Corey's whirlwind tour of South Africa

As I write this, I am sitting in my apartment on a lovely August day (it’s spring here in Durban, which means beautiful sunny days without the unbearable humidity that will be arriving in a couple of months) pretending to do work. I say pretending because I have a pile of reading to do for my dissertation, but instead am taking a not-so-well-deserved break to write this. So as I was sitting here, I heard a bell ringing outside and looking outside realized that it was the South African version of the ice cream man who we so fondly refer to as Skippy back home. But South African Skippy has one distinct difference from American Skippy: he has no ice cream truck. It’s just a guy walking down the street carrying a cooler, ringing a bell. This is something that I found pretty funny the first time I saw him, but after almost 7 months here has become commonplace. I start this update with a very random story because my older sister, Corey, just spent the last 10 days with me here, and I finally got to share my life in South Africa with someone from home. While Corey didn’t get to meet South African Skippy, she did experience many of the other aspects of my life, which seem normal to me, but seen through new eyes are far more interesting and unique than I realize.

During Corey’s 10 days in South Africa, we tried to fit in as much as possible because I wanted to give her the fullest picture that I could of why this country is so great. We started with three days in Cape Town. While in Cape Town, Corey and I went to Table Mountain, visited Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, took a day trip to the Cape of Good Hope (most southwestern point in Africa), and did some shopping and other sight-seeing in the city. Cape Town is a great city; very beautiful and much more tourist-friendly than Durban with a great tourist trap harbor front with shops and restaurant. We had a fun few days in Cape Town, even though the backpackers that we stayed in was a little smelly and too crowded for Corey’s liking (we had to share a room with some crazy foreigners), and we didn’t realize that we needed to bring sleeping bags so we slept without sheets or blankets. But as I told Corey, here in Africa we’re roughing in. Actually that’s a complete lie; my life here is not rough at all, but I have learned to roll with the punches and expect anything (aka the Skippy without the truck).

After returning to Durban and spending one night here, Corey, my roommate Stephanie, and I headed up to a game park in Umfolozi a couple of hours north of Durban. I had shown Corey the very modern face of South Africa in Cape Town, so now it was time to show her the stereotypical African side of South Africa… the animals! At Umfolozi we stayed in a hut in the game park, which meant that we had some rather scary evening visitors. The first night I was heading to the bathroom, which is in a separate building from our hut, only to find the entrance blocked by a hyena. Now hyenas in real life are not as friendly and small as they may seem in The Lion King. They’re actually pretty big and scary, and we’ve been told they have jaws stronger than those of a lion. So I calmly turned and walked away, breaking into a run the last few meters, terrified that I would meet my end at the jaws of a hyena. We then watched from our window as the hyena scavenged around the camp and came right up to our hut and stared us down, only to walk away. It was pretty cool to be so close to a hyena, although a little disconcerting and we decided that evening trips to the bathroom were probably not the best idea. The next day as we were sitting in our hut reading, a monkey popped his head in the door, but seemed just as surprised to see us as we were to see him, and quickly left. I was glad that the wildlife of Umfolozi had decided to give Corey a good show, though.

We went on two game drives while at Umfolozi. The first, and best, one was during the day and it was just the three of us in our little rental car. During our 3 hour drive along the meandering dirt roads we saw 4 of the big 5 (the big 5 being lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes, and rhinos… we didn’t see the leopards). We also saw giraffes, warthogs, zebras, baboons, multiple types of antelope, and other birds and animals that we couldn’t identify. Many of the animals were right on the road, which was a great experience. In fact we drove right through a herd of rhinos standing in the road and were a little afraid they may ram our car because they’re actually very dangerous animals, but we made it through alright. Last time I was here in 2005 I also visited Umfolozi, but I think this time I was more in awe of the animals we saw and perhaps was able to see more than last time. It’s such an amazing experience to be, although in the safety of a car, so close to such majestic animals. The other game ride we went on was organized by the park and was a night drive. It was a little cold and (obviously) dark, so we didn’t see as much, but we did get to see 4 lion cubs, which I thought made the whole thing worthwhile.

After a few days relaxing in Umfolozi, enjoying the animals and the beautiful scenery (picture rolling hills that go on as far as the eye can see without buildings or electricity lines obstructing the view), we headed back to Durban so I could show Corey MY South Africa. During our four days in Durban we visited the beach a couple of times, visited my family in the township where I lived in 2005, went shopping at a market, had a couple of nights out on the town, and visited my university. It was really wonderful to get to show Corey around South Africa and to see her reactions to things and get her perspective. For example, when we were in the shopping centre near my apartment, which is very modern and American-feeling, a woman walked by carrying a huge package on her head, as many black South African women do. Like Skippy-on-foot, this has become very commonplace to me and I am no longer as stunned by the amazing strength and balance these women possess. But seen through Corey’s eyes, I got to again realize how great the clash of cultures is here. It’s this amazing mix of the “developing world” and the “developed world” (I put them in quotes because I don’t agree with the idea of ranking countries in this way, but I won’t get into that now) and of European culture with African culture. I am always amazed that it only takes about an hour drive out of the bustling city of Durban to be in a rural village with no electricity or running water where English is often not spoken. South Africa really has an incredible juxtaposition of very different realities that somehow seem to be working together.

But I’m off track. The point is, it was really great to share all of this with my sister and to know that when I get back home there will be one person who at least somewhat understands my life in South Africa and what I have been so fortunate to experience here. When we were at the Cape of Good Hope we climbed to the top of this rock outcropping overlooking the ocean and Corey turned to me and said “I can’t believe I’m in Africa!” And I just smiled and nodded, happy that someone else understands the constant state of awe and wonder that I am in. Of course I am also constantly challenged and overwhelmed too, but mostly it is just pure, wonderful awe and I know I will not make sense of most of it for a long time. But for now, I’m glad that I could share it all with my sister and give her a glimpse of this incredible adventure.