Bush Camp, Market and Surfing

This past weekend we went to  "Bush Camp" at Tsitsikama National Park. It was approximately a two hours drive from Port Elizabeth. 

CSB-SJU South Africa 2012

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's Office of Education Abroad hosts Bush Camp, the international student orientation that involved students from America (including some from SCSU), Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Botswana, and Zimbabwe... to mention a few. It was raining and very foggy for the two hour drive to the national park so many of us were not able to see much of the surrounding scenery. One thing we did see was a group of fifteen baboons crossing the highway less than 15 meters in front of us. The way our driver reacted was similar to a Minnesota driver who had seen deer running across the road, pretty casual. Our inability to see around us for the whole drive up made our first view of the mountains, jungle and river where we stayed that much more impressive on Saturday. Early on Saturday morning a few others and myself were able to witness part of the African sunrise which revealed our first glimpse mountains, it was incredible. Friday night we had African drumming lessons and during the day on Saturday we went zip lining through the jungle and down the river where there were large waterfalls, pools, and all kinds of foliage we had never seen before.

A portion of the zipline course.

 

Bush camp was very fun, but we weren't messing around the entire time. We listend to several lectures, and one of them was especially moving. The selected speaker for us has been involved with CSB|SJU students for many years here in South Africa. He was given the task of providing an overview of South Africa's history to us, in two hours. To begin, he spoke about the racial inequality in South Africa. He also touched on how the Chinese, Dutch, German, American, and especially the British have shaped South Africa. Only about half of his lecture was on the history, however. Despite my love for history, it did not disappoint me. He went on to speak about his skin pigment condition and how it has affected his life here in South Africa. Although he is mostly white, there are portions of his skin that have brown pigment and discoloration. Until recently, because of both his mixed Dutch and Native lineage and his skin condition, he has always been categorized as "colored." He then talked about those who used to be difficult to categorize. There used to be three tests (listed in order) to determine the category of these people: the tone of skin, running a pen through the persons hair to see if it gets caught (if it did, they were colored or black), and the width of the person's nose. He never made it past the first test. He was a revolutionist who opposed Apartheid and is now a middle aged man. Currently, he is a student just like us. This would not be too unusual except for the fact that he never was allowed to go to University, only whites were able to under Apartheid. Knowledge is power, some say. I spent some time later that day reflecting on what I had heard and how lucky to be where I am at this time in my life. I certainly realized I was only beginning to scratch at the surface of the social, political, and economic complexity of modern South Africa. I can't wait for classes to begin.

Hiking the mountains in Tsitsikama National Park.

That  afternoon we went hiking up through the woods and up one of the nearby mountains which provided some spectacular views of the surrounding South African countryside.

On the drive back on Sunday we were able to see all of the mountains and scenery around us, including an all encompassing view of Jeffreys Bay, a very beautiful location just outside of PE. Jeffereys Bay is home to some of the world's best surfing, and is also the home of the Billabong clothing factory. On the drive back we were stopped at a police roadblock where every single vehicle had their engine, plates, cargo and passengers checked, for multiple reasons. From what we were told it's pretty common and it is their form of enhanced highway security. The drive back was topped off by a glimpse of several wild zebra and ostriches just off the road a short ways.

View from our balcony with King's beach in the background.

When we got back to Langerry in Port Elizabeth several of us checked out the flea market, bought a few souvenirs for those back home, or fake brand name sunglasses. Pat actually bought a 100 trillion dollar bill from  Zimbabwe. (It was from when Zimbabwe was suffering from hyperinflation.) When the vendor asked if he was interested in purchasing another bill to add to the collection he replied "No way man, I think I'm pretty set with 100 trillion dollars." He just walked away without saying anything else. That was pretty funny. After the market, we made lunch at Langerry and went to the beach where we played with a dead jellyfish, burnt the remaining white skin that hadn't already been burnt this weekend, and attempted surfing with an old surfboard left behind by previous CSB|SJU students. 

Tonight, us guys are planning to screw up our newly adjusted sleep schedule all over again in order to try watching the Superbowl with the rest of Port Elizabeth's football-loving Americans in the local casino. The game starts at 2:00am local time.

I plan on posting every time new and big things are happening over here, and I suppose that in the first few weeks there will be plenty of things to write about. I'm sure it'll slow down as school starts factoring into my time here.

Cheers,

Isaak