South Africa

  

The daily mention in the media of the south-African variant of covid-19, sent me back to my one and only visit to South-Africa in the eighties.

It was not  a planned trip. It so happened that I took upon myself to accompany an old lady acquaintance to her daughter and family, temporarily stationed there in a small town. I stayed with them  about a week , and then decided to see a few places on my own.

At that time,  Apartheid was in its  last stages, but still present. It's one thing to read and hear about it, and another thing to see it with your eyes and feel it on your body. The climax was one day, in Johannesburg, when   I turned to a black passerby to ask her how to get to a certain place. Suddenly, we were surrounded by several young white men shouting at us, and spitting....on me. I was  shocked. The black lady suggested that we part and go separate ways as I was in danger because of my talking to her. 

The above incident has shattered me, and ruined my visit.  I believe in God and in His Creation . God gave the african continent to the black people. That's a fact. All  the others may visit ,even settle there if they so wish, but not behave like they own the place, certainly not practicing apartheid.

Anyway, I managed to visit  a few places and experience some specific events: Capetown with its two main landmarks:  Table Mountain and Cape of Good Hope, Port Elizabeth with  its Dolphinarium and Horse Memorial,  Durban's indian market, the Golden mine museum with a mining underground tour near Johannesburg, a 'safari' bus  tour which enabled us to watch wild animals through the bus window only, tribal dances.

Here are some of the photos: 

                                  horse memorial (Port Elizabeth) -  my favorite photo

 

                                                  dolphinarium (Port Elizabeth)

                                                    dolphin show (Port Elizabeth)

                                 with participants  at a bowling tournament (Port El.)

                                  Cape Town - near the terminal

                                   Table Mountain Nature Reserve

                                 Table Mountain - view of the ocean

                                  the ocean (my better side - I look taller lol)

Cape of Good Hope ; it was windy up there.

                                                       baby lion

                                  wild animals seen through the bus window

                                                              tribal dance

                                                                Zulu beauty

A Lesson in Kindness

Horse Memorial Statue

Seldom does one see such display of compassion and tenderness for an animal , in a work of art, as that in the Horse Memorial bronze statue in Port Elizabeth, South Africa - known to be one of only three memorials in the world dedicated to horses.

In the main city squares of Europe and also in other parts of the world, there's always some statue of a man ( king or national hero) sitting on a horse in a domineering posture . Here it's the opposite. The man, a soldier, is knealing to allow the horse to quench its thirst from the bucket held in his hands. The soldier shows both kindness and responsability towards the loyal animal placed under his charge.

The Horse Memorial in the lovely city of Port Elizabeth commemorates all those horses that fell serving their masters during the Anglo-Boer war; The inscription on the base reads:"The greatest of a nation depends not so much upon the numbers of its people or its territory as in the extent and justice of its compassion." The base of the statue incorporates a drinking trough.

The story has it that a lady by the name of Harriet Mayer was the president of a commitee for collecting money to erect this statue. When unveiling the statue, The Mayor of the city thanked Mrs. Mayer and insisted in using a figure of speech about her: "she had worked like a horse" he said. I would say, she had probably eaten a lot of roughage too, to get the money.