- others to follow.
Port Elizabeth
While most of the ship’s passengers headed off to see the famous pink elephants at Addo National Park, we decided to go on the “township tour”, to see if we could find the real South Africa. It was quite extraordinary. One reads about apartheid in the paper, but it was interesting to see the practicalities of its implementation. The main part of Port Elizabeth was the “white” area, and again looked like any western European city. Then there was a buffer area of open land, and we got to the “coloured” area. Coloureds are the non-white, non-black population – Indian, Malay, mixed race. This is a more downscale area, but still quite acceptable. There were some nicer, bigger houses, many smaller somewhat rundown houses, and a few shacks. Everything was a step down from the white area. [Actually, under the apartheid regime, the government categorized and sometimes re-categorized races like US politicians gerrymander voting districts. Japanese? “Honorary whites”. Chinese? “Coloured”.]
Next, we went to one of the black townships that we’ve all read so much about. Again, it was separated from the colored area by an open buffer zone. The houses were a big step down from the colored areas. The things most noticeable to me were the hundreds and hundreds of new “Mandela” houses – small, concrete houses (about the size of a two car garage) everywhere. Running water, indoor toilets, and electricity. For a developing country, these are decent middle class houses. Millions have been built, and many million more are needed. There were upscale black neighborhoods too – new ranch style homes, with a few much larger. Our last stop was a black shanty town, full of tiny shacks patched together from sheet metal and scrap wood. No electricity; water from a stand-pipe down the lane.
As we were walking through the shantytown, many of the British passengers were taken aback at the primitiveness and poverty. But the best quote of the day came from an older woman named Robbie Charles – one of a group of African Americans from Chicago that were on the cruise. She asked if I’d ever been to Mississippi, then commented, “There’s nothin’ here that I haven’t seen before.” Certainly lends additional perspective on what we were seeing – a reminder that apartheid in South Africa wasn’t all that different than the United States not that long ago.
Now, of course, people are no longer restricted in where they can live. But many choose to remain in their traditional neighborhoods. The shantytowns still remain, but the occupancy is continually changing – South Africans are moving into the Mandela houses, and immigrants from impoverished neighboring countries are taking their places in the shantytowns. Parts of the shantytowns are being torn down. Having seen slums and extreme poverty all over the world, the black township areas with all their sturdy new concrete houses makes us optimistic for the future.
East London, South Africa 3/4/2009
Wanting to see more of “traditional Africa”, we headed inland on a tour to a traditional Xhosa village. (The “X” is actually pronounced as a “clicking” sound -- check out this video for samples, or this page). It was actually a mock Xhosa village set up to explain village life to tourists – but the participants were local villagers who, on days when tours were booked, stopped what they were doing to help run the tourist village. The kids, who learn traditional Xhosa dances and culture in school, were let out for the day to perform for us. It was actually quite well done and genuine. The dancers were enthusiastic and energetic, and pleased to be showing off to us.
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We enjoyed our time there thoroughly – but it was an odd juxtaposition. What we were seeing was genuine, but the practices we saw are fading fast as the country becomes richer and more westernized. The teenagers doing the dances were dressed authentically, but the principal of their school showed up in a modern western dress, looking like a principal anywhere – the kids are probably in white shirts and dark pants school uniforms the rest of the days of the week. The local Xhosa ran the show for the day, and made a bundle selling their beautiful beadwork --but there were a couple of white South Africans on site who had helped create and market the village, and who made sure things didn’t get too far off schedule. While in one sense the village wasn’t really authentic, in another sense it was extremely authentic in that it was a snapshot of the whirlwind of changes going on in the country.
Durban, South Africa 03/05/2009
Durban is the third largest (?) city in South Africa, and for this port we decided we would do a “death march” through the center of a city – our favorite way of getting to know a place. A shuttle dropped us off at the edge of the city centre, and we headed out to see the sights and try to find the tourist information centre. As we headed down one of the main shopping streets, it quickly became clear that we were the only white people to be seen. (One of the South Africans on board had seemed puzzled that we would want to go into downtown Durban). However, no one paid us any attention, so we wandered for a while until we found the tourist centre – not very useful – then headed out to our next stop, the market in the Indian section of town. This was mildly interesting, but not that large, so we decided to walk through the “African Market”, under the nearby freeway. We were a little nervous at being in a crowded warren of market stalls, but despite being absolutely the only white skinned people, again everyone seemed to ignore us. There wasn’t much of interest to buy – mostly very inexpensive, dollar-store-like Chinese clothing and household goods. We grabbed a bite for lunch at the local supermarket – goat in pastry dough, sort of an African empanada.
After leaving the market, we got thoroughly lost and wandered around trying to find a cab, finally finding one outside a supermarket. This was obviously a locals’ place – the cab driver had never heard of the port, let alone the passenger terminal (a distance of 5 miles or so). After asking around, he was able to deliver us flawlessly to our ship.
As we were getting on the ship, a group of local travel agents were disembarking, and we chatted a bit. An older white man was aghast at the thought that we might walk around downtown Durban, let alone go to the African market. I’m not sure which of us had the right take on reality.
The Africa story continues here.
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