Going home-Alyssa

We are heading home today. I miss my friends and family but I'm not ready to leave yet. I wish we had more time in Cape Town, it was so pretty there.

Today we went on a tour of a township in Soweto, walked through the Hector Peterson museum, went to Bruma market, and now we are waiting to go home. This trip was amazing and I would definitely do it again. I am dreading the plane ride home but the long ride is worth it.

Alyssa
Undergraduate
Finance major

Last day in South Africa

  Today, Sunday the 22nd of March, is our last day in South Africa. We have a full day planned with a visit to Soweto, the Hector Pietersen Museum, Nelson Mandela Museum, and the Bruma World Market. Details on these visits later in the day.
    Yesterday was Human Rights Day in South Africa. On the 21st of March in 1960 69 blacks were killed for protesting the pass laws. The day is celebrated with some gatherings and remembrances.
   Soweto (the southwestern township) is populated by some 4 million people.   It was designated a place where natives would live who worked in the mines. During apartheid it was designated a black township. There is a very diverse level of living in Soweto today. The have the shanty houses that are simply walls with a place of sheet metal on the roof and then there are upscale homes. As with most of the area, people from Zimbabwe are coming across the border, setting up camps and taking jobs from the South African poor.
    We also saw the Hector Pieterson museum. He was a 13 year old boy killed during the student march in Soweto (they were protesting the use of government required use of Afrikkan in the school curriculum). Lastly we visited the street in Soweto which houses two Nobel Peace Prize winners - Reverend Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. Desmond Tutu still lives in his residence but Nelson Mandela's is now a museum.
     Last but not least was the Bruma market. A flea market of sorts with some everyday items to more tourist related stuff.
     Onto the plane we go. Goodbye South Africa....for now.

Kruger Park

We arrived in Kruger at 13:30 (1:30 pm) on Friday.  We took a break at the Numbi gate (the western side of the park) and then planned for a 4 hour search for animals (by car).
  I will say up front that it was hard to accept the fact that I was in a place where all the animals were wild and free. As we drove the white vans down the paved roads searching for elephants,  giraffes, or the sacred lion  pack it seemed as though we were in a safari created by Disneyland. That is until I saw the first animal.
   Our first encounter was with a herd of Bushbuck. Somewhat like deer but they have white stripes along their sides and larger ears. We also saw a similar animal- the Impala. The Impala is incredibly sleek and has an incredible jumping ability. Like the deer in New Jersey, there are vast amounts of Bushbuck and Impala and thus we saw them often.
   As the eyes of the six people in the van were locked scanning out their windows our driver would always seem to be the one spotting the brilliantly camouflaged animals. Even an elephant was hidden as his trunk rose up out of the bush. A tremendous and beautiful animal. Then we saw a giraffe, just off the side of the road eating out of the nearby trees.
   In addition to the some 147 species of mammals, the park has some 114 types of reptiles (we saw a beautiful baby tortoise cross the road), 49 types of fish, 34 amphibians plus 507 types of birds.  The birds were absolutely incredible in color and size. I saw an African Fish Eagle, a grey Heron, a flock of Helmeted Guinea fowl (which I was told can be delicious to eat), some Warbles, an Egyptian Goose and so many more.
   The "big five" animals in the bush as designated by the South African government (they are pictured on the various denominations of the paper currency) are the rhinoceros, the buffalo (a slimmer, less hairy animal versus the American buffalo-this one has long curved horns and is said to be powerful enough to run through trees when stampeding), the lion, the elephant and the leopard.
  I saw 4 of the 5 (I saw the rump of a rhino, a lion who was barely visible atop a rock formation, a good herd of buffalo and several elephant including a whole family walking down the road). The leopard escaped me as it does most people though one Rutgers van group did spot one (I verified the pictures as proof).
   Friday night we all had dinner in the restaurant at one of the camp sites. The planned boma dinner was to be outside but rain spoiled our plans.  Walking back to my thatched roof hut (with all the modern conveniences) in the pitch black night I glanced up to the clearing sky and could not help standing there for some thirty minutes gazing at all the stars in the sky. I have seen a brilliant starry sky in Colorado but this was amazing. The brightness and volume of speckled light was hypnotic. It took the clouds rolling over them to get me looking away and onward to bed.
   Early to rise on Saturday as the gates to the camp site opened at 5:30 am. Noted as a great time to see the animals and a beautiful sunrise. Unfortunately the cloud cover kept the sunrise hidden and it also seemed to hide the animals. We toured the park for 4 hours and did not see as much as expected. Going back to the Disneyland comparison, it is quite a disappointment when you don't see the animals you expect or as many as your friends may have seen. Realizing the size of Kruger Park and the nature of wild animals seems to escape us as we are accustom to the convenience of a zoo or fulfilling our expectations by paying for them. 
   Two Spotted Hyenas walking along the road, a few giraffe, a herd of zebra, several Blue Wildebeest (or Gnus), Dwarf Mongoose and some playful Velvet Monkeys in a tree were seen in our morning tour.  As we looked over a vista that provided an appreciative view of the size and landscape of the park I can honestly say that by the time I left I was appreciative and in awe of the natural environment and wildness of these amazing animals.  

Road to Kruger

The trip to Kruger from Jo-berg is 450 Kilometers or about 300 miles. South Africa is a large country and thus has many natural resources and a variety of landscapes but I was amazed to see so many I saw in just the 4 hour drive to Kruger. From the gold mines near Jo-berg to the mountains at Kruger, the country side had large swaths of coal mining, corn (miille) fields, tangerines (najes) trees, as well as many other vegetables and fruits and mining operations (platinum. and other metals). It was like driving through West Virginia, Florida, Kansas and Colorado in one 4 hour trip.
    According to our van driver, Hussein, the towns near the park have grown as people move out of Johannesburg and towards the various natural resource industry as they have developed. Also transplants come from Mozambique which is on the north border of the park (according to Hussein some Mozambique people looking to come across the border chose to try and walk through Kruger park. They were eaten by lions. Unfortunately some of them had aids and thus there is now concern that the lions have contracted a form of the disease.)
   Kruger park is a huge wildlife reserve about the size of Rhode Island. The animals are monitored for disease but are not fed or interacted with in any other way.  There are various paved roads, dirt roads and watering holes that you can drive to. You cannot leave your vehicle and if lions are nearby you must roll up the windows.  June/July (winter months -no snow but cooler temperatures)) are supposed to be the best time to see the animals.
 

The public

I have tried to talk to as many of the local people of South Africa as possible. I have found that they are genuine and very open in their remarks. whether it be about the past or the present.
  I spoke to a  cab driver who took us from the hotel to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. The elderly man, wearing a dress shirt, tie and light jacket, told me of his experiences and opinions.
  He told me that he remembers well the terrible times during apartheid. He still feels that although apartheid ended some time ago there is still a segregation of people based on income level which mostly affects blacks.  He lives in a township north of Johannesburg where he does not have paved roads,  electricity or running water (he uses tablets to sterilize the water), diseases are common and education for the children is not readily available. He takes a four hour train ride to get to work and even then he makes barely enough money to feed his family.- his wife, a 14 year old boy, a 22 year old girl and a 4 month old grandchild.
  He says that he plans on voting for   the splinter group of the ANC- the Congress of the People (COPE). He stated that the ANC has been making promises that have not been kept such: as better housing in the suburbs, increased jobs, increased wages and more education assistance and he hopes for a change  He commented that most of the government attention is given to the population closer to the center of Johannesburg and not in the outlying areas where it is needed.
  The cab driver went on to speak about the growing number of refugees in Johannesburg. They mainly come from Zimbabwe (whose government is in turmoil) and Nigeria. This has led to camps of refugees and increased crime as the government has no plans to assist this influx of people. 
   He asked of how "our President Obama" was doing. He noted that he hopes to have such hope in his country soon. I reminded him that we have had democracy for over 200 years and in comparison South Africa is a baby (a democratic government was formed around 1994). He hopes for a better future not just for himself but especially for his children.

On the road

We are on the road once again. This time by van - 11 to be exact each marked with a magnetic "R" on its tail - filled with seven Rutgers folks and a driver. We have started our caravan journey to Krugar National Park. We will get into the park by 2:30 (a six hour drive from Jo-berg), tour about for animals (staying in the vans for those concerned parents out there) and then into Pretoriaskop Camp by sundown (as they close the gates to keep the animals out - if you are late you must pay a fine to have them open the gates).   A boma dinner (lots of meats and starches) tonight around the fire and then up at dawn to go on safari for the day. 
   It is not guaranteed that we will see any animals but I am told seeing a lion or hippo or elephant in its natural habitat is an incredible experience.  I look forward to the "hunt" to see one of these great animals. 

SAB Miller

The tour of SAB Miller was a fun experience.  The walk through the world of beer was enjoyable and the tasting of native South African beer was not to be missed.  Like normal beer but with a real bitter taste from the lack of a controlled process.  The free sample of Castle beer at the end of the tour was fine my only problem was that the beer was warm and did not really go down well.  The free world of beer glasses were a nice touch and a nice memento from my trip to the world of beer. The two free samples at the end of the tour were enjoyed and welcomed after a long day.

Harpreet Singh
Rutgers MBA