Archive for January 31st, 2001
Day 28
At last we get a delivery of meat for the butchery, which makes life so much easier.
Today I went with Tyse to Pretoria for a cheetah conservation meeting being between conservationists and farmers held tomorrow. Pretoria is like a second capital of South Africa (Jo-burg being the main capital).
The journey was 5 hours, across some of the most breath-taking landscapes which made me curse the fact that I had decided to leave the camera behind (do a Google image search for Mpumalanga and you will see what I mean). Through spectacular mountain passes which borer the Northern Province and Mpumalanga, with waterfalls and views of the surrounding countryside which stretches for miles.
We also drove past some shanty towns - rows and rows of squalid 1-story huts with tin roofs, the roads lined with hopeful sellers flogging whatever they could to passers-by. I have never really seen this other side of South Africa before, tucked away behind the more prominent, wealthy, mainly white-owned towns and cities.
I saw a lot of South Africa, travelling across vast expanses of grassland, bushveldt, and the odd town or village like Lyndenburg and Middleburg, surprisingly densely populated with shops, schools, etc.
But this was mothing compared to Pretoria itself. It is a huge city, and it was a shock to suddenly be in rush-hour traffic after 28 days of blissful peace and quiet. I even got the opportunity to buy a book at a bookshop, which I was glad for because I have been reading the last few pages of my only book very slowly, so I didn’t finish it too quickly.
We stayed at Mrs. Roode’s house tonight, the owner of the Hoedspruit Cheetah Project. She is obviously very wealthy judging from the paintings and ornaments adorning her house (mostly cheetah-related!), and she seems extremely polite, generous and accommodating.