We're engaged!

I can finally announce it to you all! On Dec 22nd Suzy Ongendangenda said yes to me, so we are now engaged! This is one happy post for sure! We are thinking of a fall wedding and will be having a 2nd, traditional style wedding in South Africa probably in the winter. I cannot wait!

...Penguins!

Here they are! The only land based colony of penguins in the world. These birds came to South Africa in about 1984 if I remember and just stayed. They do not leave and live on one particular beach left for them. They make quite an odd noise and are known as 'Jackass Penguins.' (Think donkey!)

I spy...

Now just what do you suppose that is? What is that digging a hole in this white sanded beach?

RSA Military (Navy)

Going towards Scarborough, this is a shot of an RSA Navy port.

Scarborough

I was happy to find a little piece of home while on vacation! (raised in Scarborough, Ontario - this is Scarborough, South Africa)

Worker's Tribute

While driving along the beautiful coast south of Cape Town we came across this section. You can see in this picture that the road is cut to run right under the side of the mountain. But when Suzy and I approached it all we could discuss is who the companies would have had building it. Considering some of the past of South Africa we wondered how many people died during this part of the construction... and how many of them were not white. Sort of took the fun out of it for the moment.

Together & Cold

These two photos are of Suzy and I at the lookout point of this scenic stop on Chapman's Peak drive.

Yes it really WAS very windy, I mean look at our pants in that 1st picture!

w o w #2

This is the view from a scenic point on Chapman's Peak Drive. (RSA) One of the most scenic drives in the entire world.

Can someone get rid of the yellow numbers without cropping?

w o w

 


One of my favourite pictures from this trip. I love how the clouds hang off of each other in layers. I don't pretend to understand how it happens...but this area of South Africa has amazing sunsets and great clouds. WOW 

We miss you Pascale

 

Pascale Mbu-Letang on the left and Suzy Ongendangenda on the right. The captain of this ship let the three of us ride with him in his 'bridge' on the main deck when it started pouring. Every other tourist had to go below and look out the windows. We got to use his binoculars and listen to interesting Cape Town rock.

Cape Town, South Africa, 

Seal Island

One stop along our drive to the Cape Point was here to visit Seal Island. Aptly named, it is simply a bunch of rocks covered in Seals... all the time. This is a dedicated tourist attraction.

A forest!

This is what you see of a kelp forest...from the top. 

Even some Congolese ask: "You ate what?"

I don't really know how to spell it.. but I will call it Posse - Poss like Hoss, then A. Poss-A.
They live off of Pine Tree nuts so they taste..nutty! (no you don't eat them alive!)

They tasted good with some Pondu and Pili-Pili (hot salsa) isn't it just yummy!
Democratic Republic of Congo, Exotic Food, Congo.

Watch out!

You had to be careful here.. water slicked path by drop of over a hundred feet (if not more) on our way to Plattklip Gorge. 

Phew

Resting under an outcropping.. it was a nice place to stop. 

it lives...

...upon the side of the mountain. 

Along our path

 

into the city below

Not simply a Billy Talent ripoff...
A view back down our path once we had gone as far vertically that we could go. 

Up and away

I love this picture! Seeing everything here makes me want to explore it all again. Suzy and I are almost at the top of the easy climb. Once we get to where the rock face starts you need gear to continue. We will end up making our way to the left around the mountain towards Platklip Gorge. You can see the cables for the cars above where we were, and the clouds pouring over the mountain! 

Ravenloft...

Cable car taking you to the top of Table Mountain. I don't know who would have gone up this day as visibility was exactly zero at times. Right now the cable car is not going up in fog but rather the clouds! 

TV Bar

Suzy enjoys a TV Bar while we climb up the mountain from behind the Lower Cable Station. The rocks were arranged in such a way as to provide a stair case of sorts. At least it gave us something to sit down on! TV Bar's are a chocolate bar not sold in North America.. good crispy rice with Chocolate etc. 

Lower Cable Station

 
This is the Table Mountain depature centre for those who want to take the cableway up the mountain to the top. (Obviously named the Upper Cable Station) Due to the weather Suzy and I decided to climb as much as the mountain as possible. We were headed to Platklip Gorge. (Which would be the point we climbed back down the mountain.)
 

The Bridge and Seal! Live

 

On our ferry back from Robbin Island we saw this little one swimming around. The seal climbed up a small staircase that went to the waters edge and began drying off and sunning on the concrete gangway.

On an interesting note the bridge in the background moves 90 degrees away (not up..but horizontally) when a ship needs to get past. A horn sounds and you have to wait for it to open and then close. Cool convenience!

 

Cape Town and Table Mountain

 


As seen from the returning Robbin Island ferry. 

Storm surge wall

 


This wall is so huge! Notice if you can the rather large earth-moving truck located about the middle of the wall.

This is off of Robbin Island to calm waters around the dock, etc. 

Not white?

 


What you see above is the official breakdown of the prisoners diet.

You'll notice two headings: BANTUS (Blacks) and COLOUREDS/ASIATICS.

If you follow this list down you see that in pretty much every category group B received more food than C. This sign is very instructive when trying to understand how the "races" were viewed in South Africa.

Coloureds/Asiatics are anyone who is considered non-white but is not a darker shade of black. Light skinned individuals no matter their background; whether Asian, Mixed, Arabic, Persian etc were considered Coloured. Therefore you could have a family where different members were considered a different race depending on their shade.

Of further interest notice that group B receives Bread while group C, Puzamandla. Basically think of the crumbs left over after cutting up a loaf of bread. Mix this with water and voila! You have their lunch.

Horrible... 

Tired?

 


This is a picture of what the ANC inmates would have to sleep on. There would be so many prisoners in one room that at night these mats laid out would leave behind no floor space. Sleeping on your back or stomache was virtually impossible.

I slept on the floor for 7 months or so while we had bed bugs in my apartment here in Toronto. I had to pile clothes, towels, sheets and comforters down in order to ensure my hips didn't feel DEAD by morning. (If I slept on my side my back would feel kinked out due to the rididity of the floor) I could only imagine sleeping on these for years after years.

Eventually due to the Red Cross's investigations the prisoners were given beds and material to make bedding etc. but still... 

Tour guide

 


This man above was placed in jail on charges of terrorism. He planted bombs at an Intelligence building in Pretoria. During the explosion, 12 - 15 people were injured but there were 0 deaths. He was imprisoned along with other ANC members including Nelson Mandela on Robbin Island. Former inmates have been rehired as tour guides of the island. It lended a certain intensity to everything he discussed with us. 

Just in time means....

Military bunkers built on the Island sometime in the late 30's early 40's. They commisioned a company to make some large-mm rated gun emplacement to defend against any Axis invaders. The gun was finished around 1948-49. ahem..