Rock Climbing at Umgeni Nature Reserve

South Africa will never cease to amaze me, amidst the giant sky, the rolling green hills, and the vibrant culture, lies these amazing jewels of nature where you are literally thrown in the bush (or ungracefully trip over a rock into a bush). Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve is situated 30 minutes outside Pietermaritzburg but feels like a world of its own.

Similar to most reserves in SA, Umgeni is home to karoo, wildabeests, zebra, and other antelope species that can be spotted from their grazing points in the grasslands or trying to hide under the shrubs. The trails throughout the park are little more than 30cm wide dirt paths overgrown by ferns, trees, and the delicately hanging (huge) spider.

To get to where we were climbing, we treked one of these overgrown paths winding along the side of a deep valley for about 3km. Not thinking, of course, I wore sandels and was flopping about everywhere. Actually, for the most part I was barefoot which made traction on the rocks a lot easier.

When we finally reached the climbing area, there were 15-20meter sandstone cliffs jutting out of the mountain. Beautiful: the views from the routes were amazing!

The people I went with are all reallly good climbers and climb about 5.13a (29 on the SA scale). It was fun to watch them dance up these routes but really intimidating considering I am no where near their levels. They provided my friend Jared and I with a rope and a rack for lead climbing, gave me a quick run down of how to lead and how to clean (take the equipment off the rock when you're done with a route) and we were off. Leading is so different than tope roping. It's kind of anerving because the falls are a little harder and you have to clip yourself in as you go up. So, if you don't have a good hold when you go to clip in, you fall a good 1 or 2 meters. My falls weren't bad. They were right after I clipped in on a 21 (5.10d YDS) and I just bounced gracefully off the rock. Stupid finger crimps and smears; couldn't find a good hold within my reach! But it all worked out so I can't complain. I even cleaned the routes, which was kind of scarry because you basically, attack yourself to the bolts and detach yourself from the rope at the top of the route, pull the rope through  the chains, reattach yourself to the rope, and then take all the equipment off the wall as your repel down.

So count for the day

Spider bites- 3?

Mosquito bites- a million

Ticks wiped off (hopefully no bites)- 2

Lead Climbs- 5

Cleaning-2

Animals- Lots

Howick Falls- beautiful

Plus, a night out with the girls and good Thai food!

All around good day!

Love you and miss you!!

East Meets West

Driving around in the minibuses is the only way to go. If you want to experience South Africa this is how you do it. Don’t rent a car, don’t take a cab, take a taxi. A taxi, or minibus, is a fourteen passenger van that has a designated route, similar to a bus, but has no set schedule and will only leave when the taxi is filled. Therefore, on 30 degree Celsius days, you can be waiting in the back of a taxi, sweating like crazy, for a good twenty minutes for enough people to fill it up. But you see all sorts of African people, ranging from old women carrying parcels filled with unrecognizable things, to little babies sitting on their mother’s laps and bobbing up and down every time a bump is hit. White South Africans do not take minibuses. You tell them you’re going to take a minibus and they look at you like you’re crazy. Of course, the drivers aren’t the best in the world and the situation isn’t ideal, but you’re experiencing South Africa in the best way possible. There’s no need to worry about sticking out like a sore thumb because, trust me, there is no way of getting around that. You might as well stamp USA or tourist on your forehead because people are able to spot you out for miles to come.

Durban is a cosmopolitan haven. It is where east meets west, rural meets urban, and city meets sea. It is such a mish-mosh of culture, history, and life. Driving around the city, you are surrounded by twenty story high rises and industrial buildings. Yet, next to these concrete monsters stands gold encrusted mosques, Hindu temples, and Victorian houses. For a moment, you’ll forget you’re in Africa. The bustling streets, the buzzing sound of construction, and the tall buildings will remind you of San Francisco, New York, or whatever city you prefer. But then you’ll see the people, you’ll see the decrepit walls of old buildings, and the thousands of minibuses and you’ll come back to reality.

Durban is a city in its own league. When you think of cities, you think of fast paced environments where everyone is going at a hundred kilometers an hours. In Durban, the scorching African sun slows things down. People leisurely stroll down the streets eating bunny chow, hollowed out bread with curry, or precariously balancing their days’ purchases on their heads. The architecture is beautiful in its own right. As far as being aesthetically pleasing, Durban buildings would rate very low. The scaffolding is falling down and dirt is everywhere, yet the concrete chunks fallen on the sidewalks and griminess has its own appeal and flare. It’s a reminder that you are in South Africa; that you are in a country whose history is ridden with political and social turmoil and that is slowly building up and developing.

Parts of the town, such as Victoria St., feel like San Francisco’s Chinatown where all the stores are selling knockoff clothing, CDs, fabrics, or whatever else you desire. Other parts, like the Victoria St. Market, feel like your walking through an Indian bazaar where spices, curios, jewelry, and bartering are the name of the game. However, walk 100 meters further and you’re reminded you are in South Africa and Zulu territory. And try as you might to not stand out, two American girls walking through a corridor filled with herbs, medicinal plants, animal bones, and dead hanging birds will always draw attention. Flour sacks filled with unidentifiable woods and plants and men sitting in shacks selling the filthiest, dead birds I have ever seen in my life, has a way of bringing the biggest, hidden smile to my face.

Although Durban is a lot livelier, I am very happy to be living in Pietermaritzburg. Maritzburg is a sleepy town but one in which I feel relatively safe. During the day, I can walk around by myself or go on early morning runs and know that as long as I stay close to university, I will be okay. Of course, I don’t walk around at night by myself (except within the confines of the gated campus), but I have a little more freedom than I would in a big city. Durban is home to 3.5 million people, a third of all the people living in KwaZulu-Natal province. Even though, I did not feel intimidated or scared walking around Durban this weekend, I did have to be hyper-aware of my surroundings. I tried to blend in as much as a could, which isn’t much considering I was taking minibuses and walking around completely Zulu neighborhoods, but I would never have walked alone. No one bothered us as we walked around, besides men yelling ‘hello’ at us, but we were way out of place. It almost makes me sad that such a beautiful country still has a long way to go. However, it’s getting there…slowly.

** The photos are courtesy of Mel because I didn't bring my camera to Durban. These last 2 are from the botanical gardens where there were amazing cycads!! The photo of the right is of a banyan tree... basically it looks upside down.

Follow up on PheZulu Cultural Village

My mom sent me an email in response to my last post, about the Zulu cultural village, in which she responded:

So about the tourism. We have Mystic Seaport, Williamsburg and Sturbridge village to name a few. People here love to share our culture and don't feel exploited. Same with the Native Americans--their reserves. So you don't really know if the site you went to was a labor of love--or just a money maker. But if people don't share history, the world would be ignorant.

Just my thoughts--I hate tourist traps, but not everyone has the opportunity to go to study different cultures or even want to read about them. 

As I feel like procrastinating on my biogeography homework regarding species richness in tropical rainforests, I am going to take this opportunity to rebuttal.

            Obviously, I agree with my mom that people should experience other people’s cultures so as to understand how they live and be less ignorant to the world around them. However, there is a difference between experiencing and learning about other people’s cultures and commodifying for tourism and to create a profit. The examples she presented about cultural villages in the United States, Williamsburg, etc., do demonstrate that cultural sites are not always associated with what Americans deem exotic. However, they are also historical sites which are attempting to depict the lives of past people. In contrast, sites such as PheZulu are creating shows out of the lives of many present day Zulu people and the important ceremonies which they participate in. Therefore, these traditions still hold a great deal of significance and meaning in many people’s lives.

However, as an outsider, straight off the tour bus, the audience is not able to comprehend the importance of the ceremony and only is able to view it as entertainment. Unless the audience has done its research and thoroughly studied Zulu culture, it will view the 20 minute show, which was supposed to represent a 3 day marriage ceremony, as just that, a show. The audience member does not understand why certain events are occurring or the importance of certain roles in the ceremony. He will view it as something to take a few photographs of to show his pals at home and then get back on the bus to carry on with his tour. He is unaware of the importance of these traditions and the cultural struggles faced by the societies.

In countries, such as South Africa, which are ridden with poverty, tourism becomes a valuable source of revenue. It helps to stimulate the economy, clean up the country, and draw public awareness to the county. It provides thousands of locals with jobs and much needed incomes. Therefore, cultural tourism sites do become important because it draws outsiders in and allows them to see how locals are living. The issue, however, is that the representation and depiction is skewed. Viewers are naïve, if not ignorant, to why cultures act the way they do and accept the culture as entertainment, not a legitimate lifestyle. As a tourist (yes, that is how am defining myself while I live here) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, I am immersed in Zulu culture. I have friends who hold ceremonies in which they slaughter cows in respect for their families, culture, etc. They are the people carrying on the Zulu traditions. The people at the tourist centers are taking a part of the culture, which they deem interesting, and mass-marketing it for tourists. Some may argue that the tourist, who attends the show, is learning about the culture because he is seeing part of it reenacted. I argue that it is taken out of context and has become for the soul purpose of entertainment.

However, people could be going to an actual Zulu village and exploiting the culture, which during the 1990s was quite common to do in Ethiopia and Papua New Guinea. With that type of tourism, a guide would take the tourists down to the village to watch people living their daily lives and to take a few photographs with them. There was no retribution or benefit for the local community.

Although this may seem quite cynical, I do feel that the cultural villages do serve a purpose of providing jobs and stimulating the local economy. In fact, they could instill in some people a desire to learn more about the culture and, thus, be educational. However, the way they are set up does not make education a high priority. To get to the stage, the viewer walk through a curio shop, then watches the show, takes a few pictures with the performers, and finally walks through a few huts before returning to the curio shop. There are no guides telling the viewer about Zulu culture, there are no placards explaining what things are; it is purely used to produce a profit.

In summary, the cultural villages are not the worse thing in the world. They are beneficial to the economy and could possibly instill a desire to learn about the culture from a select few tourists. In general, they just provide something to do and to see. They are something to tell friends about when the tourists return from their trips.

Where I'm Living

I was talking to my mom the other day and she pointed out that I have not really described the university or my dorms. The best thing to do, if you want to figure out where UKZN Pietermaritzburg is, is to use google earth and search the university. The address is Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and if you put in Milner Road that should give you some indication of the site of the school.

This is the Old Clock Tower Building on the main campus. It is now home to the English department. UKZN has three campuses. This one, the agriculture and science campus (at 10-20 minute walk), and the New Arts Campus (a 5-10 minute walk).

Instead of flyers to announce university events, there are these walls on a few spots of campus which will be painted every once in a while to announce a major event.

My dorm room. Bug free at the moment but I did have an ant invasion last week. I also bought a citranella candle yesterday which should help. Notice how bare the walls are. I need to invest in tape and pictures. It's really quite comfortable. Although the kitchen's a little gross and we have to carry our own toilet paper to the bathroom (where hot water is not always available). Considering how hot it is though, cold showers really aren't a bad thing.

Ok, back to school work! Fun Fun Fun!! Love you and miss you!

PheZulu

As part of our study abroad experience, the University arranged a few excursions for us. One was to the Tala game reserve, which I already wrote about, and the other was to PheZulu, which took place today.

I'm not going to lie and say that this excursion was the best thing in the world, because it wasn't but it was fun, nonetheless. PheZulu is a private reserve, cultural village, and crocadile/reptile zoo. We visited the cultural vilalge and the zoo.

We watched a performance of Zulu culture, in which they re-enacted part of a marriage ceremony. It was entertaining to watch, however, I am ethically against this type of tourism. It felt very exploitative and rude, as if we were saying "you're culture is so exotic that we must watch you dance around". Some of the spectators were quite rude too and interupted the performance so that they could take pictures of the dancers.

I think culture and heritage are very important things. I don't think that they should become toursit attractions in which we exploit people to understand how they live. It doesn't feel right to me. It's a very complicated issue, however. Tourism provides much needed revenue and income to local people, but then the question becomes: do you lose your identity by commodifying it? Think about it... respond if you like...

However, after the show, we got to watch crocadiles eat chickens and look at all of the poisonous African snakes, which was pretty fun.

And food was provided including a complementary Happy Valentine's Day shooter of armaretto. You can't go wrong with that.

I'm making this short (sorry because it's not too sweet) because I have a lot of reading to do in preparation for tomorrow's lectures.

Happy Valentine's Day! Love you all and miss you!!

Superbowl Sunday-- African Style

7 February 2010

 Happy Superbowl Sunday!

While everyone back home was sleeping and preparing for our national football holiday, I was on a quick safari of Tala Game Reserve.

Jealous?

It even included a gourmet buffet.

Now I know you’re jealous.

Tala Game Reserve is about 70km outside of Pietermaritzburg. It’s a small reserve so, unfortunately, does not have the Big 5 (only wildebeests). Nonetheless, the experience was awesome. It was about 37C (100F) and we cruised around in a giant truck stopping every time we saw cool animals so our guide could tell us about them. Because it was a short tour, we did not see the white rhino that lives in the reserve (and sorry lil sister, no elephants). But not to worry, by the time I leave Africa, I will have seen it all!

I know, I know, you all have chips and dips, beers and sodas, and Saints vs. Colts.

But I had water monitors eating dead impala, 2,000 pound hippos keeping cool in a dam, and wildebeests grazing under the African sun.

So you have giant padded men tackling each other?

Well I had twenty foot tall giraffe strolling 5 meters away from our truck.

You painted your face in favorite teams colors?

The zebra had stripes that would put your body art to shame!

You had big foam fingers?

We had cactus that if you get their white liquid in your eyes, you’ll instantly go blind. And if you sallow the milky liquid, you’ll die.

You drank yourself silly and ate 5 hotdogs?

We had a gourmet buffet complete with braai, oxtails, a whole fish, oysters, salads up the wazoo, pavlova, ice cream, milk tarts, and sticky toffee pudding.

Dare I continue?

On another note, my laptop finally has internet access! Thank goodness! But I have to bring it to the lan or library to use it. And I finally am cleared of 'alien' status so my registration is official. 

Reality Check

It’s Sunday. I have had three days of classes and I already have a lot of work. However, I can’t bring myself to study at this present moment. I have a lot on my mind that needs to be written down.

Yesterday, Rats, a Pietermaritzburg local and our new friend, asked us to play soccer with him in the township where he grew up. We eagerly accepted and I was very excited to play against a bunch of comvee drivers. Considering the temperature outside was 37 C, which is basically 100 F, the game was cancelled. So instead, we drove to the township Rats grew up in and went to a few bars (that’s what you do here).

The drive out to the township was beautiful; I wish I could tell you the name but considering I can’t even pronounce it, I’m not even going to try to spell it. It’s the middle of summer and scorching outside, but in this tropical environment, the grass is a brilliant green and the sky is the bluest blue you can think of.

Most of the infrastructure around PMB is pretty solid and it’s only when you go into the shacktowns and villages where paved roads are rare. We drove about 20km past a mixture of houses, mud and wooden shacks, farms filled with corn, and roadside stores selling alcohol or nicknacks. Every once in a while, a goat or a cow would wander into the middle of the road but cars just accept it and drive on.

When we about 2km from the bar, we entered the township that Rats is from. I felt bad, I couldn’t help but gawk at the surroundings. The landscape is thriving and, I have to assume fertile, yet walking down the street are shirtless and shoeless little boys with big, bloated bellies.

My heart sank into my stomach.

In a country who lives by ayoba (Zulu for life is good), so many people suffer. People we have met tell us that we should see Africa as a happy country and the people are amazingly happy. Everyone is so friendly and willing to teach us and talk to us, but it is hard for me to ignore the problems.

In a community agriculture class I am taking, the professor spoke about the thousands of malnourished people living off of bread and porridge. Africa, south of the Saraha, has the lowest amount of calories per person per day available. Even people who get the required 2350 Calories per day do not get the necessary nutrients. 80 percent of this country is anemic due to lack of fresh produce and meats. Kwashiorkor’s, the swelling of the stomach due to insufficient amount of protein, is seen in so many children.

Women suffer the worst because they are supposed to provide for their families and then eat last. My professor told my class that, growing up, his mother would drink tea to sustain herself as she toiled in the fields during the day and then eat 1 meal at night. While the women suffer, the men look for work in the cities or just go to a bar and get drunk. South Africa has the highest rate of alcohol abuse in the world. Being here two weeks has demonstrated to me how common alcoholism is.

The diversity in this country is so great. Everywhere I look there are juxtapositions between lush lands and hungry children, ritzy BMWs and barefoot women trekking down the hot pavement, hard working mothers and boozing men. I do not know whether to be angry or distraught.

But I promise this: As soon as I can, I’m going to do something about it. A country this welcoming and vibrant does not deserve the poverty and discrimination imposed on it. We must work together- ubontu.

Classes Begin

This morning, I was walking the 20 minutes to class at the agriculture campus when I saw a small, brown crab crushed on  the top of a sewage drain. I'm not going to lie,  this really confused me. Pietermaritzburg is 60 km of the coast. Why would a crab be here? It's wasn't the type of crab that you eat and it's not like it just decided to go on vacation and take a comvee to PMB. And I doubt a bird could have brought it that far so I don't get it?

I've attended 4 of my 5 classes. So far I am really excited for 2, at ease about 1, and intimated by 1.

The sustainable agricultural development class, which I attended this morning, is exactly what I wanted to take. We will have a experimental garden, which we will farm, and talk about agroecology, food security, and all that fun stuff. The professor is really knowledgable and brings in so many good examples which apply to South Africa and the world.

The biogeography and climate change class seems like a lot of work but will be well worth it. The professor is quite opinionated but is very confident and knowledgable. It will be interesting because this is a 3rd year course but we are covering basic biology and evolution, which is not taught in lower levels. I was told to 'tread lightly'.

South African literature will be good and I will enjoy the reading but I really don't want to buy the books. If I could bring them home it would be different but books are so heavy. I don't know... maybe I can find a way to bring them back.

Soccer and globalization is a cool topic, but it seems like it's going to be a lot of work and a lot of reading and I don't want to stress out over it. But then again, I've only attended 1 lecture so maybe it's not as bad as it seems.

The frustrating thing is I have 10 minutes between some of my classes but the walk between campuses is 20 minutes. Kind of makes things problamatic don't you think?

I've joined the soccer team and the mountain club (hiking, climbing, backpacking) both of which I am very excited for. However, I don't know what to do about soccer. I really want to play, but I don't want to have it dictate my life. It's frustrating because I don't think I can give a proper commitment because I want to have some time free to go backpacking and climbing. Hopefully it will work out. I don't know what to do.

Alright well, it's the beginning of my weekend. My friday class is cancelled for the day, which is nice. However, I need to start studying for other classes and figure out the book situation.

Love and miss you all!

Into the Drakensburg Mountains

Zulu legend has it that if you walk up a certain densly forested mountain, you will not come out alive. The locals swear mythical creatures live in the dark green, ominous forest and people who attempt to get from the bottom of the mountain to the top are unable to make the journey.

No I didn't do this. But maybe another time.

I saw South Africa yesterday. Yes, I know, I have been here for a week and seen Pietermaritzburg and part of Durban but the trips haven't been to the Africa I had intended to see. They had been to busy city centers and crowded tourist beaches.

Yesterday I was able to trek into the mountains and see the vibrant white clouds and the enormous ragid ridges of the Drakensburg mountains.

My friends met a couple locals who offered to show us around the mountains and take us to a braai, or bbq. Therefore, we crammed 7 of us into a Mazda coup are traveled the 100km to the town of Underberg, which is west of Pietermaritzburg. The drive was beautiful! There land was blanketed with brilliant green pastures that weaved their ways through the foothills. Cows and goats roamed the highway searching for delectible grasses and we drove past women precariously balancing groceries on their heads.

Underberg was quaint and busseling with life. We stoped at the butchery and bought 200rand worth of meats. This equated to 4 steaks, 2 tbones, 3 ft of sausage, and a pound of bacon. For 6 of us to share. We seasoned the meats with bbq spices and grilled them to perfection. The grill was located on the side of the butchery and 3 or 4 other groups happily grilled alongside of us.

It was an amazing experience. Everyone eating and chatting. Licking our fingers and using bread to sop up the left over juices. The sweet, smokey aroma of various meats (ranging from tripe to liver to sausage) filled the air as we sat enjoying our bounty.

I will come out and say it. I don't like meat. I don't enjoy the chewy rubbery texture of overcooked steak. I don't enjoy the fatty greasiness of bacon but this was different. The bacon was crisp where it needed to be and soft and spicy where it needed to be. The sausage was juicy and peppery and was an explosion of flavor in my mouth. The steak was buttery and every morsel melted in my mouth.

This was the first time I had experienced good food in South Africa and I'm hooked. I was with 5 other guys and I'm fairly certain I out ate all of them!

After the braai we traveled 25km to a waterfall. Lelo, one of the locals showing us around, told us it was a 15meter (45ft) waterfall and that we were going to jump off of it. We walked a well beaten path to the fall and could hear pounding water from a mile out. We arrived at the spot and immediately Lelo jumped in! We all watched awe struck- did he really just do that? Are we really supposed to do that? Mike went next; a little more timid than Lelo but he jumped.

I had to do it. I mean I'm in Africa! Why not jump off a waterfall? I stripped down to my bathing suit and looked over the edge and the awesome crashing of water. I'm jumping into this? My legs were jello. My heart was racing. We're doing it. Melanie promised if I did it she would too. So I had to.

3

2

1

I'm off! Plunging into the dark blue water; aiming for the spot were the white water ends. My feet hit and I go under, the water pushes me around and then I pop up as the current carries me down steam. I look up to where I jumped from and laughed! That was by far the highest thing I have ever jumped from! After about 10 minutes of contemplation Melanie jumped in what can only be described as a graceful leap only to end in her landing on her rear.

3 of the boys didn't do it. Understandable but we promised them we have to come back and try again.

The hike out was straight up a rock face. I felt like I should have had a harness on because it was problably more difficult than some rock climbing problems I've done (well maybe like a 5.6) but still.

Best day, thus far, I have had in Africa! I can't wait to see what else is in store for me!!

Love you all and miss you so much!!