South Africa - Home of the Afrikaner

 January 7

Hello everyone!

South Africa is made up of so many ethnicities, languages and cultures. The country has eleven national languages! One of these is associated with white settlers: Afrikaans.

 

The interior of the Voortrekker Monument

Statue of Paul Kruger in Church Square

Afrikaans is very similar to Dutch, which makes sense given the history. It originated in the Dutch Cape Colony in the 18th century and was spoken by an ethnic group that called themselves ‘Boers’. It is now more commonly used in the west of the country, though most understand it as a second or third language.

Afrikaans at the top, English translation underneath

There is an Afrikaner culture attached to many people who speak the language as their mother tongue. This became evident to me as I explored one of South Africa’s three capital cities: Pretoria.

Church Square

Pretoria is the executive capital

Pretoria is easily accessible from Johannesburg, a simple 30 minute trip north on the Gautrain metro system. 

I don't know why it says 46, it took 30 :-)

The connection between Afrikaner culture and Pretoria? A man called Andries Pretorius. He was a pioneer who was a key part of an event known as the ‘Great Trek’.

Pretoria is named after this man

This was when many Boers decided to leave the Cape Colony, which was now controlled by the British, and head inland to find land they could control themselves. The Great Trek is commemorated in Pretoria, which is where some of the trekkers ended up, by the imposing Voortrekker Monument.

The surrounds show aspects of their route,
such as crossing the Orange River

This picture was taken from far away

The granite monument is enormous. It is also difficult to get to without a car. I didn’t have a car, resulting in me walking along a dual carriageway for a while and entering the area through an alternate entrance. A voortrek of my own!

My alternate walking route

It took me through what seems like a disused amphitheatre, which
possibly showed performances related to the Great Trek

The monument was inaugurated in 1949, almost 100 years after the end of the trek. It is said to still be an important part of Afrikaner culture. Others have argued that its negative impact on the local tribes they encountered, such as the Zulu and Ndebele, outweighs any nostalgia.

A replica of a wagon used in the treks

Its dimensions are those of a cube -
each dimension is 40 metres

Pretoria’s sights are scattered around and beyond the city limits, making it difficult to see everything in a few hours. Having taken an Uber to the eastern suburb of Brooklyn to get some lunch, I decided to walk back to the centre. In doing so, I stumbled upon Loftus Versfeld, a stadium synonymous with South African rugby.

The second test of the 2009 Lions tour happened here

It is used by the Bulls rugby team

Though many places, such as the Union Buildings and Freedom Park, were too far away, many imposing and historically important buildings can be found squashed around Pretoria’s centre: Church Square.

The Palace of Justice, where Mandela and
others were charged with treason and jailed

The Ou Raadsaal, the parliament of the South
African Republic from 1891 to 1902

One other historical point of interest I did find, which is near the Gautrain station, is Melrose House. This is where famous British commanders, Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener, lived during the Second Boer War at the turn of the twentieth century.

The treaty ending the war was also signed here

Though Pretoria contains a lot of history from the time of Afrikaner or white dominance of the country, there have been steps to integrate and multiculturalise the city. Hosting many embassies will probably help with this. There has been a campaign by some to change the name of the city to Tshwane. 

Brooklyn, the suburb where I had lunch, seems
to have quite a few embassies

Subsequent reading showed that any
potential renaming is a sensitive topic 

Pretoria makes for an interesting day trip from Johannesburg, though it’s not a place which I would go out of my way to return to. Luckily it isn’t much of a trek from the metropolis to the south. Much less of a trek than those Boers made in the 1830s…

Voortrekker Monument

Pretoria skyline from the Voortrekker Monument

Love you all,

Matt

Botswana - Hello Honey Badger!

December 29-30

Hello everyone!

I have lived in Africa for five-and-a-half years now and have seen some otherworldly, incredible things. What I hadn’t seen before coming to Botswana, arguably the only animal of interest that I hadn’t laid eyes on, was the not-so-humble honey badger. Until now.

Honey badger in Savuti

Botswana has the biggest elephant population on the planet

The magnitude of this needs a bit of context. Hannah and I were introduced to the honey badger shortly after arriving in Malawi in 2016. Having learnt about it, specifically through this video, we decided with our friends that this was our animal. It represented our attitude (some more than others). We named our volleyball team Honey Badgers and would always ask about finding one on each and every safari trip. Usually, guides…would…laugh. 

How guides would react when we said
we wanted to find a honey badger

Generally nocturnal and notoriously hard to find, the honey badger had eluded both of us. Even Hannah’s parents had seen one in Namibia. Hannah, staying in a different tent, hadn’t. The hunt has been on for a long time, and the latest attempt had taken me to Botswana.

A leopard tortoise, a member of the 'Little Five',
is much easier to find than a honey badger

In theory, honey badgers can be
found in all of sub-Saharan Africa!

Slight caveat at this point - I had seen honey badgers hours after entering Botswana. As dusk turned to dark, two of the critters zipped across the road in front of our bus as it drove up the highway. I had seen them, but not properly. Until getting to Savuti.

The road which I saw two honey badgers cross 

Savuti is on the western edge of Chobe National Park

Savuti is actually part of the more well-known Chobe National Park, situated in its southwestern corner. Getting there involved driving through the northern section of Moremi Game Reserve, then on a rather bumpy stretch of sandy tracks for what seemed like an eternity. This often gets laughed off by guides as an ‘African massage’; you need an actual massage after having to deal with those roads for 4 days.

Some fared better than others. This car was still there,
abandoned, when we left two days later.

Sunrise in Savuti. Note the depth of the tyre tracks!

We were wild camping again. No hippos do deal with this time, though this group had a den quite close to our campsite…

Our camping spot

They can be called a 'cackle' of hyenas

A lot of Savuti is flat marshland, allowing you to see far and wide across the landscape. 

An ostrich strolling along the marsh

Other areas, like where these lions were, are drier

The channel which gave the area its water is very inconsistent. It stops flowing for long stretches of time, drying up the land. It bizarrely started flowing again in 2008 for two years, completely changing the scenery. At the moment it isn’t flowing, resulting in a drier area which needs some of its watering holes to be articifially filled to ensure there’s enough water for the animals. The water the elephant is using in the video below is one such example.

Giraffes do a mini split with their legs to be able to drink

Of course, this is less of an issue in this current wet season. More pertinent as a problem is the possibility of getting stuck in the mud. Our Land Cruiser almost met a muddy demise after it slipped into the pre-existing tracks, which were very deep and sludgy. Somehow Johnson engineered an escape, though I don’t think the engine appreciated being revved that high.

The stunning southern carmine bee-eater in flight mode

As there are more places for drinking water, some animals once again proved elusive. The rhino and cheetah that we were told are in the area weren’t seen. Once again there were some arduous drives which sapped the energy out of us all.

Two banded mongoose

Impala sucking nutrients from a termite mound

On one such morning drive, having been travelling around for almost four hours and having only really seen a running hyena and a giraffe, I was falling in and out of sleep at the front of the car. The others were in the higher seats at the back. One of the men suddenly shouted for the car to halt. Johnson and I had no idea why. The man then said the immortal words. “There, on the right. Is that a honey badger?”

On first glance...no...

It was like a jolt of electricity had been injected into my body. Fully alert, eyes darting across the verdant grass, we could see something moving. Suddenly, a head appeared…

...then a shape started moving...

Mission. Accomplished.

Honey badgers look a bit like skunks...and apparently
have their capability of stinky smells as well...

For me, Savuti will always have a special place in my mind for being the location of the honey badger. We had some other highlights as well, particularly on our final afternoon drive. This was a proper drive, full of the thrill of the chase and with some up-close encounters.

Stormy clouds at sunrise - they exploded later 

It started with a massive thunderstorm - we had to hide in our tents. When the rain relented, we headed out into an atmosphere that just felt different. I can’t put my finger on why. It seemed as if animals had been driven from their havens, into the open.

A leopard devouring an impala

That leopard was the first thing we saw. Almost identical to what I saw in South Luangwa, Zambia, two months ago. The crunching sound of the big cat grinding any flesh off the bone seemed to reverberate.

Our guide thought the leopard had caught
the impala a day or two before

Another car pulled up, loving what we had found. The driver then told us he had been trailing wild dogs about a kilometre from our location. These, to the unaware, are some of the rarest animals you can see on safari. I’ve seen them once. I’ve actually now seen a honey badger on more occasions. Chobe has one of the world’s largest remaining wild dog populations. We left the leopard to its lunch and followed the directions.

After its meal, the leopard took a siesta on a different branch

We found the spot, followed the tracks they had left on the floor, looked in vain across the marsh…they’d gone. Wild dogs are a fast-moving, wide-hunting pack machine.

Wild dogs can run as fast as a greyhound

Whilst on the lookout, we found a small herd of elephants, complete with a young baby who we were told was about 3 months old. It seemed as if his two siblings were acting as his bodyguard as they stood in the road. Then they started to move closer…

Why I put the window up, I have no idea. What protection would that give from an elephant?? I took a bit of stick for that! The baby got to satisfy its curiosity about the car, we got to move on safely. Success all round.

A mildly irritated elephant

This was another herd we found minutes later

Savuti was a success. Though in my mind, it couldn’t have been a failure as soon as we saw the honey badger…

Dreaming of impala...

A majestic lion

A fitting end to a colourful adventure in Savuti

Love you all,

Matt