Ted has declared this was the best trip we have ever taken over the winter in his opinion. I wasn’t quite so strong because I think we have had many wonderful trips, but this was good for being a new continent.
South Africa is the most beautiful country geographically and very interesting culturally. We visited so many lovely places and found them not overrun with tourists. In fact, in the whole 2+months we did not meet another Canadian! That was weird. Some Americans, not a lot, but many many German and Dutch visitors.
Many South Africans have retained homes there but virtually live elsewhere. They would love to sell and get their asset out but it’s not possible. Young white people are having difficulty getting jobs, as 80% must now be filled by non-whites, so opportunities for recent grads are drying up. But isn’t that true a lot of places now.
We were not prepared for the sheer magnitude of the black township problems and terrible abject poverty there. It is only 30 years since apartheid tore the country apart and it will not recover from that for a long time to come.
First really free elections will take place in May this year and it will be interesting to see the results. They have had a very corrupt regime recently and people are rebelling against that big time. We experienced some rioting/burning nearby. But people living there are hopeful for their future and their kids’ futures too.
Inflation has run at 8.5% for the last 4 years so it is squeezing a lot of people. Tourism, once a huge part of their economy is down 40% but accommodation prices are pretty high. We tried to aim for $100 a night accommodation but rarely achieved it. Having said that, value for money was high, the owners of the places we stayed mostly gave 110% to make their guests happy and comfortable. Everyone wants you to get on Trip Advisor and give them full marks.
Once over the long journey there and jet lag, we had a wonderful time.
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