Stretch Your Canadian Dollar
by Theresa (Therri) Papp
If you want to get the biggest bang for your buck in the declining Canadian dollar consider South Africa. I had been told to bring an empty suitcase and that would be my recommendation to travellers as well. All around, food, drink, clothing and mementos are beyond reasonably priced by Canadian standards while maintaining quality on all accounts that I experienced. If that hasn’t got your attention, then how about seeing animals that we would only see in a zoo just metres away from you. I experienced three weeks in South Africa and will share my experiences and provide some recommendations.
As you fly into Johannesburg you would expect to see the wild game from the runway. Close to the tarmac is a beautiful view of elephant grass (tall grasses) and native trees that bring memories of photos depicting Africa or the Lion King. I travelled there in August which would be the southern hemisphere winter. Well, if that is winter, it sure does not resemble the Canadian winters. Each day, whether in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, or Capetown all provided an average temperature between 26 to 29C each day and sunshine over my three week adventure. South Africa winter certainly is quite manageable.
While in South Africa (SA) I experienced Sun City, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Stellenbosch and Capetown. Wherever possible, I always take advantage of the hop on, hop off experience. The price is reasonable and I get a good overview and history of the area. Notable mention would be to do the Johannesburg Soweto combo and gain an understanding of the SA history. Various historic memorials can be seen on the tour not to mention seeing Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tu Tus’ homes. Imagine two Nobel Peace prize winners hailing just blocks from each other and family still live there. If you are interested in history and wine tours to vineyards, Capetown can satisfy those needs. Wine tours are available in Stellenbosch or part of the hop on hop off ticket by selecting the Purple tour with three stop options. All wine tours are for the transportation only and tasting fees are extra.
My first experience in SA was a 1.5 hr drive to Sun City. If you have watched the movie Blended you will have seen one of the hotels as the movie was filmed at Sun City Palace and the complex. There are four hotels on the premises ranging up to $8000 per night. Something for everyone, Players golf course, a children’s arcade, spa, casino, and high tea at 3 pm is highly recommended to see the Sun Palace hotel as that is the only access to this posh hotel.
SA is a shopper’s paradise. The SA dollar is the rand and currently our dollar has the buying power of 1 CDN to 10 Rand. For example, an item priced at R100 (100 rand) translates into $10 approximately. There are designer outlets and stores for the elite shoppers and bargains to be found. Woolworths seems to be the most popular chain store in SA along with other shopping meccas to be found. New clothing there is as inexpensive as used clothing at Value Village. Imagine buying new jeans for the equivalent to $15 and tops or pullovers starting at under $10. A very startling experience was the parking. Large malls charge for outdoor parking whereas our shopping malls are free unless underground. The first hour is free. Strip malls have “car guards” that escort you to a parking spot, greet you, and assist you in reversing out of the parking lot. All this service in return for a coin or two at your discretion. Bad parking habits are not tolerated. You are warned upon entering a parkade that if you do not park between the lines your wheels will be locked and you must pay a fine to get your wheels unlocked in addition to the parking fee. You can also get your car washed while you shop as attendants are available in the parkade.
Food is also a bargain either at the grocery store or at the restaurants. Kentucky Fried Chicken appeared to be the most popular fast food to be found in SA with Macdonald’s a close second. KFC signage is atop the illuminated street names and almost on every street corner similar to Starbucks can be found in Canada. Both KFC and MacDonald’s offer free scooter delivery service for orders. Other restaurants offer bountiful breakfasts that can be found for around $3. Restaurants are also inexpensive offering lunch specials ranging from R57 ($5.70 CDN) which includes a salad and portions that are monstrous. Bottles of wine can start at R110 and up in a restaurant and beer at R25. Evening dinner options can be a full chicken and salad for R90. That would be a feast for a big appetite or a feast and a take home feast for the lighter appetites. Don’t worry if you don’t finish that bottle of wine. You can take it home. Most places appear to be children friendly with play areas and some even have child attendants. Some restaurants offer a complete experience for children to order their own pizza and help the chef make their pizza. Children put on their own toppings while the parents can enjoy a leisurely lunch or dinner.
Driving is an experience. Although sidewalks are a rare finding, the large dirt sections next to the road offer opportunities for vendors to set up business and cars can pull off the road to shop; SA people are very enterprising. On most traffic lighted city street corners, men can be found wandering between the lanes selling most anything: Newspapers, toys, pens, crafts, computer gadgets, but I did not see a kitchen sink. Companies and businesses also hire people to advertise at the street light corners to hand out pamphlets. It is always recommended, no matter where you may be in the world, to travel and drive with your doors locked. As anywhere, there are places that you should not venture for safety reasons. Having said that, I did not experience any adverse experiences. In SA taxi services are communal for the locals. Specific hand gestures indicate where you want to travel as the taxi vans travel the streets. People are packed 4 across and 5 deep holding over 20 people per taxi van.
Mabalingwe was my first experience in a wild game reserve. This is under two hours from Pretoria. Your first view of a kudu, impala or warthog is exhilarating and you can’t get your camera poised fast enough. After a while the appetite for photographing new wild game gets more and more intriguing. The first 24 hours I had sited and photographed 14 different wild African animals in their natural environment. This included the ostrich, impala, kudu, baboon, warthog, bandit mongoose, giraffe, zebra, hippopotamus, crocodile, hyrax, duiker, hyala, and jackal. Patience is a virtue and wild animals do not pose or come out from behind the brushes. They do, however, need water and that is a good place to see many different animals. The best time of the day to find animals is the early morning and closer to the end of the day. Even in winter, midday is too warm for the animals and they siesta until closer to the end of day. Our morning safari were as early as 6 am and the sunset safari started at 3 pm as it becomes dark around 6 pm.
The next safari experience was at Tshukudu. This was a phenomenal experience. This is a family run private game reserve that borders Kruger National Park and was started in 1980. Other people that have opted for the “do-it-yourself” drive through Kruger reported not much success of spotting all or any of the “Big Five” and some reported far distance viewing. This lodge offers nearly all-inclusive accommodations and an experience of a lifetime. There is no “roughing” it at the lodge, but camping experiences are available. The rooms are a generous size and mine had a deck to enjoy the outdoor experience along with a refreshment and a view that would include wild animals virtually at your back door. Also included was a hearty breakfast buffet with many choices and diversity each day, lunch buffet, high tea before the sunset drive, and an evening dinner buffet. Each day included a morning drive and walk as well as a sunset drive. That is a lot of value in my opinion for top rate service! I paid $200 CDN per night which included a single supplement. Shared double occupancy room for two was around $300 per night. Prices may vary due to season and other factors as it does everywhere. Four meals, two drives and complimentary wi-fi – what more could you ask for? You are allowed to bring your own wine to dinner or you can purchase your choices from the bar. Yes, I also saw all the Big Five within 24 hours of arriving. Three of them were seen from the deck within the first few hours of arriving while enjoying a refreshment and the animals were just metres away! Imagine buffalo walking by your cabin followed by two rhino walking off into the sunset. The elephant walked by when it was dark but the lights illuminated the animals. A photographer’s dream come true.
If You Go:
♦ I typically plan to travel well in advance (approximately a year) and take full advantage of Aeroplan points or Air Miles. That certainly cuts down on expenses.
♦ I always travel with an additional folding bag in my luggage, just in case I find some real bargains.
♦ There are no entry or exit requirements for Canadian travellers. A passport that is valid 30 days after departure is a typical requirement for any country that you visit outside of Canada.
♦ I did not get any additional vaccinations or boosters to routine vaccinations. Most travellers should have a hepatitis A/B vaccine and you may consider a Yellow
♦ Fever vaccination is you plan to venture to other parts of Africa. Check with your health professional before you leave for their recommendations.
♦ These are the websites of the places that I visited:
– City Sightseeing Cape Town (Save your ticket stubs from the City Sightseeing tours and you will get a discount on your next booked tour.)
South Africa 14-Day Tour from Johannesburg
About the author:
Therri is an educator, researcher, photographer and writer that enjoys travelling with or without a travel companion. She is a Ph.D. candidate and has contributed articles to newspapers, journals and books. Therri lives in Saskatoon, SK and awaits her next travel adventure.
Photo Credits:
Giraffe by Kelly Arnold on Unsplash
All other photos taken by Theresa (Therri) Papp
“Balak!”
We amble down Talaa Kebira, one of the medina’s principal roadways, and soon come to Bou Inania Medersa. This is the most awe-inspiring Koranic school in Fes, and one of the few open to the public. Every room has lofty, sumptuously detailed ceilings with carved cedar beams and stunning onyx marble floors. The walls are covered with handcrafted tiles adorned with dazzling gold and turquoise geometric motifs. Intricate lime-coloured geometrical designs are also on display in the courtyard, where the 14th Century fountain still gushes today. In a corner an imam, a priest, kneels and chants verses from the Koran.
As we descend further into the bowels of the medina, our guide urges us to stay close together. She doesn’t have to tell me twice. I would love nothing better than to wander the zigzag of avenues on my own, but finding my way out would be nothing short of a miracle. I’m told that even the best maps are unreliable. The streets are swarming with humanity today; the thrum of voices is omnipresent. Since none of the roads are wide enough for cars to navigate, donkey carts and scooters are the accepted modes of transport, making this the world’s largest urban car-free zone.
From the Souk Attarine our odyssey continues. Blind alleys that seem to lead nowhere open onto swarming fundouks with gurgling fountains. We pass countless vendors that hawk candles, wood carvings, jewelry, and fresh herbs from shops hardly bigger than a closet. A posse of young boys plays a boisterous game of soccer with two rocks serving as goalposts. The frenetic energy of it all is exhilarating.
Like most mosques in Morocco, infidels are not permitted to enter, though no one seems to object as we peer into the courtyard from the street. The floor is covered in multi-hued diamond-shaped tiles, while a series of gigantic doorways lead to the main prayer area which is hidden from view. Two lanky bearded men wash their feet in a fountain before entering to pray.
There is one last stop on our schedule, and we don’t need a map to find it. The rank stench of the open air leather tanneries serves as a guidepost to one of Fes’ most famous attractions. We’re led up a staircase to a leather shop that opens onto a terrace where we view the tanneries below.
We’re seated on plush cushions around hand-carved wooden hexagon-shaped tables. The high ceiling is covered in gorgeous inlaid wood painted in shades of emerald, burgundy, and cobalt. It feels like we’re dining in someone’s home, and with good reason. A couple of years ago owners Fouad and Karima turned their sitting room and courtyard into a restaurant. They don’t have a liquor license, but they have no objections when we bring out cheap bottles of Moroccan wine that we bought at the supermarket.
About the author:
Other sights
The project was overseen by the South Africa Development Agency. “The community is very happy with the result,” says Thanduxolo Ntoyi, an assistant development manager at the agency. The community was “very involved” with the street and its transformation from the beginning.
Outside the house stands a large metal outline of two bull heads, entitled The Nobel Laureates. The title refers to the fact that on the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane Streets, a short distance away, is the Soweto home of the Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who, like Mandela, was the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize. The bulls look down the road, decisive and eye-catching, leaving no doubt as to the strength of the two personalities they represent. Around the corner in Moema Street is another metal depiction, this time of schoolchildren facing a policeman with a growling dog. It’s a reference to the confrontation on 16 June 1976 when hundreds of black school children were protesting the imposition of European Afrikaans in schools, when they were met by the brutality of the colonial police.
At the start of Vilakazi Street, where it intersects with Khumalo Street, is another magnificent artwork. Eight huge, grey hands spell “Vilakazi” in sign language. The hands are big and bold, but accessible to residents – they have become play objects, with children taking time out to climb on them. Other art includes two murals – one depicts the scene of June 1976, with police and their vans, and placard-carrying schoolchildren. And then there are the mosaics, livening up several concrete benches on the corner of Moema Street; down Vilakazi Street are mosaic strips of paving. On the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane streets is a row of bollards with decorative wooden heads. Vilakazi Street is indeed a different place.
This is another landmark that enriches Vilakazi Street. This memorial has been completed, and it remembers the 15-year-old boy who was the first to be shot on 16 June 1976 riots against the white apartheid government. On the corner of Klipspruit Valley and Khumalo roads is a bridge where Hastings Ndlovu was shot by the police. He was rushed to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital – one of the world’s biggest hospitals- where he died of the head wound.
During the two years since Darren’s first trip to Uganda, he has pulled together this disparate team to partner with local youth and run three-day camps for young children. We are a typical Vancouver mix: five Chinese, three Phillipino and three Caucasian. The youngest are fifteen and I am the oldest at 71.
“Here we are,” Darren shouts, as the Ipsum swerves hard right and climbs the short distance to the Albertine Graben Tourist Resort Hotel, where Tyler and Michelle have booked rooms for us. It’s colonial style with white pillared colonnades along both floors. The roof is peaked with ochre dormers.
Fields of cabbage, plantain and potatoes blanket the valley. We leave the road at Bubaale, a small village with just a few tin-roofed mud-brick houses and turn onto a narrow, dirt road that winds upward through the terraced hillside. During daylight, people live outdoors. Women in patterned dresses and head wraps walk to the creek or the village spigot for water. Even small children carry a yellow jerry can.
The boys entertain us with African dance, songs and feats of strength: chins, pushups and backflips. They tell me that their tribe, the Bukiga, are strong men and if you hire them, they work hard.
Tyler parks in front of the restaurant beside a hitching post. The server takes us through a room containing four tables and a bar. Behind that, we step down to a sunken floor and crowd around a table with bench seats. A steamy, pasty smell emanates from the courtyard behind the restaurant where a woman stirs a large pot of something sticky and grey-white. The shed behind her is cluttered with cooking implements and sacks of corn meal and potatoes. Another woman washes clothes in a deep metal basin.
The first session feels dry and clinical, but while we wait for lunch the girls skip with double ropes, boys ride piggy-back and they all compete in a limbo dance. Frances, the Humura goat-herder, climbs a tree and ventures out so far on a branch that it breaks and he falls to the ground. The laughter and open-spirited play dissolves inhibitions and produces powerful bonding within the team.
The full-service, island resort accommodates tourists in view bungalows or hotel suites. The open air restaurant and bar provide quality meals and drinks, including local specialties such as Louisiana red swamp crayfish, cooked with organic herbs and spices. They are not imported, but fresh from the lake which was stocked in the Seventies.
We had invited the village of Bubaale to come to Akanyijuka Primary School for a carnival on the last Saturday. A large, white gazebo is raised and a loud speaker system prepared for speeches. Hundreds line up for poshoe and beans, but just as the last few are served, a torrential storm drives everyone into the buildings or away to their homes, ending the carnival. We crowd into one of the old wood-plank, school classrooms and bid a tearful goodbye to our strong, Buchiga trainees.
After dinner, I wander the grounds and breathe in the cool fresh air. Lights from homes across the valley dot the hillside and fuse into a soft glow from Kabale. It’s one of those magical moments that give the impression that all is right with the world and the future is bright for this small city in the hinterland of Uganda, the jewel of Africa.
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