Last Days

Unfortunately tomorrow is my last day. I have had so much fun while I have been here. These last few days have been spent procrastinating packing, spending some more time on the beach, and getting all of that last minute shopping done. Yeah, I bought a lot of chocolate today. Booker and Krystal live in an apartment a block from the ocean, so it has been fun to walk along the beach and down to the harbour; we saw seals and a lot of fun shops. We have spent some more time downtown as well; this city is beautiful, clean, and energetic. I would absolutely love to come back here someday soonish.

 

 

Thank you for reading, I will do some recap posting when I get home and add a few more pictures.

Sundays

It has been brought to my attention that my blogging about Sundays has been less than informative. Well it is like they (whoever that is?) say; the church is kinda the same everywhere. But since it is my last Sunday in South Africa I suppose I will take this opportunity to share a few details to satisfy whatever curiosities might exist.

There is only one stake in Cape Town. We’ve been attending Booker and Krystal’s ward. It is very friendly and welcoming, it reminds me a lot of what they mean when they say a “ward family.” There are no YSA wards here, but in their ward they have a separate Sunday School class that is exclusively for the YSA members. I have been attending that class while we have been here. Actually I had the opportunity to teach the class my second week here. On my first Sunday as soon as I confirmed that I would be here again the following week, I was asked to teach. So I did, I think it went fine, the class does not struggle with discussion; it has been really interesting. Their experiences as members of the church here are so different from my own growing up in Southern Alberta and then attending BYU. Really, aside from the accents, it is not so different from most every other ward that I have attended- people still debate caffeine!

Day Twenty-Two

Today (wooh that means I am finally all caught up) we went up Table Mountain. It was fantastic; the weather was beautiful and calm, the sky was clear, and becuase we had small children we did not have to stand in line. We took a cable car up, and then spent some time on top enjoying the views and following around Amazing Race contestants and thier camera crews.

 

 

After  Table Mountain I went to the District Six Museum. It discusses the mass displacement of the inhabitants of District Six during apartheid when the district was redesiganted as a white group area.

It was startling and informative. I really appreciated the time I had there. 

World Heritage Sites

There are only two places in the world where you can stand at one World Heritage Site and see another. In the last two days I have been to both!

View of  Robben Island from Table Mountain

View of  Table Mountain from Robben Island

Day Twenty-One

 

 

This was my opportunity to go to Robben Island. It was here that Nelson Mandela and other spent time as political prisoners.  On the island tour we learned a lot of other interesting history has taken place on the island that I had previously been unaware of.  Our actual prison tour was conducted by a former political prisoner; he had spent seven years incarcerated on Robben Island. It was an incredible learning opportunity; it added so much depth to my understanding.

Mr. Nelson Mandela's Cell

This is a picture of the lime quarry on Robben Island that Mandela was forced to labour in for 13 years. It was here that his eyes were irreperably damaged, but it was also here that 65 % of the current constituation was first discussed and developed.

The cave in the picture is referred to as the campus of the Univeristy of Robben Island. The inside of this cave was hot, disgusting, and crowded that the guards would not enter. It was only here that the political prisoners had any privacy to discuss thier ideas.

 The heap of stones in the picture is an impromptu monument instigated by Nelson Mandela when he and other former prisoners first returned. Mandela has described it as a monument to the political prisoners as well as to the reconciliation necessary to move forward.

Day Twenty

On our last day before flying back to Cape Town we decided to go on a tour. Our guide was a gentleman named Greg Garson who owns his own tour company. He was absolutely fascinating, and had so many neat opportunities and insights to share.

We started at the home of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, where he lived for 21 years. During which time many of his ideas developed, and the concept of Satyagraha matured.

After that we went to Ohlange High School.  It was here that John Dube, the first President of the ANC is buried. Gandhi and Dube were neighbours for a period of time. Dube lived at Ohlange from the turn of the century, while Gandhi founded his first ashram at Phoenix, in the valley directly below Ohlange, in 1903. Gandhi and Dube shared similar ideologies – determined to achieve equality for their respective communities in a peaceful manner.

After the eventual collapse of apartheid, Nelson Mandela chose to cast his vote here when the first democratic elections were held in 1994.

I voted at Ohlange High School in Indana, a green and hilly township just north of Durban, for it was there that John Dube, the first president of the ANC, was buried. This African patriot had helped found the organization in 1912, and casting my vote near his graveside brought history full circle, for the mission he began eighty-two years before was about to be achieved. As I stood over his grave, on a rise above the small school below, I thought not of the present but of the past. When I walked to the voting station, my mind dwelt on the heroes who had fallen so that I might be where I was that day, the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for a cause that was now finally succeeding. I thought of Oliver Tambo, Chris Hani, Chief Luthuli, and Bram Fischer. I thought of our great African heroes, who had made great sacrifices so that millions of South Africans could be voting on that very day; I thought of Josiah Gumede, G.M. Naicker, Dr. Abdullah Abdurahman, Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Yusuf Dadoo, Moses Kotane. I did not go into that voting station alone on 27 April; I was casting my vote with all of them.   

Nelson Mandela

Our guide at the High School was with Mr. Nelson Mandela that day. He was one of the individual's responsible for escorting Mr. Mandela to the ballot box, and was the first person to shake his hand after he had cast his vote.  Currently he is very involved with the High School, helping it to fulfill John Dube's vision.

Shaking the hand that shook Mandela's, in the same spot.

Further on our tour we met an interesting academic, Scott Couper, who has recently published a fascinating book Albert Luthuli- Bound By Faith. It was a fascinating opportunity to talk with him about his ideas and efforts here in South Africa.  Then our tour carried on to show us some of the highlights of downtown Durban.

Our tour was wonderful; we went to amazing places, and met with remarkable people. You would think that sites like Ghandi's home or where Mandela voted would be obvious tourist attractions. But they are not, because they are up in the Township most tourists and guides don't go there, which is really unfortunate. It worked well for us though, if those sites were recieveing the attention that they merit, I doubt the people involved would be have the time to talk with us.

Day Eighteen/Nineteen

The next two days were spent in Umhlanga where we stayed in a fantastic beach house right on the Indian Ocean. On Monday I slept in, and then we went to the second largest mall in South Africa. After shopping and lunch it was time to hangout on the beach,

 

 

 



Tuesday started with pedicures.

Then we spent time playing and swimming in the ocean. The water is amazing, a perfectly lovely temperature.

When we needed a break from sunshine and saltwater we headed back to the mall for a bit more shopping and some lunch, which was followed up with a bit more beach time!



Here I am getting a sunburn by the ocean in November!

 

Day Seventeen

Early Sunday morning we went whale watching! I will be honest right here at the beginning I did not even attempt to take a picture, I was too busy staring open mouthed at the awesomeness of whales in real life. It was soo fun. Our boat captain is the leading whale researcher in the area, and he had a lot of interesting information. He found a humpback whale, her calf, and their escort for us to follow. The escort travels with the mother and calf to distract predators so that they can find a place to hide safely. We hit the last week of whaling season so we were lucky to see the whales we did. Humpback whales eat for three months of the year in Antarctica and spend the other nine months travelling to Madagascar (where they give birth) and back. They give birth in Madagascar because the water temperature averages around 32 degrees. Whales are mammals and so they need to give birth in warm water.

After that we drove down to Cape Vidal to see some more wildlife and hung out on the beach. Then we made our way to Umhlanga.

Day Sixteen

In St. Lucia we went on a cultural tour of a Zulu village. While we were there I had the opportunity have my future divined for me.  The Sangoma does this by contacting the ancestors. She had some interesting insights… I don't remember exactly what she said, but I will post here the few things that I remember.

She said that I would marry soon, like within a year or so.
Something about eleven cows...
For work I will travel the world helping people, especially people without prents.
I need to stop  overthinking my future. I need think less and pray more, ask my God.

Later on there was the opportunity to participate in a traditional Zulu warrior dance. I was pretty much terrible at it, luckily no evidence exists. It was a neat opportunity to see their cultures and lifestyles, we even got to try on some of the traditional outfits. 

Later on we went on a Crocodile and Hippo Tour. We glimpsed a crocodile on the tour, as well as in the game park earlier, but I never got a really good look. Hippos on the other hand were more than willing to put on a show. It was fun to see them thrashing about and even fighting.

 

 

Day Fourteen/ Fifteen

Thursday afternoon we arrived at the Mfolozi Game Park. During the day we drove around in our own vehicle on the demarcated roads looking for thw wildlife. Luckily Booker and Krystal are talented spotters! While we were there we saw lots of rhinos, even one pooping. We saw wildebeest, impalas, warthogs, cape buffalos, giraffes, buck species, and zebra!

A giraffe- just for Kaytie!

 

Dung Beetle. It's endangered.

 

 

On a night drive we went wih a guide in a safari truck, and we saw a lion! I was responsible for the spotlight on my side of the safari truck (kinda a lot of pressure), we came around a corner and as I did the scan of a clearing I saw him, there he was just drinking. We proceeded to follow him until he disappeared behind a bush; luckily we caught sight of another lion for a few more minutes.

 

 



I got some video as proof,  but I promise that is a lion in this picture.

The entire time we were in the Game Park I was excitedly anticipating seeing an elephant. I kept being distracted by all of the amazing wildlife that we were seeing, but still I wanted to see one.  As we neared the end of our time in the park I had seen an elephant through the binoculars so technically I was satisfied, but it was so far away… Then as the exit of the park loomed ever closer and we were literally getting to mere minutes remaining there it was, I saw it on the side of the road eating. Success!

 

 

The animal’s ability to camouflage really is absolutely incredible. At one point we drove within two feet of a giraffe and only two of the four of us in the car saw it. The elephant took two steps behind a tree and all of the sudden it was invisible from the road.

After the park we arrived in St. Lucia, on our first evening as we drove to dinner we encountered a hippopotamus crossing the road.