Frankfurt (Germany)
Johannesburg, Kruger Park (South Africa)

    Kruger Park

Contrary to initial expectations, my first African experience was a very interesting one.  I went to Johannesburg as a keynote speaker for the first Linux Africa Conference and to visit a business partner.

On the way to Africa, I spent a day in Frankfurt (my first time there). In South Africa, I was a guest at a local home and had a chance to see post-Apartheid Johannesburg, the Kyalami race track and the Kruger National Park.

Not much to say about the short stay in Frankfurt. It is one of the modern German cities (more modern, cosmopolitan, and americanized than average). The highlight was the "crepe with nutella" I had at the Haupfbanhof, my favorite treat when I'm in Germany (I suspect crepes are not really a local creation, but Germany has the best train station crepes in the world).

Arrived at the modern JHB airport in the middle of the southern Autumn. Johannesburg is a bit South of the Tropic of Capricorn, in the center of South Africa, and at an elevation of 5000 ft above sea level. That makes the wheather very pleasant and cooler than most people imagine when they think about Africa.

Linux Africa was held in the Kyalami convention facilities. That reminded me of the Formula 1 Grand Prix I used to follow on TV many years ago. After losing F1, the owners of the racetrack shortened the circuit and built a business center around it. I spoke in the press-room, which is right above the pits.

I stayed at our business partner family home. Their warm hospitality made my stay much more confortable and interesting than a typical business trip. James (the 13-year old) says books are old-fashion and the Internet is the future. Hannah (the girl in the center) generously lent me her room when additional guests unexpectedly showed up during the weekend.

South Africa is rich and the center of the African economy. There is a well developed manufacturing industry and the country has almost exclusive control of the reserves of many minerals (gold, diamonds, uranium, etc). Infrastructure is excellent and comparable to what is found in developed countries.

The hills we see around Johannesburg are actually "mine dumps", earth removed from the gold mines. Some mines are 3 kilometers deep (including the one I visited in Gold Reef City) and travel many kilometers underground.

If you heard about the soaring crime levels and all the problems of Johannesburg, that was no exaggeration. The city center is decadent and a "no-go" zone for visitors. But that is mostly a localized problem and does not give you the whole picture. Business has migrated to the suburbs and things are much better outside Johanesburg.

The Apartheid crumbled in the first half of the 1990's, but its consequences are still apparent. Having dinner in Sandtown (a suburb of Johannesburg), you may feel in an European city, just with more Mercedes and BMWs on the streets. That is far from the reality of the black townships and shanty houses only a few miles away. But, considering the context, there is much progress in that area too.

The majority of the population (about 75%) is African. They speak one of the about 10 different official languages (from what I heard, Zulu is the most common) and now control the government. Afrikaners (whites and coloureds descendants of the first European settlers) speak Afrikaans, a Dutch-derived dialect makes up most of the the rest of the population. There are also recent European implants, most from England. The common-denominator language is English.

The English spoken by South Africans has its own character (Americans tend to think it sounds British) and was relatively easy for me to understand. They say "Shame" frequently, apparently in many different contexts (some meanings I could identify: "really?", "I see", "Oh, no"). A car trunk is called "booth" as in "place the luggage in the booth" (same as in England). Traffic lights are called "robots" and cars run in the left side of the road. Another expression is "at the end of the day", with the same meaning as in American english, but used much more frequently.
 
 

South Africa doesn't have (or so I read) a coherent indigenous cuisine. I heard that the traditional African staple food is cornmeal porridge. There are the boerekos ("farmer's food"), from which I sampled the "biltong" (jerky) and the "boerewors" (farmer's sausage). Barbecue is "braai", which seems to be a popular weekend sport. Other than that, there is good beef and fish and a good deal of English influence (i.e. lots of meat).

The beer is surprisingly good (surprisingly to me because I had never heard of African beer). The most popular brand is "Castle" (a good lager, brewed by the omnipresent South African Brewery). Another good lager is the Windhoek, brewed in Namibia. There are also pubs serving the excellent English ales. My host had a full-featured authentic English pub (including rare sports memorabilia) inside the house. South African wines are also know for their quality and I had the opportunity to try some of them.

On the weekend, Paul, Karen and the twin girls (Paul was the organizer of the conference) took us (the international speakers) to visit the Kruger National Park. This is a huge strip of land bordering Mozambique. Visitors can drive through the park and can see wild animals in their natural habitat. Different from zoos, humans are the ones in cages or within electrified fences.

What I saw did not exactly match the image of Africa savanas I had from TV documentaries (which are usually made in East Africa - Kenya and Tanzania). Kruger Park is not flat and has relatively dense vegetation (see the Elephant picture below). But it delivers all the big mammals you see on TV.

With the exception of the nocturnal leopard, I saw all of the "Big 5" (Elephant, Rhino, African Buffalo, Lion, Leopard).

We stayed in one of the camps in the South side of the park. It is protected by electrified fences and has cabins with the amenities of modern life (even air-conditioning, braai grill, and a fully stocked grocery store).

Best time to drive and see animals are early in the morning and late in the afternoon. I took one of the guided walks, which was very interesting and instructive. While we don't get too close to wild animals on foot, the ranger tells many stories and gives a lot of interesting information such as how to identify a rhino by examining its droppings (white rhinos eat grass, black rhinos eat leaves).

Among the animals I saw:

- African Elephants (including a very close encounter)
- Many types of antelopes everywhere (Gazelle, Impala, "bucks")
- White Rhinos (difficult to see)
- Monkeys (surprisingly, not a lot of them)
- Warthog (not even the babies are cute)
- Many birds
- Turtle (crossing the road, very similar to the one I had as a pet)
- Lions, including a female that got really close to us
- African buffalo (only one, from a distance)
- Zebras
- Giraffes