We have been in South Africa for a couple of weeks now and here are some of my thoughts about the country, the people and what we have seen. Cape Town area is really beautiful! We haven’t been in the main city centre yet, but the surrounding landscape is impressive. Aside from the renowned Table Mountain (1073m), you have other mountains around the city, like Devil’s Peak and Lion’s Head. On a clear day, it is relatively easy to get orientated with the help of those land marks.
Cape Town being in a peninsula, the ocean is never far away, actually I should say the oceans, as the Atlantic Ocean lays on one side and the Indian ocean lays on the other side. The oceans meet at Cape Point. Depending on the weather conditions, dictates which ocean is favourable for diving. Be careful of the great white shark!!! As early as last Saturday, a spear gun fisher got attacked by one of the resident great white sharks of the area.
This is winter time right now in Cape Town and it makes for relatively cold weather. Nice cool sunshine days can be followed by windy and rainy miserable days.
In the white neighbourhood, you have difficulties seeing the poverty. Shopping malls offer very similar items as North American malls and the price is surely not a reflection of third world country prices. South Africa is a country struggling for identity. On the one hand you have the white people who want progress and to become a first world developed country. On the other hand you have the majority black people and many of them still think with their tribal background in mind. These two very different ways of thinking can only have disagreement when in comes to governing a country.
People here can juggle languages with so much ease; it's incredible. Whether white, coloured or black, most people will fluently speak at least three languages. Many whites speak Afrikaans, English and German white blacks speak Afrikaans, English and sometimes two, three or even four native languages!
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Right now, if I had to make comments about South Africa, it would be based on Cape Town more than South Africa itself, as we have spend more than three weeks now in the Cape peninsula area.
One thing that I am really impressed with is the road system. The roads are well marked, the road network is quite large, yet easy to follow, which makes my life easier as I am the navigator right now. The road system is not based according to the cardinal points like in North America, but rather by indicating the next major city on that road. This forces you to have a spatial idea of where cities are located.
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Comments by Dan:
At first we thought it was strange that every Defender (or Series) Land Rover owner waved at us as we were cruising around in our Landy; later it began to amuse us and then it just became part of our lives. Turns out that there is a real close-knit community between Defender drivers, unlike any other amongst motor vehicle owners. Even during rush hour traffic, negotiating a turn at a busy intersection, a Defender owner will spot you and make some sort of amicable gesture. Women give you a full on wave, usually accompanied by a smile, while men will sometimes only lift a finger or two from the steering wheel. We have been told that a Defender owner will always stop for another Defender owner when in trouble. Interestingly enough, such a symbiotic relationship does not exist between Range Rover or Discovery owners. These, will pass each other without any recognition!