Leaving the Kalahari

Our trip to the Kalahari was made even better by the amazing guides we had.  “Uncle” Ed, the main guide, was a quiet and really nice man with a lot of knowledge of the area and of game sighting.  Hermann, our other guide, became known among us as  “Determined Hermann” because he was so dedicated to helping us see and experience everything we wanted to see.  Both of these men are what here are called “North Cape,” which is a kind of shorthand for mixed race.  This was an area that was forcibly resettled during apartheid with a number of mixed race people, and their descendants dominate the area still today.  Hermann is actually both North Cape and from Cape Town, which is another place many mixed race people were settled.  Just like our amazing guides in the Transvaal, these two shaped our experiences in such wonderful ways. 

When we drove out of the Kalahari yesterday, we bunked down back in Upington, which is the small dusty and industrial city that is sort of the gateway to the Kalahari.  This whole region was originally colonized by the Afrikaners, so it is divided into large farms that exist to today, and huge pieces of land are still privately owned.  In fact in the 200 km drive to the Transfrontier Park from Upington, all of the land along the way is fenced and privately owned.  When you stop to think about it, it’s really kind of a powerful example of how land reform is key to changing the future of some parts of South Africa. 

This morning, we had one group that was up early, and went with Hermann into the downtown looking for the booths that sell goods on the street.  They weren’t set up yet, so we drove around the town, with all the long low buildings that looked like they were built mid-century and for purposes that valued efficiency over all else.  It’s not a pretty place, which is strange, because the incredibly gorgeous Oranje River runs right through town.  But all the buildings seem to turn their backs on the river, which is a real shame. 

The poverty here is evident.  Hermann drove us to the Pabalelo township just outside the city, and we drove through the old part, with small one or two room houses and some shops and churches.  It’s a Sunday morning here so we saw a lot of people, mainly women, dressed in their finest clothes and wearing big hats.  Here and there, we saw small groups of women dressed in white dresses, which is a sign that they attend the apostolic church (which is quite prominent here in South Africa).  As we left the old township, we drove through the new township, which is mainly tin shacks.  We noted that some of them have nice yards, with gardens and chickens, while others have cars, even really nice cars parked in the sandy yards.  That’s because the government is trying to put in basic services like water and electricity before they allow people to build more permanent homes in the new areas.  The land has been granted, but people have been living in these temporary shacks for several years, waiting and waiting for the government to move ahead.

We also had a chance to see a memorial to the Upington 26, who were convicted by the government for being part of a crowd that was protesting Apartheid when a police officer was killed.  Only one of the 26 actually killed the officer, and the others were widely seen as unfairly sentenced to death or long prison terms for political actions. The ANC government now has built nice homes in the area for their families, and the memorial has a photo of each of them.  There’s also a memorial to the police officer around the side.

Unemployment is high in this area, and while the area is highly westernized, it’s also quite poor.  At one point, as we were driving through the downtown, we saw three skinny barefoot kids sitting on the curb, and one was sniffing glue fumes through a plastic bag.  Alcoholism is a terrible problem here, with a particularly widespread grip on the young adult generation who are caught between the old and the new.  At the same time, we also met people who were full of positive energy for the future of the area, including both Ed and Hermann.  It’s interesting how in some cases poverty takes away hope, but in other cases, poverty gives people dreams about what the possibilities could be.  The end of apartheid gave a giant boost of positive energy for so many people and so much progress has been made.  Schools are being built, clinics are being started, electricity and water are coming to areas that have never had it, social workers are creating better care policies, state discrimination has been dismantled, and the Transfrontier park has been opened (and the road there has been paved!).  Eco-farming and sustainability initiatives are growing in the area, and a whole new massive solar park has been built outside of Upington.  This mix of challenge, natural beauty, amazing people, and hopefulness is sort of at the heart of what South Africa is today. 

We arrived in Cape Town in mid-afternoon.  We are free until tomorrow morning.