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| Me and Madiba |
The sky is blue almost everywhere else on the planet, but in South Africa, somehow, the hue is more pronounced. My first view of the outdoors after clearing immigration and passing through the double doors of the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg was of a cloudless, deep cerulean sky that was dazzling in its intensity. It was a fitting welcome to a country and a continent that I was visiting for the very first time.
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| First photograph of South Africa, just outside the airport in Johannesburg |
“The first Europeans arrived in South Africa in 1652,” said the guide, a pleasant old chap named Hendrick. Humans, of course have inhabited the lands in and around the southern tip of the African continent for hundreds of thousands of years. In fact, some of the oldest archaeological evidence of the existence of people anywhere in the world is in Gauteng province, leading to the area being nicknamed the Cradle of Humankind.
As the bus traversed the plains of Johannesburg en route to Sun City, Hendrick mouthed off a few more facts about South Africa: the population stands at 54 million, it was the Dutch East India company that established the first European settlement near Cape Town, and that there are 11 officially recognized languages in the country.
“The Flemish language was the basis for communication,” the guide said. “It was called ‘kitchen language’ because it was often spoken behind closed doors. Dutch was the official language in the beginning, but settlers from other European countries like Germans, British and Russians assimilated themselves and the language was later called Afrikaans, which is a mixture of Dutch-Flemish plus other languages.”
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| Melman wanted a selfie. How could I say no? |
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| How many times can you pet lion cubs in your lifetime? |
About two hours later Sun City appeared on the horizon, like a mirage rising out of the basalt soil plains surrounding the Pilanesberg, an extinct volcano that last erupted millions of years ago. Home for the evening was the Palace of the Lost City, a sprawling luxury casino and resort considered the crown jewel of Sun City. The place inspired wonder and awe like any multi-million dollar resort property in the middle of the African plains would. There’s a pool with a sandy beach, a maze, and a bridge that simulates an earthquake every hour. It was the base upon which the group set off to explore the adjacent Pilanesberg Game Reserve very early the next morning.
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| My room in the Palace of the Lost City |
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| Took a walk around the property. I kinda still like this photo. |
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| Sun City is a fancy resort and casino in Johannesburg |
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| The grand staircase and lobby of the Palace of the Lost City |
“Much of the world’s platinum, about 80 percent, is mined from around this area,” the guide said onboard the 4X4 vehicle especially outfitted for game drives. Opened in 1979, the Pilanesberg Game Reserve was an old farmland that became the site of the world’s biggest relocation of animals since Noah’s Ark. “Operation Genesis involved transferring over 6000 animals throughout 58,000 hectares of lush plains and valleys,” said Hendrick. “Now there are about 10,000 animals here.”
Any apprehensions about not seeing any animals immediately vanished as one by one, they appeared: impalas, antelopes, zebras, giraffes, lions, hippopotamuses and elephants. There was even a slight traffic jam when a herd of elephants blocked the road as they lazily fed on trees and bushes. For someone who grew up in the concrete jungle of a big city, it was a scene straight out of a childhood dream.
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| Me in the plains of Africa |
One interesting fact about South Africa is that it does not currently have just one capital city. The headquarters of the three branches of government are located in three cities: executive in Pretoria, judiciary in Blomfontein, and legislative in Cape Town.
Pretoria was the next stop in the journey. About three hours drive from Johannesburg, the city developed rather quickly in the 1850s when government and church leaders decided to open a church in what used to be bush country. Today the city is also nicknamed the City of Jacarandas for the roughly 155,000 jacaranda trees that line its streets and avenues. Similar to the chery blossoms of Japan, the trees lend the city a magical, fairy-tale like atmosphere when they bloom in October and November.
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| Pretty jacaranda trees |
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| Larger-than-life Nelson Mandela |
There was time for a quick stop at the Union building, where the main attraction was a nine-meter tall bronze statue of South Africa’s most famous son, Nelson Mandela. Inaugurated just a couple of weeks after the democracy icon’s death in 2012, the statue stands in the same place where Madiba (Mandela’s nickname) was inaugurated as the country’s first democratically elected president in 1994.
The two-hour flight to Cape Town via South African Airways was pleasant and breezy. It was already dark when the plane touched down, so there was only a ghostly silhouette of the city’s famed Table Mountain. The grand view had to wait until morning.
The guide, whose name was Muhammad Ali, also shared interesting information about the city he calls home. “Inhabited by 4.5 million people, Cape Town is about four and a half times bigger than Singapore,” he said. “It was the Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz who first reached the Cape Of Good Hope, although back then his men called it the Cape of Storms. Years later, the King of Portugal told Vasco Da Gama, ‘If you can successfully pass these stormy waters, you have a good hope of making it to India.’”
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| I forgot the name of our first hotel in Cape Town, but the lighting sure was memorable |
There is a marker that now stands in the craggy hills of the Cape of Good Hope, advising visitors that they have reached the most southwesterly point of the African continent. North across the lookout is Cape Point, a promontory with a spectacular view of wild, restless sea. It has been said that this is where two mighty oceans meet—the Atlantic and Indian—but experts have said that it is only the former that one sees. Still, the view here is nothing short of breathtaking, with white sea foam that forms when waves slam into dark cliffs, and waters the color of emerald stone that turn to deep, dark blue farther out into the horizon.
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| Took a while to get up here |
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| But the views were worth it |
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| Wanted to stay longer |
If Johannesburg is rough, uneven and dynamic, Cape Town is its more laidback, well-mannered and gorgeous sister. Nicknamed Mother City, it was named best place in the world to visit in 2014 by The New York Times, and for good reason. There is an air of gentility and warmth here as one walks its streets, its people always ready with a genuine smile. A quick excursion to one of its bars revealed a lively nightlife scene comparable to any other big city.
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| Had time to visit a colony of penguins |
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| Here I am at a beach in Cape Town |
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| Seals sunning themselves on an island just off the coast of Cape Town |
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| Marga and I were the only two Filipinos on the trip |
Watching over the city is Table Mountain, which Ali said is actually a mountain range. Formed over 270 million years ago, its presence is akin to having a world wonder on the doorstep every single day. “The mountain range has more flowers per square area than any other place on earth,” Ali said. It is possible to go up Table Mountain through a cable car, with a rotating floor that provides everyone inside 360-degree aerial views of the city.
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| Making it to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town was one of the most unforgettable travel moments of my life, and I made sure to write down a few thoughts while I was there |
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| View of the city from the top of Table Mountain |
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| I'll never forget this experience |
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| One of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever been fortunate to witness in my entire life. It's still the cover photo on my Facebook after all these years |
Once on top, it is difficult to overstate the beauty and majesty of the landscape. The blue sky was beginning to give way to deep orange and amber and the setting sun bathed everything in a kind of glow that made believing in the existence of a Higher Being much easier. This was the Cape Town, and indeed, the South Africa that sticks most in my memory: a kaleidoscope of shapes and colors that can be found nowhere else in the world.
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| Went to a dinner and show later that night. Of course I got recruited to perform onstage |
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| My friend from Manila Erwin and his wife were there in Cape Town the same time we were so we headed out to experience South African nightlife |
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| Went to this bar somewhere in the city. Everything's a blur now. I must've been exhausted that day |
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| Breakfast with a view of Table Mountain |
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| Last photo. I would love to come back to South Africa |
This is a slightly edited version of a story that originally came out in Lifestyle Asia magazine in 2015.
