February 8 through 11, 2023
"Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am." - Michael Crichton
We arrived in South Africa after an uneventful flight from Turkey, and kind of feeling guilty that we "left" Turkey to deal with its devastating earthquake (not that I know what I could have done, besides donating to relief efforts). The quake was rather far from Istanbul but since we were in the same country, it felt "close." 😟
We are being hosted on this trip by Steve Sherman (as in the past) and he is delightful and full of energy in his mission to bring maths to the larger population. We are grateful to him for making this part of our journey happen.💜
I tried to pack a lot into the mere 4 days I was in Cape Town, knowing that I would be heading off to (neighboring country) Namibia shortly and knowing that I would get a few days afterward in Durban (also South Africa) as well. I did two full day tours (with and without Art) to cover much of the sights that I hadn't made it to in our last 2 visits to South Africa. Art was invited to do some school shows (which I'll miss while in Namibia) and had a radio interview plugging them (I did get to attend that 👍). He's such a pro at radio interviews and great at ad-libbing; no wonder the hosts love him (especially when they all seem to be math-phobic from the start 😐). We were surprised to learn that South Africa is 3rd from last in the world in maths proficiency. Hopefully Art will change all that 💪.
My tours included visits to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was in prison for 18 years; a place I've been wanting to see for years); a visit to the V&A Waterfront (upscale shopping/hotels area on the water); a visit to a local township led by a guide who lives there (I was surprised to see that, despite the pervasive poverty, everyone has a rooftop dish so they can watch soccer 😄); Boulders Beach (where the cute penguins live); Cape Point (farthest point south on the peninsula); Cape of Good Hope; numerous beaches and viewpoints 🌄 (there's no shortage of those here).
Our dollar is strong here and we have been able to eat affordably (and even try the local wildlife cuisine - ostrich, zebra, and kudu - oh my! 😋). Art was super excited to find his "Ice" drink for sale at a local shop, and I was thrilled to see Cadbury (and a challah!) again. We actually treated ourselves to KFC the first night because we were so tired and it was local (we're in the suburbs). I'll admit it was delicious 😊 (and a favorite fast food around these parts and other countries nearby, we've discovered).
Our Airbnb is quite comfortable and the host lives on-site and is lovely. The one thing that caught us by surprise here is the energy crisis (alleviated by "load-shedding"). Apparently South Africa doesn't have enough electricity for everyone so, to alleviate this problem, they have power outages every day (usually 2-4 hours each day and not always the same hours and not always convenient times 😬). This is a bit of an issue since it is not only summer, which is a nice change from the frigid temps of Turkey, but it is very hot so having a fan stop working mid-day isn't fun (air-conditioning is not that common here either). Also having wifi cut off at random times isn't great either. I sympathize with the population for having to deal with this on a daily basis. 😔
Fun aside: I've now run into a handful of travelers (on tours) who are also on world trips, most of whom are younger than us (20's and 30's). I think it's due to a combination of the digital nomad life plus the great resignation following Covid. It's been nice meeting, and trading traveler tips, with them 👍. One of them, a cyber security tech, even helped Art fix his SIM card issues 😀.
Other aside: I don't know how I forgot this, but South Africans drive on the left side of the road so that's been something to get used to. We're not doing the driving (thankfully!) but it's disorientating to watch our tour guides drive.
Not so fun aside: Having taken a few township tours now, I can see the huge disparity between the have's and have-not's in this country (high end hotels vs shacks and shanties). I asked my tour guides about it and they said that since apartheid only ended about 30 years ago, they still have a long way to go with fixing infrastructure and inequalities (and of course ridding the government of corruption 😨).
Off to Namibia (while Art's still in Cape Town) on a group safari tour!
Deena and Art
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