Of course nobody wanted to get up today. We were all feeling very dusty. I had more shiraz in my cardiovascular system than blood.
The worst off was Jill. She doesn't drink wine & instead put her energy towards beating some records at the bar. She loves tequila & in a couple of hours had done 11 tequila shots, plus the free wine from the tasting.
She now holds the 2nd place record!! The first place record is 20... which to me is craziness, but I reckon if the bar had stayed open later she would of conquered it.
The good thing about today is that we didn't have to put our tents down! It's the last stop on our tour & the first stop for the tour going back to Nairobi which will leave in a few days time. Goodbye Mississippi baby, you've been a great home for the past 40 days!
We stop at a memorial that was erected in honour of 7 men, from Guguletu who lost their lives after an anti-aphartied rally. On March 1986 on the corner, just metres from the memorial, these men were ambushed by police & shot in the street. Witnesses claim one man was shot while lying down injured & another was shot after he surrendered.
30,000 people from Guguleto attended the burial & although the government had banned placards, the memorial still stands today in honour of the men who lost their lives fighting for freedom.
Their names are Jabulani 'Jabu' Godfrey Miya, Christopher 'Rasta Piet, Zandise 'Semi' Zenith Mjobo, Zabonke 'Walk Tall' John Konile, Zola 'Mandela' Alfred Swelani, Themba 'Tshepo' Molefi & Mandla 'Baba' Simon Mxinwa.
Four of the seven have pictures with the plaques, while the other 3 in an effort to remain anonymous in their fight to oppose the apartheid, have no photos.
The memorial was once grand with lighting, brass framing on their photos & shiny tiles. It's now been vandalised, which is really, truly sad.
I am glad to have heard these men's stories & to have written about them, so others may know their names. I'm sure their are thousands of brave people, just like these 7 men, who died in the effort to oppose the apartheid & who didn't get to see the change Nelson Mandela made.
Standing in this township, it feels like the fighting for equality & basic rights is still happening & a lot of change is still desperately needed.
The worst off was Jill. She doesn't drink wine & instead put her energy towards beating some records at the bar. She loves tequila & in a couple of hours had done 11 tequila shots, plus the free wine from the tasting.
She now holds the 2nd place record!! The first place record is 20... which to me is craziness, but I reckon if the bar had stayed open later she would of conquered it.
The good thing about today is that we didn't have to put our tents down! It's the last stop on our tour & the first stop for the tour going back to Nairobi which will leave in a few days time. Goodbye Mississippi baby, you've been a great home for the past 40 days!
The drive to Cape Town passes by quickly. It's overcast & rainy outside. We mostly sleep through the morning & arrive just before lunch.
Our first nights accommodation in Cape Town is organised by ATC & is in the city centre at a hostel called Ashanti.
It's very nice. Though I'm not super thrilled about being in a 6 bed girls dorm away from Tom.
We have a small amount of time to check in, organise our stuff & shower before we go out on a township tour.
I think most of the world has a rough idea about the apartheid regime that happened in South Africa. Everybody knows the name Nelson Mandela & that he fought for freedom & unity between black & white people. Sadly the effects of this regime are still seen & felt today. The township tours take tourists away from the flashy lights of the city & expose them to a daily reality that is nearly impossible to escape.
We were driven 20 minutes away from the city centre to a township called Guguletu. A 16km square area with 100,000 people living in it at 15,000 people per square kilometer, according to our guide. If you do the maths as I did, 15,000 people x 16 kilometres is actually 240,000 people in the township. Whatever number is correct, it's horrendous.
It's very nice. Though I'm not super thrilled about being in a 6 bed girls dorm away from Tom.
We have a small amount of time to check in, organise our stuff & shower before we go out on a township tour.
I think most of the world has a rough idea about the apartheid regime that happened in South Africa. Everybody knows the name Nelson Mandela & that he fought for freedom & unity between black & white people. Sadly the effects of this regime are still seen & felt today. The township tours take tourists away from the flashy lights of the city & expose them to a daily reality that is nearly impossible to escape.
We were driven 20 minutes away from the city centre to a township called Guguletu. A 16km square area with 100,000 people living in it at 15,000 people per square kilometer, according to our guide. If you do the maths as I did, 15,000 people x 16 kilometres is actually 240,000 people in the township. Whatever number is correct, it's horrendous.
We were taken down through the shacks & into a ladies home. We could see her small, cramped & scavenged house which consisted of patch work walls made from tin, wood, cardboard & plastic. She had no power (Though some shacks had illegally connected power for Tv's & satelittes) and instead relied on a small gas stove & paraffin. There was linoleum on the floor, no windows for fresh air & a door, that would barely keep the cold out, let alone robbers. She had a double bed & a bench with all of her cooking equipment. We were told this is a pretty standard set up & most families will have 8 people living in one shack.
They have to walk to a communal water pump & collect their water in buckets to use at their shacks. Toilets are in a communal toilet block which relies on public services to empty it on a regular basis, very often it is not emptied, creating quite a smell & health risks when people are exposed to it.
It was very sobering & saddening. This township is very close to the airport & our guide explained the prime minister looks at this every time he flies into Cape Town, yet for some reason he has spent millions of taxpayers money upgrading his mansion instead of looking after these people. The people in this township are faced with countless problems. One of the biggest primary problems which imprison's them to this life & creates other socioeconomic problems is unemployment.
The South African unemployment rate is 27%, in this town it's 50%, which is extremely high. A big factor of this is the location of the township & with the problems of limited to no public transport to & from the city. If people can't travel into the town to look for work or maintain a job, it's not likely they will have an income or an opportunity to leave the township.
The daily problems in this community apart from the terrible & cramped dwellings & community facilities are HIV, drug usage, especially crystal meth & teenage pregnancy.
The crime rate is very high in conjunction with the drug usage. Robberies, assault, rape & murder are very common.
I still can't wrap my head around the fact that South Africa is a wealthy country in comparison to others we have seen. I don't understand how the government can continue to let these people be born here to suffer & die in these townships.
Peaceful protests, petitions & letters have long been ignored & the continued sense of injustice is igniting the people's anger & fuelling more radical acts of defiance, simply to get attention.
We were told they have started to burn down the trains that go by & very recently burned down the fire station. I'm very sad to hear this & I think it will do more bad then good, will only further isolate them & will cost them their own lives. Our guide said the damage to the fire station will cost the government millions to fix. He then goes on to say in winter when it's cold, fire's are a huge problem in the townships. The houses are built against each other & often from very flammable materials. A lot of people will have gas, fuel or paraffin in their homes which causes explosions. He pointed out a section of new looking tin huts & said a fire very recently wiped through here & killed lots of people, who couldn't get out. Amongst them were 9 children. At this point, I'm very close to crying.
It's a very depressing situation.
After we visit the house, we drive further into the township & see the every day life of the people. Kids are coming home from school, street dogs are running around & there are adults everywhere. It's strange to see so many people sitting around. I suspect some of the people sleeping on the grass & slumped over the chairs are either high or drunk.
They have to walk to a communal water pump & collect their water in buckets to use at their shacks. Toilets are in a communal toilet block which relies on public services to empty it on a regular basis, very often it is not emptied, creating quite a smell & health risks when people are exposed to it.
It was very sobering & saddening. This township is very close to the airport & our guide explained the prime minister looks at this every time he flies into Cape Town, yet for some reason he has spent millions of taxpayers money upgrading his mansion instead of looking after these people. The people in this township are faced with countless problems. One of the biggest primary problems which imprison's them to this life & creates other socioeconomic problems is unemployment.
The South African unemployment rate is 27%, in this town it's 50%, which is extremely high. A big factor of this is the location of the township & with the problems of limited to no public transport to & from the city. If people can't travel into the town to look for work or maintain a job, it's not likely they will have an income or an opportunity to leave the township.
The daily problems in this community apart from the terrible & cramped dwellings & community facilities are HIV, drug usage, especially crystal meth & teenage pregnancy.
The crime rate is very high in conjunction with the drug usage. Robberies, assault, rape & murder are very common.
I still can't wrap my head around the fact that South Africa is a wealthy country in comparison to others we have seen. I don't understand how the government can continue to let these people be born here to suffer & die in these townships.
Peaceful protests, petitions & letters have long been ignored & the continued sense of injustice is igniting the people's anger & fuelling more radical acts of defiance, simply to get attention.
We were told they have started to burn down the trains that go by & very recently burned down the fire station. I'm very sad to hear this & I think it will do more bad then good, will only further isolate them & will cost them their own lives. Our guide said the damage to the fire station will cost the government millions to fix. He then goes on to say in winter when it's cold, fire's are a huge problem in the townships. The houses are built against each other & often from very flammable materials. A lot of people will have gas, fuel or paraffin in their homes which causes explosions. He pointed out a section of new looking tin huts & said a fire very recently wiped through here & killed lots of people, who couldn't get out. Amongst them were 9 children. At this point, I'm very close to crying.
It's a very depressing situation.
After we visit the house, we drive further into the township & see the every day life of the people. Kids are coming home from school, street dogs are running around & there are adults everywhere. It's strange to see so many people sitting around. I suspect some of the people sleeping on the grass & slumped over the chairs are either high or drunk.
We stop at a memorial that was erected in honour of 7 men, from Guguletu who lost their lives after an anti-aphartied rally. On March 1986 on the corner, just metres from the memorial, these men were ambushed by police & shot in the street. Witnesses claim one man was shot while lying down injured & another was shot after he surrendered.
30,000 people from Guguleto attended the burial & although the government had banned placards, the memorial still stands today in honour of the men who lost their lives fighting for freedom.
Their names are Jabulani 'Jabu' Godfrey Miya, Christopher 'Rasta Piet, Zandise 'Semi' Zenith Mjobo, Zabonke 'Walk Tall' John Konile, Zola 'Mandela' Alfred Swelani, Themba 'Tshepo' Molefi & Mandla 'Baba' Simon Mxinwa.
Four of the seven have pictures with the plaques, while the other 3 in an effort to remain anonymous in their fight to oppose the apartheid, have no photos.
The memorial was once grand with lighting, brass framing on their photos & shiny tiles. It's now been vandalised, which is really, truly sad.
I am glad to have heard these men's stories & to have written about them, so others may know their names. I'm sure their are thousands of brave people, just like these 7 men, who died in the effort to oppose the apartheid & who didn't get to see the change Nelson Mandela made.
Standing in this township, it feels like the fighting for equality & basic rights is still happening & a lot of change is still desperately needed.
Our third stop in the township is at a local bar.
Our arrival causes some commotion at the entrance way to the shack & a heap of smelly men walk out, blinking at the harsh sunlight. I soon realise why, when we duck down under the doorway & walk into the gloomy room. We take a seat & are introduced to an elder of the community. He has our attention for 30 minutes while he explains the drinking culture of the town & the process which is widely used throughout Africa to make beer & involves water, yeast, hops & some sort of grain or wheat.
He treats the 'beer' like a holy bible & reverently explains about the customs of modesty & respect when consuming it & the way it's made from the earth & connects them to the earth & their ancestors.
Men are supposed to wear long sleeves & pants, women need long skirts, though based on other thing's he said & the lack of women around, I doubt they are allowed.
You also have to kneel down on one knee, grasp the metal bucket in 2 hands & then drink it.
The bucket is passed around & a few people try it. I definitely don't, but Tom does & describes it as disgusting. There was an overwhelming metallic taste from the bucket they were drinking out of. After this the elder explained that a woman makes the beer & has to abstain for " plus or minus 3 to 4 days " while it is fermenting. I'm not sure what she abstains from, she definitely didn't look drunk like the men who were in there.
I don't particularly like the old man. As he gets more comfortable with us he let's slip a few things such as "men are superior as we all know" & he gets instantly angry when our guide steps in to remind him we have to leave shortly. He doesn't like being interrupted at all.
When we go to leave he once again tells us we need to respect him, the beer & the woman of the house & by respecting them he wants a donation. I'm not very keen on donating money here to these drunk men. He can see our hesitation about giving him money & pushes the woman into the spotlight & makes a big deal of telling people to take her picture & give her money.
He's quite adamant we need to photograph her. I feel so sorry for her, she's smiling & playing along, but I doubt she has a choice. Tom forks out a few coins to give to her as we leave.
I can't get out of their quick enough now & I'm shocked by the bright sun & the fresh air as I walk back out onto the street.
Immediately all the men who were in there before & had been waiting outside, march back in & resume their drinking. Some of them I suspect are high as well & can barely walk, let alone talk.
They could just be really tanked. There's no way to know how alcoholic that stuff is!
The fourth & final stop in the township is at a local restaurant & grill where we eat a late but delicious lunch. Finally it's back to town.
Once back at Ashanti, it's pouring down rain & I take a nap while Tom books our accommodation for the remainder of Cape Town.
At 7.30pm we walk 200 metres down the road to a restaurant called Nelson's eye, where we have our final group dinner, hand over the collective tip money to the crew & say our goodbyes.
It's that weird happy sad, though we are glad to be finished with the truck & camping. I've created a Facebook group for people from the tour group to share photos & stay connected. We've also exchanged personal details with a few favourite people & hope to have them stay with us in Australia one day!
It's sad to say goodbye to Steven, Joseph & Jurumba. They spent the afternoon at the ATC head office organising the return trip which leaves on the Sunday, in 2 days time.
I really feel sorry for them when Jurumba tells us that they have an exclusive group of 20 Chinese people who don't speak a drop of English.
This is going to be extremely frustrating work trying to communicate with them, let alone to teach them how to put up tents, help out with cooking/cleaning & to keep time. To me it sounds ridiculous that ATC has allowed a group of 20 Chinese who speak no English to go on an adventure overland camping trip with no interpreter.... It's not going to work at all.
After dinner it's blissfully bed time! I'm on the top bunk & slightly worried I will roll off it during the night after having such a huge space in the tent.
My fears were unfounded though & I sink down into the mattress like a rock & barely move a muscle all night.
- Alli
You also have to kneel down on one knee, grasp the metal bucket in 2 hands & then drink it.
The bucket is passed around & a few people try it. I definitely don't, but Tom does & describes it as disgusting. There was an overwhelming metallic taste from the bucket they were drinking out of. After this the elder explained that a woman makes the beer & has to abstain for " plus or minus 3 to 4 days " while it is fermenting. I'm not sure what she abstains from, she definitely didn't look drunk like the men who were in there.
I don't particularly like the old man. As he gets more comfortable with us he let's slip a few things such as "men are superior as we all know" & he gets instantly angry when our guide steps in to remind him we have to leave shortly. He doesn't like being interrupted at all.
When we go to leave he once again tells us we need to respect him, the beer & the woman of the house & by respecting them he wants a donation. I'm not very keen on donating money here to these drunk men. He can see our hesitation about giving him money & pushes the woman into the spotlight & makes a big deal of telling people to take her picture & give her money.
He's quite adamant we need to photograph her. I feel so sorry for her, she's smiling & playing along, but I doubt she has a choice. Tom forks out a few coins to give to her as we leave.
I can't get out of their quick enough now & I'm shocked by the bright sun & the fresh air as I walk back out onto the street.
Immediately all the men who were in there before & had been waiting outside, march back in & resume their drinking. Some of them I suspect are high as well & can barely walk, let alone talk.
They could just be really tanked. There's no way to know how alcoholic that stuff is!
The fourth & final stop in the township is at a local restaurant & grill where we eat a late but delicious lunch. Finally it's back to town.
Once back at Ashanti, it's pouring down rain & I take a nap while Tom books our accommodation for the remainder of Cape Town.
At 7.30pm we walk 200 metres down the road to a restaurant called Nelson's eye, where we have our final group dinner, hand over the collective tip money to the crew & say our goodbyes.
It's that weird happy sad, though we are glad to be finished with the truck & camping. I've created a Facebook group for people from the tour group to share photos & stay connected. We've also exchanged personal details with a few favourite people & hope to have them stay with us in Australia one day!
It's sad to say goodbye to Steven, Joseph & Jurumba. They spent the afternoon at the ATC head office organising the return trip which leaves on the Sunday, in 2 days time.
I really feel sorry for them when Jurumba tells us that they have an exclusive group of 20 Chinese people who don't speak a drop of English.
This is going to be extremely frustrating work trying to communicate with them, let alone to teach them how to put up tents, help out with cooking/cleaning & to keep time. To me it sounds ridiculous that ATC has allowed a group of 20 Chinese who speak no English to go on an adventure overland camping trip with no interpreter.... It's not going to work at all.
After dinner it's blissfully bed time! I'm on the top bunk & slightly worried I will roll off it during the night after having such a huge space in the tent.
My fears were unfounded though & I sink down into the mattress like a rock & barely move a muscle all night.
- Alli
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