May 30-June 1 — to South Africa!

It is just before 5 a.m. SAST and I’ve been up for almost an hour — a combination of too much excitement and jet lag. It feels like it’s been at most 24 hours since we left the States, but with the time changes and all, it’s now two days later!

The looooong lens

The looooong lens

No problems at JFK at all. The Chicagoans arrived without incident along with all their bags, we meandered over to the international terminal, checked in with South Africa Airways, got some food, waited around some more and finally boarded the plane.

SAA flight taking off from JFK

SAA flight taking off from JFK

Last sight of US: Long Island NY

Last sight of US: Long Island NY

I grabbed a photo or two of the departure and we all settled down for the flight.

SAA serves excellent — and abundant — food. We had a nice dinner (Evan had salmon, I had beef), watched some videos, talked for a while, slept for a while and finally — some 4100 km after we left New York — saw the lights of the African coast. It was way too dark to see anything in Dakar but we were all intrigued by a kora — a gourd-bodied guitar-like instrument — that one of the new passengers brought on board. We had another meal (breakfast), more dozing, more chatting, another meal (lunch, with poor Dana trying to wake Gina up to make a choice between meat and fish).

Africa! Africa below!

Africa! Africa below!

Finally the light was good enough to see — Africa! Africa below us!! And then we were on the ground in Johannesburg.

The passport and customs check was thoroughly routine, but it really hit us in the arrivals hall at JNB: “we’re in AFRICA!” A group hug didn’t begin to express the joy and wonder of it all.

We were met by a driver from the property where we stayed overnight. Evan engaged him in current-affairs discussions and I have to confess to being frankly shocked by his xenophobic attitudes expressed so freely: I’ve never heard anyone defend genocide before nor complain that the police were stopping ordinary citizens from setting fire to illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe and Mozambique. We also saw homeless folks in the outskirts of the city burning fires for heat and cooking and are struck by the generally negative view of South Africans as to their future — there’s still a very serious black-white divide and the current black-against-black violence has not helped at all. And living behind gates and walls with barbed wire and/or electrified fences is not my idea of living.

But we put that all aside when we arrived at the hotel which is lovely and exotic (thatched roofs, African colors and appointments, and even some zebras on the property which Evan HAD to see — by flashlight!). Another meal (dinner) and finally to bed.

This morning I had one moment of absolute panic when it seemed that the portable storage unit I bought for photos wasn’t working. Turned out it was just a battery issue (the way I was carrying it appears to have turned the unit on and totally discharged the battery!) and it works fine now with it charged.

Walked around a little this morning — the grounds are lovely and there’s a large dog (the owners say it’s a wolf) who keeps trying to get into all the rooms. One more meal at 7 a.m. (breakfast!) and then the Fearless Foursome is off to the airport for Richards Bay.

Fountain at guesthouse

Fountain at guesthouse

Dog at guesthouse

Fearsome foursome

Fearsome foursome

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