In Mayotte, The Comoros Islands.

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  Mayotte, Comoros, Madagascar
Monday, December 20, 2010

EN ROUTE FROM MOZAMBIQUE TO COMOROS

Hi,

Once again we are enjoying our "at sea" days between Mozambique and Comoros. After Comoros, Madagascar.....and the lemurs.

First, our personal update: Rex went for blood tests in Cape Town and we heard several days later that all seems to be holding steady - so we are grateful for that!! He doesn't have lots of stamina but otherwise mostly has been feeling fine! Neither one of us did well in the heat of Maputo, but after the next couple of stops things should get a bit cooler -we hope!

A new crop of people got on in Cape Town, and many of the people we had gotten friendly with left the ship. Fortunately for us, our new friends Don and Bette are still on the cruise....and we are slowly meeting new people. It always takes a bit of time! Technically, we are on three cruises: Istanbul to Cape Town; Cape Town to Singapore and then Singapore to Hong Kong.

Namibia
We had been to Namibia in 1998 as part of our time driving around southern Africa so we didn't feel the need to repeat what we had done then. This time we kept it simple: We spent one day going from Walvis Bay, where we docked, to Swakopmund, a German-founded city about half an hour north. I had arranged a taxi and driver in advance, and ended up putting together about 9 of us in a mini van. It worked out well. Didn't do much there: wandered around a bit; bought one piece we really like to hang on our wall at Peter's Antiques, had lunch and mostly just poked around. It seemed to us that things were very expensive and we were told it's largely because virtually everything has to be imported into the country. For example, we needed to go to an optician so Rex could have his glasses adjusted and I could reattach the arm of a pair of mine. While there I decided to buy an eyeglass leash to use up our Namibian currency and bought one for about $10 made in South Africa. In Cape Town at the most expensive place to shop, on the waterfront, comparable ones were $5. And I know that the beads themselves are expensive because they have to be imported from Czech Republic. And my guess is that all the components are imported as well. As we had throughout West Africa T Shirts for tourists were about $25 for a child's size. Needless to say, we didn't buy any.
That evening a group of us went to a lovely seafood restaurant to celebrate someone's 80th birthday. One thing we noticed was that all the wait staff was black. I asked the next day and turns out they have a school in town that trains people to work in restaurants so that has helped people get jobs. Namibia still seems very much to have businesses that are owned by white people: the taxi company, the restaurant, the shops, the captain on the boat we took to see seals, etc. but it does appear that gradually more and more kinds of jobs are being filled by black people. Swakopmund still seems to be largely run by Germans and white South Africans. Arriving in Walvis Bay and then in Swakopmund was like leaving Africa - or at least leaving the type of countries we visited in West Africa. Gone were the bumpy poorly maintained streets, roads and sidewalks.
The second day we were there we took a delightful boat ride out of Walvis Bay to see the seals and dolphins. The ride was very pleasant and the captain was full of information about the area. For example, there are a bunch of oyster farms there and oysters thrive because the waters are so cold. As a result they grow more quickly than they do most places: they are mature enough to eat in about 9 months. That's the good news. The bad news is that the waters are too cold to breed so they purchase the baby oysters from Chile. In addition, because the area has been blocked off for the salt mines, the bay doesn't wash out as it used to and on a regular basis there is an accumulation of biological waste that throws off so much toxic gas that there isn't enough oxygen and the oysters die. Several companies have come and gone as a result but now they seem to be OK. Sounds as though they can earn enough in one year to make up for several bad years.
There are LOTS of seals and they eat a LOT of fish. Apparently there is some controversy about whether it is better to leave them be or better to cull the herds to protect the fish. Last night a Canadian with whom we were eating claimed that the seals are one major reason for recent depletion of fish. Hmmmmm. I didn't much like him but that doesn't mean he's wrong. Does anyone know anything about this? If so, post it on the blog.
There is a lot of new building and development along the coast for wealthy people. As we drove along the road there was a "colored" township and a "black" township, one on either side of the road. A leftover from Apartheid. Today anyone can live anywhere as long as they can afford it but the communities apparently remain quite segregated and, further inland, one can find plenty of poverty, etc.

South Africa
The first cruise ended in Cape Town and the second one started there and proceeded to East London, Durban and Richards Bay. In Cape Town we first went to get some lab tests done for Rex. Then, that evening, Friday, we went to an absolutely AMAZING concert. I just got lucky and stumbled on a terrific concert by David Kramer, apparently an icon in South Africa but, naturally, someone we hadn't heard of. He is Jewish, writes in Afrikaans, and was part of the struggle to rid the country of Apartheid. He has written a lot of music and musical productions including something called "District 6" that tells the story of District 6 in Cape Town, the scene of a massive forced relocation of black and other non-white people from a central area. The production we saw is called Biryani, named for the Indian dish that is a combination of many different flavors, and so is a way of describing the cultures of the Cape Peninsula. To represent the many cultures he had assembled outstanding artists from a range of cultural backgrounds . They performed individually and as a group. It was a fabulous range of singing and instrumental work that reflected the Dutch, English, Indian, Muslim and, of course, Black histories of the area. The instruments including a saxophone, an accordion, acoustic and electric bass, guitars, two banjos, drums and two older women singers. One haunting song, for example, paid homage to a woman folk singer who was brutally killed within the year for refusing to call a white man "sir." The banjos were interesting: one was played by a man who mostly does American bluegrass; the other is a black Muslim man and Kramer had him play a song whose words in Afrikaans means something about farmers (I think) but to the tune of O Tannenbaum. Kramer got a kick out of having a Muslim play a Christmas carol tune. An amazing singer, Lukman something, played the young boy in the 1986 production of District 6 and has gone on to win awards in London and on Broadway. Fabulous singer. All in all a real highlight.

On Sat I met with people who run a couple of Fair Trade crafts businesses and I have to admit that my brain went completely foggy. All the stuff was very nice but all starts to look the same. It's not the pan-African craft crap that we saw so many other places, but the South African crafts have their own sameness to them: a lot of stuff made from old soda cans, wire baskets, etc. Chickens made from plastic sheeting. These used to be made using excess trash bags; now the plastic is processed to create yellow, pink and other colored plastic sheets and granted, it is recycled, but it's not quite the same as re-using waste without an industrial processing in between. Sigh.
One interesting tidbit: we had been hearing, from our South African friends, that a major challenge facing South Africa is the large number of Zimbabwean immigrants. But we began to hear a different story, starting with the crafts businesses and continuing with some later folks: the people who come from Zimbabwe are actually better educated than many of the comparable South Africans because with all else crumbling, Zimbabwe has managed for many years to educate its population, unlike what happened in South Africa especially under the last years of Apartheid. The people are reportedly also more motivated: they are immigrants. So many people prefer to hire them, not only because they work for less money but because they are seen as being better educated and to have a better work ethic. The result is that they get work, and the local population has a VERY high unemployment (reportedly somewhere around 40% or more among the Black population; considerably less among whites). One problem we heard about when we were here before was that many blacks thought they would receive everything free once the white people were not in charge: free housing, electricity, water, etc. And, of course, this didn't turn out to be the case. So from some people's perspective, the local population has more of what could be called an "entitlement" mentality than do the immigrant Zimbabweans. Whatever the "truth" is, one thing is clear: there are literally millions of them because Zimbabwe has essentially collapsed, with closer to 90% unemployment, they get work, and they are resented occasionally resulting in anti-immigrant violence. The people at the crafts business said: "we like the Zimbabweans. They are well educated, motivated, creative and skilled." So, once again, these situations turn out to be a LOT more complicated than appears to be on the surface.
Then Rex and I went to La Colombe, a restaurant in nearby wine country. Rated number 12 in the world so naturally we were curious. It was fabulous. We have been enjoying game (mostly but not entirely springbok) and fresh fish, and the restaurant didn't disappoint. The setting is lovely. We were a bit early so we sat in a lodge room with a leather chairs and sofa, a fireplace and giant coffee table books about Africa. We began with their vineyard's sparkling wine, and then proceeded with the meal, including local wines. We liked it so much we returned the next day with Don and Bette who had gone to the concert on Saturday as a result of our recommendation - had loved it as well. We enjoyed an outdoor lunch and then went to the wine shop. Gone are the days when the wine at a South African vineyard could be yours for a couple of dollars!! The prices are well up there now. In fact, on the ship's wine list the South African wines are among the more expensive so we've never ordered them.

Cape Town, from what we could see, is still thriving, well organized and growing. Some people say: Cape Town isn't Africa, but it is: There are still a lot of people living in poverty in and near the city. It seems to be the case that the city is still run largely by white people and although some people feel there is still a lot of anti-black sentiment, our taxi drivers (we hired one over and over but then he turned us over to a friend for Sunday) both agree that things are MUCH better than they were and both said almost the same thing: "now everyone is equal." They were both black or colored, we weren't sure but definitely NOT white.

We stayed in South Africa, spending time in three ports: East London, Durban, and Richards Bay. I had tried to no avail to reach some friends from our previous trip in Durban and Richards Bay so in the end we decided to do game drives from each port. The first was fabulous; the other two major disappointments. Nonetheless, overall it is the case that viewing animals more or less in the wild is fabulous fun. All three parks we visited are private and this was our first experience with that. The good news is that there are many efforts by private individuals to create reserve areas where the animals can live free and protected. Only the first one has predators: white lions are kept in a separate enclosure. White lions can't actually survive well in the wild because their color means they are not well enough camouflaged so their potential prey can see them too readily. The game reserve is still building up its population of animals and within some number of years lions (not sure about the white ones ) will be released into the park so they can find their own food, keeping the population of other animals in balance. For now, they are fed cattle and other animals from nearby farmers. There are only about 250 white lions in the world, and we saw about a dozen of them. Fabulous. The highlight of the third game drive was an encounter with a REALLY angry bull elephant. He was in must - that is he was horny and looking for a female. He was huge, walking on the paved road. A car was behind him and those of us (two safari vehicles and two regular cars) were all backing up as he walked towards us, looking as though he had 5 legs. We were backing up because he could had flipped us over: that's how strong they are. In fact, even a baby elephant has enough strength to flip a regular car. So we were all backing up, giving he elephant room to walk....pretty exciting.
Maputo, Mozambique
Our next stop - we had four ports in a row - was Maputo, Mozambique. We were back in the "real" Africa: the contrast with South Africa, all the cities we saw, was striking. Once again, the poverty was obvious. The biggest negative for us, however, was the heat: it was in the mid 90s and this was the first time we have encountered that type of heat. All of our game drives had been cool and even rainy. I had been in touch with a hop-on-hop-off tourist train - several cars hooked together - and they told me they would be at the pier and indeed they were. About 75 people or more from the ship boarded and we had a private tour - the train was basically ours for the day. We stopped at the usual tourist spots: railroad station, market, etc and then we were brought to the art museum. For reasons I will never understand, many people on the train actually booed and protested so the guide told them not to worry - he could take them elsewhere. Only six of us got off - including our friends Don and Bette. It was fabulous; a real highlight of the whole trip so far. Truly wonderful contemporary Mozambique art. There was a lot of sculpture - some rooted in traditional Makonde wood carvings with lots of people and other creatures piled up on each other; some using discarded weapons. There were a bunch of paintings from a wide range of artists. It was terrific. We visited a French/Mozambique cultural centers (there seem to be such centers in many parts of Africa, including non-Francophone Gambia) and there we bought a mask hammered from an old aluminum pot. Fun. Then we were brought to a place called Nucleo which is a workshop for artists making the sculptures out of weapons. It wasn't actually as interesting as the museum. By now it was only the 4 of us: Don, Bette, Rex and me. From there we walked a few blocks to a fabulous seafood restaurant and had grilled fresh fish and giant prawns. Yum. The train met us a block or two away from there. It was empty other than a South African couple visiting Mozambique for the first time. They got off at their hotel and we continued on to the ship, stopping at a place that works with people with disabilities and we were able to make some pretty nice purchases.
One interesting side note: the guide proudly pointed out a plaza with a metal frame sticking up in the middle: That is where we used to have a statue of President Mugabe. That was when he was a hero. But now we disapprove of what he is doing in Zimbabwe and we have removed his statue. Meanwhile, I'm not sure the South African government has ever really condemned what is going on there.
For some reason, Maputo was different from virtually every other port we visited in Africa (including West Africa): in most ports there is an instant crafts market that unfurled on the pavement in front of the ship. We didn't have one in Cape Town where we were docked since we were at a very built-up waterfront development. For some reason, no craft market in Maputo. It was hard for people to come to the port in all these cities: you needed clearance and even taxis and the various drivers we had arranged had to wait outside the gates but the vendors were there! Most of the ports, especially in West Africa, do not get lots of cruise ships so ours was definitely welcomed and in fact in most places - Cape Town included, we were greeted by musicians and dancers.

Enough for now. We are about to anchor in the Comoros. This will be our first experience with tenders - taking the lifeboats into town instead of walking out. Today our plan is simple: go into town, perhaps get haircuts, have lunch and poke around the shops.

Love, to all.

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