南非之旅 2002.4

2002.4

I took a month vacation last year in South Africa. I spent most time in the nature reserves - bush walking (with rifles of course), camping, etc. in northern part of the country. I think SA is a hidden jewel for travelers: beautiful country, parks, excellent services (black natives trained by Dutchman), very lower cost (Rand is almost the same as RMB Yuan). However, I wouldn’t want to live there due to the uncertainty of the politics and unsettledness of the society. My friend’s family maid was robbed right in front of their house front gate. All well off residents, including whites, East Indians, or Chinese, have to live in electrically wired compound. When I went out alone to buy some local wine (excellent wine with incredible low price) to take home, the surroundings scared me to death. I almost felt sorry for the whites there whose family have been there for generations and build most of things in that country. They had no place to go because all their life savings were either burned down by rebels or diminished with the crashing economy. Some skilled people (medical doctors, for example) are luckier than the most. They moved to Canada, UK, and Australia. But majority of the once hard work ing none black people are left there jobless and penniless.

Bush walking: 來福槍是一定要帶的. 我們一行8人，每天出行時導遊在前麵持搶帶路，後麵一黑人小夥攜槍殿後。槍不是用來對人的，是防範野獸。最危險的是大象，發瘋的大象是無敵的。獅子很懶，一般不會主動進攻；豹子很隱蔽，白天不會出來活動。隻有大象，本來就是林中之王，而且愛結群，成天在樹林裏走來走去。如果發現有人踏入領地，就會咆哮。在庫格國家公園時，我們的車不幸誤入一群大象的pass，加上那天是我開車，還不習慣開左邊，又急著倒車逃跑，一下子倒到溝裏去了。回想起來，那天真是撿了一條命啊。

同行的有一對夫婦，男的律師、女的會計。自從black majority government 上台後，優先雇傭黑人，兩人都失業了。南非貨幣Rand貶值厲害，他們一生的儲蓄縮水，不可能移居國外，還不知道明年他們如何呢。

糟糕，誤入大象群了：


不好，殿後的大象發現我們了，趕快逃吧！


走累了，就在小河裏洗個澡，來杯香檳解解渴。搶是不能忘的。


Camping: 英國人和丹麥佬在深山老林人煙罕見之處建有木頭的cabin,非常別具一格。先是 4 wheel drive 的軍用吉普車開上一天，終於到了。隨行的黑人趕緊生火開飯，飯菜非常豐富。營地有電網環繞，以防野獸。

在幾十裏無人煙、雪白的沙灘上野餐、Snorkling:


巨大的sand dune.看看我們的吉普車像個小螞蟻。我們是方圓幾十、百裏的唯一人煙。


在路上：路旁的工藝品


山火（bush fire)


動物們： 長頸鹿


三趾蛙


螞蟻山


大象洗澡


鱷魚和鷺


河馬一家


可惜還有很多照片都找不到了。

途中路過南非自建的“煉油廠”。當年因為南非的白人種族主義政府，以美國為首的國家對南非實行禁運，沒有石油，南非人就發明了用“植物油”來開車。當然現在這些工廠都已經廢棄了，但是南非人的“自力更生”精神給我留下深刻印象。

Other than spent a lot of time up north in the wild, I did manage a solo trip down to the south end: Cape Town (開普敦). Cape Town is one of the most beautiful towns I've visited。 去開普敦前我從約翰斯特堡Shopping Mall裏一家旅行社訂的計票、旅館、租車等。雖然在約堡時練過一下開左邊，到了開普敦後還是出了個小岔子。在租車場拿到車，我就傻眼了：是一輛從來沒見過的小車，有點像當年東歐國家的Lada，當然是手動擋，不過手擋在左邊，要用左手控製。好在前幾年與LD遊澳大利亞時，俺也開著左邊的手動車出去幾百公裏，在這兒倆眼一抹黑的情況下，雖然俺心裏直打鼓，也隻有硬著頭皮二話不說，開著車就上路了。還沒出車場呢，俺就堵在單行道的反方向上了。趕緊倒車吧，這才發現俺不知道怎麽倒！那手擋上居然沒有R(reverse)的字樣。把俺急得，唰一下，滿頭大汗就下來了。幸虧車場的人跑出來救駕，才知道那倒車的機關。不過後來咱將開普敦逛了個遍，這車還是勞苦功高。

At top of the famous Table Mountain. It got it's name as it looks like a table (flat top and steep edges). These guys are getting ready to rock climb.


Someone was asking if black people have racial discrimination or not. I'm not sure. But when I was in South Africa I've heard many stories about native blacks killing whites as revenge after the ANP took over the power. The worst happened in Angola where almost all white farmers were either killed or driven out of the country losing everything they worked hard to build, very sad and true stories. Even now, Angola is still off limits for citizens from many white majority countries. It’s not known by many Chinese. I guess where is “class struggle, where is rebel (discrimination)”.

When you go there you must take malaria (虐疾) vaccine. There are many vaccines for malaria these days. This time I took some malaria vaccine pills a week before going to Africa. Couple of years before that a friend of mine had to start taking pills month before the trip. The progress in these areas advances fast.

But the vaccine only reduces the symptoms as I was told. Without the vaccine, people could die of the high fever or other symptom of malaria.

I did bush walking and camping in wildness while in Africa. Lions were my neighbors then . But luckily didn't get malaria.

[北方憨哥在北美]

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