Little Essay on the South African social situation

Introduction

A few weeks ago I left South Africa as my visa was expiring, I am now writing this from Mozambique! More about that in future posts. This post is a bit different, I wanted to share a bit my impressions on the social situation in South Africa, so beware it's a lot of text, don't expect pictures here.

I loved my trip around South Africa, those three months have been incredible. It was the first time I took so much time to discover a country in a trip, and it really is a completely different experience. Besides the obvious advantage of having more time to see more places and enjoy them more, I found that the most interesting part was to really be able to properly experience and understand the culture there. When going on a short trip to a country, it is so easy to completely miss the actual cultural environment; not the one you see in museums, but the things you only get to learn by interacting with locals and going out of the touristy places. This is something I was fortunate enough to experience in South Africa, and I actually feel like I now got a decent global picture of the different aspects of South African culture, its struggles, history and aspirations. And I find it absolutely fascinating! South Africa really is a special country, because of its tragic history and the fragile balance between the different populations that compose the Rainbow Nation. You got a few hints here and there throughout my posts, but I thought I would try to introduce you a bit further to the situation in South Africa and what it is like to live there, in a dedicated post. Of course this understanding is mostly based on my encounters so it could be biased, but I do have the impression I have met quite a few different people there from different backgrounds. Feel free to react if you agree or disagree in the comments!

Kruger Park: The big Safari

After Pretoria, my next and last stop was Kruger, in the North East of South Africa. Last stop because unfortunately my visa was expiring after 3 months of travel in this wonderful country! The Kruger National Park is one of the biggest reserve for wild animals in Africa. It's huge... roughly a region of 65 x 360 km size. It's very famous and you get to see any african animal you can think of, including of course the Big Five: Lions, Leopards, Buffaloes, Elephants and Rhinos.

I found a nursery farm right next to the park to work in (with Workaway), where I stayed for about two weeks. The farm was nice, and I had free weekends to explore the surroundings with the other volunteers! We rented a car and went straight to Kruger.

In Kruger, like in most safari reserves, you pay to enter with your own car, and then you look for animals while driving on the numerous roads going through the park. It's quite touristy but the park is so big that you are alone most of the time!
I saw sooo many amazing animals in there... Let me show you some of the numerous pictures I took of them them!

 

The Kings

First of course, the lions... We saw some lions eating a buffalo right next to the road, it was crazy!

Look at that big cat!

A few days in Pretoria

After Lesotho, I went straight to Pretoria, the capital, by night bus. Pretoria isn't really a very interesting city by itself, but I went to visit a friend, Bryson, I had met in my hostel of Cape Town.
Bryson was very sweet and came to pick me up at the bus terminal (he showed up two hours late, of course, this is Africa!), and then took me a bit around the city.

Mandela statue in front of the Union building

Crossing Lesotho

It's been a long time since I haven't posted, and a lot has happened since last post! So let's first start with a memorable journey through Lesotho :)

Once back from the Sani Pass at my hostel on the South African side, my next goal was to enter again into Lesotho, but this time with all my backpacks, to cross Lesotho from East to West! Here is how it looks on the map:

 

The Sani Pass Ascension

After a few days of hiking around the mountains, I was finally ready for the ascension of the Sani Pass, and had fully recovered from my tick bite fever.

I booked a hostel at the top of the pass, the plan being to hike up, spend the night up there, and hike back down the next day to my lovely hostel at the bottom. It didn't all quite go to plan in the end as you'll see!

The Sani Pass: Lesotho is hiding behind those mountains...

The Gorgeous Drakensberg

After a week of antibiotics to treat my tick bite fever, I was back in shape to finally explore the Drakensberg mountains around me. I'm staying at a nice hostel in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful mountains, with a lot of amazing hikes to do, so I was eager to start!

 

 

 The little green houses on the right are my hostel

 

End of my stay at the farm

It's the end of my volunteering at the farm! I am now at Sani Pass, in the mountains, at the border with Lesotho. I didn't get to do much here for the moment because I got a tick bite fever and have been a bit sick, but I'm taking antibiotics and am already much better. So before I post about the amazing hikes I will be doing around here, I'm coming back a bit on my stay at the farm with some more pictures and videos!

I stayed almost 3 weeks at the farm in the end, it was a great way for me to settle down a bit, take a rest from the moving, and enjoy a peaceful environment while learning a lot about work at a farm!

 
A peaceful little farm in the mountains

The return of the Safari!

On one of the days at the farm, Gerry (the owner) decided to take us on a safari! So we jumped on the back of his pick up truck and went into a nice game reserve. Game reserve is the name given to the safari parks, like the Addo Elephant national park I went to earlier.

This game reserve was called Tala, and although a bit smaller than Addo, was also very impressive with other animals. No elephants here, but Giraffes!

Curious Giraffe!

Life at a farm in South Africa

Hi all!

After two weeks on the road, I was pretty happy to give the car back and being able to relax a bit. Being every day in a new place is quite exhausting, and I needed a place to settle for a bit!
So I subscribed to this website called Workaway, on which people can post if they need volunteers to work for them in exchange for accomodation and food in general. I found close to Durban (or rather to Pietermaritzburg) an offer of staying in a organic farm, and I decided to go for it!

The farm is ran by a small family, Gerry, his wife and their daughter, all very nice and friendly. There is another volunteer here with me, another french guy!

The deal is that I work about 5 hours a day, 6 days a week, and I get to stay at their farm and get food from the farm every day. 

The Wild Coast: Gorgeous landscapes & police corruption!

After the Addo Elephant National Park, I went up north, following the coast. From Port Elizabeth to the city of East London, it's called the Sunshine Coast, popular in summer for its beaches and the surf. Ironically, for the 2-3 days where I was there though, it was just raining all the time, so I don't really have a lot of nice pictures to show. Let's say it was a good opportunity for me to learn to drive in the rain and in the fog...
But past East London, I reached the next part, the Wild Coast, which goes all the way up to Durban. And there, the weather finally was nice!

Coffee Bay

Coffee bay is a nice little village at the east coast, between East London and Durban, famous for its gorgeous landscapes. I decided to spend two days there even though it is not that easy to reach: about 2 hours drive from the main road, on a small road with potholes and animals crossing everywhere! But the trip was worth it, with coastal landscapes resembling a bit Ireland or Wales.

I went on an amazing hike with a guide along the coast