#PortElizabeth Three Tenners South Africa PT 11

Another 200 miles down the N2. We arrive at Port Elizabeth - known to South Africans as "PE". We only have one night here but a good word for Lungile Lodge Backpackers - an excellent place.

We arrive on Saturday lunchtime. There is a beach front festival going on. We head for it!

Just a quick note about PE. It is probably smaller than Durban further up the coast. It has many similarities. A massive long beach - a big port - a mix of commercial and resort and residential. It seems smarter than Durban - less evidence of 1960's architecture in the brutalism style but there is still some.

We had doubts about the cheesy commercial front - a lot of people milling around. There was a jet ski race going on, an national beach volley ball tournament, a live hypnotist show with a big audience - laughing at the antics of the hypnotized. (Rob convinced it is real - Mike and I equally convinced it is staged!). There is plenty of music and dancing going on. We spend an enjoyable time walking around and looking at the stalls - and particularly the food ones. SA is the place for foot long sausages and massive burgers for not very much money. I had a corn on the cob - Mike a lamb curry and rice and Rob a Boarswurst - each for peanuts.

In the end we decided that after questioning the locals we were in the right place as it was the Easter holiday and not much would be happening elsewhere. So our exposure to PE was pretty limited. Towards the end of a hot afternoon we were advised to head for Barny's. We did. A massive and lively bar overlooking the ocean. We enjoyed it. There also happened to be super 12 rugby on the big screen and then the cricket 20 20 world cup. SA teams were involved so a lot of interest as they are sports nuts.

It did dawn on us there was a seedy side too. Some dodgy looking people and drink involved. Mike thought we might have been followed from the food place. Rob lashed his camera bag and himself to the table! We walked back with no trouble. Found a lovely big KwikSpar and bought some healthy food - no b...... meat - and sat out the evening in our backpackers watching sport on the big screen again. England playing Germany in Germany in a football friendly. The black lads in the hostel predicted Germany would win. They knew their football. We agreed. Amazingly England won 3-2 - ha! 

#Cintsa Three Tenners South Africa PT 10

CHINTSA

A good run down the N2 takes us to Chinsa (Cinsa). Even the locals cannot agree how to spell it. We are at the western end of the Wild Coast. Maybe at the start of the Wild Coast. We were told Cinsa maybe even more lovely than the coast around Wild Lubanzi. Of course this is a personal judgement. Let me get it on record from the outset. Cinsa is great. Don’t miss it on my account. You will not find  a longer uncommercial beach of soft clean golden sand. In fact it stretches 18k east. It is flanked by huge sand dunes and white surf topped waves off the Indian Ocean. (the water is Cornwall cold and powerful – a place for surfing). I have been in to find out after an early morning jog and dip!

Cinsa is divided by a river into East and West Cinsa rather like East and West Cowes – ha! The difference is west Cinsa seems to comprise of little more than our extensive backpackers called Buccaneers. (in many ways it is a holiday camp/resort. It is excellent but rather sanitised). East Chinsa is a little village – an upmarket place with some beautiful big houses. It has a sense of how I imagine apartheid SA was. The Bare Foot Café serves a good lunch.

Unlike at Cowes the river dividing Cinsa does not currently reach the sea but is dammed by the beach. It stops 50yards or so short. This reflects water levels and will break through again in the rainy season. The temporary effect is to create a lagoon. It is warm and gentle and teeming with small surface fish and all sorts of birds. So the sea, the lagoon, the golden beach as far as you can see and the quiet little village makes up a beautiful spot – a holiday spot – a tasteful resort. Two differences from the Wild Lubanzi area we have come from. At Cinsa there are people around – not many but enough not to make it feel “wild”. The other is the coast line is simply not wild. (There are also no Rondavels or animals). So maybe the difference between a Labrador and a Wolf.

We had a most relaxing time here. We went fishing off the rocks. It is a great fishing place. Rob had come prepared as he is developing an interest in fly fishing. He did well and really enjoyed himself but caught nowt! Mike and I invested 20 rand in some tackle for him and I. £1’s worth. Line, hooks and weights. We hand lined using limpets as bait. Sorry Rob. 3 fish to Mike – 2 to me. See the photographic evidence – ha!

Rob looking the pro with his fly fishing gear

What a beach

Mike and I improvise!!!

and catch fish

It brought a great smile from Mike anyway

#Johannesburg Pretoria & Soweto Three Tenners South Africa PT3

We flew from Heathrow with Qatar. We took a dog leg flight to Johannesburg via Doha. This was purely economic reasons. It saved us several hundred pounds compared to a direct flight but we were in the air about 4 hours longer. Qatar is a top airline and Doha International a beautiful and massive airport. On this occasion there was a bit of a rush to get to our onward flight - but a fast walk got us there. For future reference there was 1hrs 30 mins between landing inbound and our outbound flight. Luggage was moved automatically and we did not have to go through passport control but it was still too tight to be comfortable and left no margin for delay. I recommending leaving more time.

Arriving Doha late at night.

The desert lit up

Anyway we arrived Johannesburg on time - 8 in the morning, picked up our pre arranged hire car and got to our hostel on modern open freeways in good time.

As usual I have done a bit of background reading so here is a bit about Jo'burg or Jozi.

Johannesburg is described as the economic powerhouse of SA. It is situated on the high veldt - a plateau 6000 ft above sea level. (apparently it takes one minute longer to boil an egg here!). It is in Gauteng - SA's smallest province - 2% of the land mass but producing 40% of GDP. S Africa's total population is about 50m of which 6m live in Jozi, 3m in the nearby township of Soweto and 2m in Pretoria. The guidebooks describe the area as mainly urban but immediate impressions are wide open spaces and while there are some skyscrapers the majority of building is single storey. It feels a big and spacious country already.

I immediately ran into lap top problems and issues with wi fi. Our trip had quite a bit of momentum so I am now finishing off this opening blog - almost 3 weeks later - so not ideal.

First of all we stayed at The Birches Backpackers hostel. Excellent - recommended.

Johannesburg - first afternoon - a Sunday. We drove to Park Station and did the excellent open top Red Bus Tour. The bus tour was very informative - first class headphone commentary. The CBD was quiet of course as it was a Sunday but we had an insight. We got off at Africa's highest building (claimed - it certainly was once) The Carlton Centre. Like much of Johannesburg it seems the buildings were built in the 1960's. Some pretty ugly buildings - a lot of concrete. We were accompanied by a bus company representative to the top via lifts. The building is largely redundant now - but from the 51st floor we had great views.

Johannesburg exists because in 1886 a nearby rich gold reef (Witwatersrand) (now largely worked out) was discovered. People flocked in - and was one of the main reasons the British left the Cape to confront the Dutch who were in this interior area having previously left the Cape to avoid the dominating British.

Just a note on security in Johannesburg. The CBD (Central Business District) did become very dangerous. This is because a new business centre was created in the Jo'burg district of Santon. Consequently many buildings were left empty and into these buildings moved the "red ants" - squatters - many from Zimbabwe. It became lawless. However more recently the CBD is being won back - unused buildings being bricked up - new investment including the Gauteng railway made and better policing. However some people still avoid the CBD - I must say Park Street did seem a bit edgy even on a daytime Sunday.

Johannesburg

Carlton Tower

Views from the 51st fllor

Soweto in the far distance - the World Cup Final stadium a touch closer

First afternoon SA. On top of the highest building in Africa

A bronze sculpture - the 3 George's responsible for discovering gold.

All round Johannesburg area - massive manmade hills - the spoil from goldmining

Nelson Mandela Bridge over the railway

Freedom monument of eternal flame

The next day we went to SA's administrative capital city - the seat of government - Pretoria. We spent time at the Voortrekker Monument - high on a hill over Pretoria. The monument built in 1940 was funded by the Afrikaans community to commemorate the (heroic) Boer (Dutch victory over the Zulu army at Blood River. It was THE place to learn about the Great Trek and the Boer history (which Afrikaners are so proud of - Boer in Dutch means farmer). I am not going to go into it here. It is complex - but a quick summary. SA did not exist as a country. The Dutch first come to the Cape in the 1650's and use slaves. The British move in (and abolish slavery in 1828). The Dutch move out of the Cape because of British interference/rule and start the Great Trek inland and to the east in search of a place of their own to farm etc. They confront the Zulus among many other hardships. Eventually the world's biggest deposit of gold is found near Johannesburg 1860's and diamonds at Kimberley - 1880's. The British decide they need to share the wealth. This leads to the Anglo - Boer Wars at the turn of the century and eventually after the Boer's were defeated the formation of South Africa in 1914.

I have to say something about Afrikaans. This is a Germanic/Dutch based language which became the dominant language of the whites in the apartheid era (although only about 5% of the population speak it!) In the 1940's there was associations with Nazism too.

It seems Afrikaans see their history as a glorious one - mainly a struggle to farm and lead a good life and the fact they built SA. As one Afrikaans told me - they built SA. When they arrived in SA very few indigenous people lived there and those that did never built anything - not one stone on top of another (his words).

Voortrekker Monument

Scanskop Fort. One of 4 built in 1897 to protect Pretoria.

We get behind the original bar at the Fort

Later we went into Pretoria proper to see The Union Buildings - perched majestically on the main hill. It was built in 1910 to symbolise the union of Britain and Boer. It is now the headquarters of the South African government and where Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as President. There is a massive and very impressive statue of Nelson Mandela in the gardens below.

The Union building

Later in the day we drove to the township of Soweto and walked around the notorious Kliptown suburb. A few years ago this would have been a stupid thing to do but Soweto while still very much a sprawling township has generally been improved. Kliptown for some reason is a suburb that hasn't - something to do with its unauthorised status.

Soweto (South West Township) is SA's most famous township. For one thing it has produced 2 Nobel Peace prize recipients - in fact they both lived in the same street - Nelson Mandela (whose old home we visited (now a rather commercial experience) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu's. At the same time it did have the world's highest incidence of rape and murder and is a sprawling place.

However Soweto is perhaps most remembered for the student uprising in 1976 which became world news and focused the world's minds on putting pressure on SA to end apartheid. The root of the uprising was the Afrikaan Government decreed Afrikaan would be the first language of SA and all schools would use it to teach all lessons. SA has 11 recognised languages and Afrikaans was and is only spoken by a small minority (incidentally the language of Government is English). The imposition of Afrikaans brought nationwide student protest. The government dealt brutally with the peaceful student protests and in Soweto this lead to the death of a student called Hector Pietersen. All this was captured by world news and Pietersen's death became a world wide cause celebre. Among other things International Economic Sanctions were raised against SA and of course SA was banned from playing all international sport. These pressures mounted and we all know that Nelson Mandela became the President in 1994.

Millionaires now exist in Soweto but much is still desperately poor and deprived. There have been many initiatives taken and schemes to improve life there. We seen first hand good evidence of "community" and despite the basics of sanitation and water still lacking in Kliptown for instance - much has improved - and large parts of Soweto comprises of decent even attractive rows of little houses.

Soweto might represent "real" SA today. However we only scratched the surface and tourist access is limited. Initial impressions - black and white SA still does not mix well (or at all). The white community live elsewhere will big fences, big dogs and alarm systems and signs saying intruders will be met by armed response.

Improvements at Soweto

But still a lot to do

Desmond Tutu's home - still.

Pictures from Nelson Mandela's home in Soweto

In the doorway of Nelson Mandela's Soweto home where he lived with Winnie and their children.

Last act of the day - a beer in a Soweto Shabeen with our guide. It felt authentic and did chat with the locals.

#WildCoast Three Tenners South Africa PT 9

Wild Coast

We have now moved down the coast from Durban to the Transkei – homeland of the Xhosa tribe. We are in an area aptly named The Wild Coast. It is apparently one of the most unspoilt regions of South Africa. It is undeveloped, it is wild and the coast where we are based is truly beautiful. Unspoilt and natural and spectacular. Wow !

This part of the coast is really inaccessible without special effort. To get to our lodge we had to park up and take a lift in a 4 x 4. Even then the road was challenging. Steep inclines up and down and no proper defined roads – barely track.

We are staying along the coast from Coffee Bay in a backpackers lodge called Wild Lubanzi. It is a really “cool” place. It is right on the coast, the views and sound of the surf are truly stunning as the Indian Ocean crashes in. The people here are not ones seeking a party scene. Everything is based on a natural and sustainable formula. It is lovely.

Today we trekked to Hole in the Wall. I am in danger of over using “stunning” but it truly was. We walked above the thundering ocean on lush green undulating hills and through Xhosa settlements with their picturesque and colourful traditional homes called Rondavels. Their cattle, goats, pigs and sheep were around us and we were often accompanied by curious and friendly young boys who were keen and able to show us the route. When we got to the Hole in the Wall it was obvious why it had the name. A massive hole in the cliff that formed the entrance to the river estuary. The surf was pounding – but otherwise total peace. Wonderful.

The next day we walked along the coast going west in the direction of Bulungula. Another incredible walk. We saw no one virtually all day. We walked on a beach easily a mile long. We walked the whole length on virgin sand. We sat and watched sand crabs dash from the burrows with a side long sprint to the sea. Such a simple special thing to do. Eventually we got to a place called Bulls Inn where we had lunch. The place was run by a pugnacious ex rugby playing South African. He had his black team of helpers. He specialised in taking people out for deep sea fishing. The week before he had caught to 70 kilo fish! We had a modest lunch there. Lobster, fish and salad! A two hour stroll back. Bliss. I would come back to this place – definitely.

Octopus caught with a stick

we walked some of the way with these ladies

Our volunteer guide

Mike in the Wild Lubanzi kitchen

Hole in the Wall

Hole in the Wall

Great lunch at the Bulls Inn

Rob and Mike stride out

Elated