The good life: in and around South Africa
Door: Marijn
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Marijn
15 Mei 2008 | Lesotho, Malealea
Hello my friends, “hoe gaan het”??
Receiving an update from a friend of mine in Barcelona, I realised that it has already been such a long time since my last update from South Africa! Sorry sorry guys…, hopefully I can make it up to you with some nice stories :-)
For the last two weeks, my parents have been here to visit me and we made a wonderful trip together. Starting off in Stellenbosch, showing them the places where I use to go, introducing them to my friends here and of course doing a lot of sightseeing in and around Cape Town. We rented a car together and drove next to the coast, doing the famous ‘Garden Route’ which covers some of the most beautiful parts of South Africa. Sleeping in nice B&B’s, meeting some very colorful people and having loads of fun, we moved further northwards to the well-hidden and adventureous Kingdom of Lesotho. Being one of the last remaining kingdoms of Africa, this country is just a-ma-zing: people are still living as they did centuries ago, you won’t find many tourists and we really got a sense there of the ‘other Africa’. Since Lesotho is well-known as the ‘Kingdom in the Sky’, its lowest point is still more than 1.000 meters above sea-level (!), the best way to explore its marvellous landscape with endless green hills was… by pony! The lodge where we stayed organised an overnight-trip and before we knew, the three of us were all saddled-up to explore the country. With a local guide in front, followed by a pack-horse and our three ponies, we were riding for hours through the steep mountains, we crossed rivers, slept in a middle-of-nowhere village hut and we saw parts of the country not reachable by car or by foot…, it was great!
Being in Stellenbosch for about four months now, things have found their way. So far, I didn’t have to work that hard for Uni, which gave me the opportunity to enjoy the good things in life! I have made some very nice friends, mostly from Holland and with a group of about 6 ‘Dutchies’ we have a lot of fun, and we’re enjoying ourselves very well. In the meanwhile, we passed our scuba-dive course, we surfed almost every week, we’re going out for dinner pretty often, we party frequently in Stellenbosch or Cape Town and we use most of the weekends for trips. Living in Stellenbosch is pretty laid-back and the city is very safe, compared to other parts of South Africa. The power-cutts, which we had to deal with in the beginning of the semester are almost over and the biggest issue where people in the streets talk about is the current situation in Zimbabwe. Especially the quite passive position taken by South Africa’s leading party, ANC is in my opinion rather doubtful. Another ‘issue’ which fills up all the newspapers every week is the number one sport here… rugby!! The local team of the Western Cape, ‘the Stormers’ is playing a prestigious tournament right now, which is called the ‘Super 14’ and we like to visit their home-games as much as we can. Imagine a stadium, filled with about 50.000 people, all going nuts when Jean de Villiers scores a ‘try’… You could compare it to visiting a Champions League soccer match in Europe, however, tickets are not even 6,00 Euros ;-)
Last time, I concluded telling you about our planned trip to Kruger National Park and Mozambique. We had a two weak’s break with Easter and wanted to explore the region, so me and three friends rented a Volkswagen Chico (the “Tropical Danny”) and made one of the best trips ever! Starting in Johannesburg, we drove through the Kruger Park, spotting the ‘Big five’ while listining to the Lion King blowing out of our speakers and we crossed the border into Zimbabwe. We entered the country just one week before the elections and the three days we spent there, left a big impression with all of us. Everything we are so used to in our Western society was messed up there: 80% of the people didn’t have a job, supermarkets were empty, 10.000.000 Zim-Dollars were not even worth 1 Euro, fuel could only be bought on the black market, the army was treatening with a coup and among all of this, we met the most friendly and helpful people… Of course we spoke with them about the planned elections and what was about to happen, and most of them already predicted the situation which has knocked-out the country right now. I feel so sorry for them, however at the same time there’s so little I can do.
Back to the good life: we crossed the border to Mozambique, a tropical paradise with a magnificent coast-line at the Indian Ocean. We spent our first days in Vilanculo, where we made a boat safari on a traditional sailing boat (‘dhow’) to some tropical islands: snorkelling, sleeping under the palm trees and enjoying delicious fresh sea-food platters. When we were totally relaxed and with our stomaches filled, we took off for Tofo, which is after the Great Barrier Reef the best scuba-dive spot in the world. What a place to test our scuba-skills :-) We met one of our friends there and did two days of diving, which really is a special activity. Although I looked pretty ‘green’ in my face on the spead-boot which took us to the dive-spot, the reef was stunning, the preparation loads of fun and the strange and colorful fish (yes, we saw sharks) were amazing! We continued our way southwards to Mozambique’s capital Maputo, which is a perfect example of a chaotic and criminal African city. During our two day’s stay, we were stopped by the police at least six times, trying to get money from us for the most bizarre things. When one of the cops seemed fascinated by my binoculars, I asked him why he was already looking for 5 minutes through it, and he told me with a very serious face: “Young man, this is all for your own safety”. Need I say more…, in Holland we have an expression for these people: ‘droef-toeters’. We went to some good restaurants, spent some money in the casino, bought some souvenirs at the market and left quickly for our next destination: Swaziland, without having paid one cent to the police. In ‘Swazi’, we visited a traditional cultural village, participated in some kind of ritual dancing, had a personal visit with a ‘real’ medicine-man and drove via the Kruger Park back to Jo’burg… what – a – trip!!!
The next two weeks will unfortunately be dominated by my final exams and another assignment which I have to make. I’m taking only two courses: one about apartment-ownership and the other about arbitration, both are pretty interesting in a way. Fortunately the final exam’s only count for 50% and one of them is a so-called take-home exam, which I can make within 48 hours wherever I want, so I will probably be fine. Of course I have already made new plans and one of them will make at least some of you jealous: together with two friends from Maastricht, I am gonna climb the highest mountain in Africa, the Ki-li-man-ja-rooo!!! We booked our flights to Tanzania for the 3rd of June and we will climb the mountain (5895m) well-organised with guides, cooks and ‘carriers’ in about 6 days to the top. I’m really looking forward to it, although I have no idea what to expect. After the day of our planned return from the snow-tops, we will relax for a week at the ‘spice-island’ Zanzibar and from that moment, I will have another two months to explore this wonderful continent called Africa. No detailed plans yet, but yesterday I heard that my younger brother Sander is coming over to Tanzania for more than two weeks! I’m really excited about it and I’m sure that we’re going to make a very special trip together :-) The weekend of 15th-17th of August, a reunion is planned in London, with my friends from last semester in Montreal, so I will probably fly home from Africa, via London to the Netherlands by the end of August!
Dear friends, thanks a lot for the messages you sent me! I hope that I’ve made it up with you, at least for a little now :-) Hoping to hear from all of you very soon and looking forward to see each other again from the end of August on!
Baie, baie dankie en goeienaand, Marijn
-
15 Mei 2008 - 22:25
Panino:
Lekker marijn, ga je wel het lustrum weekend missen!
Que te divertas,
Panino
PS: Africa zit er denk ik niet in, scr&*(#&*$%(ptie gaat niet zo spoedig. -
16 Mei 2008 - 09:44
Mam Bertie:
Lieve Marijn, Net terug van onze meeting in the South, genieten we nog na. Het was baije gesellig met jou! Tja, bungee jump en scuba diving zijn uitdagingen voor de mnl.Sprokkies; op horse-gliding heb ik mijn patent!
Dag m'n lieve avontuurlijke zoon, succes met je exams en take care!
l.v.m. -
16 Mei 2008 - 11:51
André En Ans:
Ha lieve Marijn,
Wij hebben geweldige verhalen gehoord en foto's gezien van je ouders.
Wij hebben hier maar een saai leven.... ha ha.
liefs van ons -
16 Mei 2008 - 19:00
Pap:
ha Marijn !
wat hebben we een prachtige tijd gehad,
uniek en close.............
enorm jammer dat de tijd dán juist vinnig voorbij gaat !
Baie danki vir jou geskelskap !!!
(-:
Zet 'em op met je eindspurt op de Uni en heel veel plezier in de rest van Afrika.
Je broertje komt je binnenkort opzoeken om samen met jou op verkenning te gaan !
Let op jezelf, kijk goed om je heen en...........enjoy life !!! -
18 Mei 2008 - 08:41
Marieke:
Hey Marijntje,
Nou ik zit weer lekker jaloers in hollanda, t kikkerlandje! Het ziet er allemaal heel leuk uit, ik probeerde je nog ff te bellen maar ik denk dat je toen met je pap aan het bungy jumpen was;)
Amuseer je en ik spreek je hopelijk snel!
Dikke Kus Marieke -
19 Mei 2008 - 07:59
Kees:
Heej Marinus!
Wat een supervette avonturen daar zeg! Ik zie dat je het erg naar je zin hebt, gelukkig maar... Veel plezier nog daar en ik vond het erg leuk om weer eens een verhaal van je te lezen!
Tot ziens in Maastricht!
Kees -
20 Mei 2008 - 15:39
Jeroen Bossers:
Hey Marijn!
Hier in Maastricht gebeurt natuurlijk ook vanalles maar je verhaal en de foto's doen me beseffen je het wel heel erg goed hebt daar! Maak er nog een mooie tijd van! -
21 Mei 2008 - 15:24
Flop:
Hyves, Facebook, waarbenjij.nu, je bent overal, oh, jah, ook nog in Zimbabwe, Swasiland, Lesotho, Canada, Great Britain, Nederand en Zuid-Africa......
mmmmmm, toch een tikkie jaloers!
haha, het ziet er top uit, leuk je verhalen te horen, geniet en ziet u snel....
Flop
PS Jaarclubweekend was helemaal gaaf, we hebben jou en Shan-kai een beetje gemist vóór het mexxen..... -
29 Mei 2008 - 19:31
Josine:
Wat een heeeerlijk leven heb jij toch! En je kan het zo lekker jaloers-makend vertellen ook..! hier en daar zelfs wel erg lonely-planet-achtig ;) Misschien moet je dat rechten maar laten zitten en gewoon lekker voor de lonely planet gaan werken: beetje reizen, erover schrijven en daarvan kunnen leven! :) Maar dan moet je wel wat meer oefenen: VAKER schrijven ;).. Want ik lees het, hoor (wat laat, maar toch..), ik hang aan je lippen! :) Kus! Josine -
05 Augustus 2008 - 21:50
Maarten:
Hee Marijn!
Wederom geweldige ervaringen! Via-via vernam ik dat jij in de afgelopen maandag ook weer het nodige heb gezien en meegemaakt, top zeg!!
Zelf vertrek ik in december naar Brazilie; maar kan nu al helemaal niet meer wachten. Zeker omdat ik daar Anna ga opzoeken (net vertrokken voor semester aan de uni daar...)!
Maar in de tussentijd moeten we zeker nog even treffen in NL!! Zal nog lastig worden met de beperkte momenten dat wij er beide zijn... ;)
Geniet er nog volop van!
Maarten
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