WOW (#??), so I have made it, crossed a good part of the Southern Africa continent, doing more than
I am ending this RTW (the classic acronym for Round-The-World) part 1 with another 3 days in Jo-Burg then I'll fly out to Dubai... really had a great time there, I will miss it.
In Johannesburg, I got the chance to get my friend Sina from Geneva who unexpectedly took a week-off to fly down there see Aurelien and me too then :-). Good to catch up with friends from home and hear the latest gossips.
Sina and I take the opportunity to see a bit more of Jo-Burg, with quite a trip in the dark side of the CBD district, to see the National Museum... The trip to the museum location was more the highlight than the museum itself: in the middle of this previous central & rich area occupied by whites until the end of Apartheid, buildings are squatted by blacks only since the early 90s, with their own set of rules. Very lively though, but it's true, a bit scary! ;-) You better not be white and/or not from there once night is down.
Inside the museum... nice building, but more European artefacts inside than African ones, it's a pity.
Sina in admiration of a local contemporary item (no kidding, it was really exhibited as art... I got more pictures...)
Views of Jo-Burg from the Top of Africa (50th floor)
We end these 3 days with a good party of course, even though on Wednesday evening it is not that crazy in Jo-Burg!!
Southern Africa
It was so great to discover this world part. I will definitely come back, and want to see few places I could not go to. My highlight, if I only quote one, would be the Namib red dunes...I could get few days there, contemplating this huge but unwelcoming area, where the sun and wind play with the shapes and colors all day.
I'm not going to pretend I know the continent after just few weeks of traveling down there and 5 countries partially discovered... But can still say few points (i hope ;):
- Great to see how the 2 previously-opposed "colors" in South Africa try to live together now, even though it is of course not easy. Many challenges remain, and the gap created with a century of low to non education of blacks make the challenge bigger. I deeply & sincerely hope this keeps improving over time, now that the young "peaches" & "browns" (the new name children learn at school to name whites & blacks, I like it, quite symbolic) are a bit more mixed and live together from a young age.
- The variety of landscape is amazing, and I had never realized that Souther Africa mostly stand as a "mountain" for us Europeans... most of this Africa continent part is indeed standing at 1,000m or more (Jo-Burg is at 1,500m), making it of course a great base for canyons & falls sceneries.
- The special atmosphere of Africa is really great to experience. It sounds to me it can be lay down around 2 points:
1. "Beautiful Africa": yes, environment and wildlife makes it beautiful, as well as people and their natural joy, songs & smiles. They are right to be proud of being from Africa :)2. "This Is Africa": the tougher side... used as an excuse to almost all non-working well situation. Which is basically many things... I think this is however overused, and people live it through like things can never improved. They and we shouldn't accept this, there is always room for improvement (is this the business man talking? not even). Hopefully, in Harare I discovered the (new it sounds) concept of TINA for This Is New Africa, which is meant to give back the optimism and hope vs. TIA. Let's hope it helps.
- On many other points, time has been too short to really understand them and what are the potential developments. But you cannot travel there without hearing about the serious issues on corruption, tribes racism, HIV/AIDS, prostitution / sexual traffics... as anywhere in the world unfortunately, but those seem deeply anchored into some African habits, so I hope they can invent a new way of behaving / living together while growing economically.
Loved you beautiful Africa, see you soon xxx
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