South Africa Study Abroad Adventures

Occurred: Saturday, 2/27/10 to Monday, 3/1/10
Written: Tuesday, 3/9/10

My friend from the US was coming to visit me for a little over a week, and the first stop on her vacation itinerary was to go visit Kruger National Park, which is the largest national park in SA and well known for its safaris. Three of my other housemates joined us, so early on Saturday morning us five girls piled into our rental car and drove the six hours from Jo’Burg to Kruger. We were staying at Skukuza rest camp, which is the largest park-owned rest camp in Kruger with lots of different services, such as a post office, restaurant, pools, shops, etc. There are many other private lodges that are more remote, farther into the bush, and where the guest can get closer to the animals, but they are much more expensive, so we decided to do the rest camp. We stayed in bungalows, which were essentially little huts that had your basic bed, bath, and kitchen area, and that totally sufficed for our time there. The day we arrived, we were booked for an evening game drive. I had been on several game drives during my previous visits to SA, but they were in Pilanesberg, which is a much smaller game reserve, so I was looking forward to Kruger – Kruger is supposed to be THE park to go to. However, with the exception of really excitingly close encounters with lions and lionesses walking alongside our vehicle, I saw pretty much the same animals – giraffe, zebra, impala, rhinos, hippos, baboons, elephants, hyenas, wildebeests, etc. Now, the *first* time I took a game drive it was super exciting. Seeing the animals in their natural habitat and up close is *amazing,* so I definitely recommend doing a game drive if you haven’t already. But it was my 6th one so I was kind of over it. Also, the tour guide we had in Kruger was far less diligent than my tour guide in Pilanesberg. She drove super fast, zipping past animals until we yelled at her to stop, and barely spoke about them. My Pilanesberg tour guide was awesome, knowing exactly where to go and talking the whole time.

Besides the morning and evening game drives, my friends went on a “bush braai,” which I opted out of since I’d already done one. A “braai” is the South African term for a BBQ, and a bush braai literally means a BBQ in the middle of the bush. For about R500 each, my friends got *another* two hour game drive and a traditional African dinner in the bush prepared by the Kruger Park chefs. What’s unique about the bush braai is that it’s literally out in the open game reserve with no fences or barriers between the guests and animals. Thus, besides the chefs and the tour guide, my friends had the presence of George, a ranger with a huge rifle to shoot down any dangerous approaching animals.

While my friends were on the bush braai, I quietly ate and journaled alone at the restaurant in Skukuza. It overlooked this river that wound its way through the park, and as the sun went down I and a huge warthog (that was chilling in the tall reed) watched an elephant with one tusk bathe himself in the river. The roof I was sitting under was thatched and housed a bunch of sleeping bats. A family of monkeys was crawling around the table next to mine eating scraps of food. That night was my favorite evening in Kruger, because it represents one of the things I love about South Africa. I’m not really a nature person, nor an animal person, but the fact that people and animals and nature can co-exist peacefully and respectfully here is amazing to me.

On my second trip to SA, I remember a cab driver telling me a Jo’Burg quote – “Good fences make good neighbors.” That definitely rings true when you look around the city. Nearly all of the companies, residences, complexes, restaurants, schools, you name it, in the city is gated. High walls with barbed wire are a common sight in Jo’Burg. Honestly I don’t know how effective the system is, as in general you can BS your way past the guards if you didn’t have an access card (as is required for the gate to WBS) , but I guess it’s better than nothing. Going to other people’s houses I noticed that some homes have metal doors INSIDE (for example, to separate the kitchen from the bedrooms from the bathroom, etc) in order to barricade yourself in a room if a criminal comes in. This kind of protection just blows my mind – I grew up in a suburb where I’ve accidentally left my garage door open overnight and just said “oops” about it in the morning. Anyways, these security measures are to obviously protect people from crime, of which there is a significant amount in Jo’burg. (Random sidenote: because of this type of security setup, the kids here don’t get to experience the amazing fun that is trick-or-treating!! Very sad.) Anyways, when I first came to Jo’burg, I definitely kept my guard up and took necessary precautions, most significantly not driving alone at night. After a while, I got lured, somewhat, into a false sense of security because nothing had happened to me, I started to learn my way around, and because I kept to the “safer” areas. As a result, I did a couple stupid things. One night, for example, I was out meeting friends in Parkhurst, a relatively safe residential area where young professionals live and go out and about a 15 minute drive on local roads back to Wits. It was after midnight and I wanted to go home, but I was the only in Trematon house in Parkhurst. So, I drove home alone. It was incredibly stupid of me, I knew at the time and I realized even more so in hindsight, because of what happened a few weeks later to my roommate, Katharina….

Katharina was driving to the gym at around 8:30pm, alone. Normally, we don’t drive alone at night (with the exception of my aforementioned stupidity), but the route to the gym is literally a straight shot on and off of the M1 highway that we’d done tons of times before. Kat got off the highway and was stopped at a robot (stoplight) in an intersection that wasn’t well lit and that was surrounded by a lot of bushes. She sees a young guy peering into the car on the front passenger side, and initially thought that he was a beggar. In an instant, however, the guy shatters the window, reaches into the car and grabs the GPS, which was on but was sitting below the radio in front of the stick, and takes off. Kat was frozen in the 30 seconds this took to happen. There was hardly any time to react, and even if there were her options were limited: there was a large pick-up truck in front of her so she couldn’t drive forward, and the reverse gear in our crappy rental car is difficult and time-consuming to maneuver. Even if she’d laid on her horn the unfortunate truth of the matter is, probably no one would have done anything, even if they’d been able to. In Jo’burg, crimes like these “smash and grabs” are a way of life and everyone is too worried about their own safety to help others. The police’s attitude when we reported it to them was, “Yes, we know that’s a dangerous corner. Be more careful next time.” Thankfully, the guy just took the GPS and nothing else, and Kat wasn’t hurt. Also thankfully, the window took just R1000 and an hour to repair, so we got our car back right away.

Obviously, the crime is driven by the widespread poverty in SA. Like the crime, poverty is a way of life. Literally in Jo’Burg there are beggars at nearly every robot (stoplight), carrying plastic garbage bags or cups asking for change and food. There are often mothers with babies sitting on the curb, or sometimes an able-bodied person guiding a blind or disabled partner around. If there aren’t beggars, then there are guys who want to wash your windows or sell you something random. Rest assured, each time you stop your car in the street, you will get a visitor. TIA.

The poverty and the crime result in a job here that is pretty unique – parking attendants. Parking attendants literally stand in the street, or a parking lot (except in covered parking garages, like in shopping malls), to “watch” over your car for you and keep it from theft. In addition to watching your car, they are at times helpful in finding you a parking spot or guiding you into or out of a spot. The custom is to tip the parking attendant – not much, just two to three Rand. At first, I was annoyed about this. I don’t need someone to watch my car. I can back out of this spot myself, thank you. But then, after I went to Cape Town and went to the beach on an uberhot day and saw parking attendants standing under the miserable sun all day, I realized they were actually making a conscious choice to work (regardless of how little work I think it might be) to get just a few dimes on each car, rather than be on the streets begging or doing a smash and grab on my roommate Katharina. And if it costs me only a few dimes a day to support that, I realized, then this custom is definitely one I will get behind.

To outsmart an MBA student?  Apparently, just one. 

During our travels around South Africa, my friends and I decided to spend a leisurely day exploring the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern point in Africa, where locals promised great views of South Africa’s famous coastal scenery.  We weren’t disappointed, and spent several hours taking pictures and sightseeing around the Cape.

As the sun began to set at the end of our day, my friends and I happily headed to the parking lot to begin our drive back to Cape Town.  Walking towards our car, we noticed a large alpha male baboon 50 feet away, lumbering towards us.  We had seen several signs warning us to stay away from the wild baboons, so I and two of my friends stopped instantly to keep our distance.  Our friend Jim, however, decided that he would actually be safer from WITHIN our car, and nervously sped up towards it, all the while yelling to us to unlock the doors remotely. 

What happens next is a blur.  Jim reaches the car and quickly climbs into the backseat, breathing a visible sigh of relief.  He doesn’t realize that the baboon intelligently observes that the car is now unlocked, opens the door opposite Jim, hops into the seat next to him, and stares at Jim curiously just as Jim triumphantly celebrates his victory in beating the baboon to the cars.  In a split second, Jim turns to see the baboon baring his teeth at him (or so he claims), jumps 2 feet in the air, and hauls his butt out of the car as fast as I have ever seen a human run.

The baboon, unfazed at the drama, gives a short holler (“ooo-oo-ou-ahh-ahh!”) and within seconds, his entire monkey posse comes to join him in and around the car.  They carefully unzip our backpacks in search of food, taking out one item at a time until they find our fruit and granola bar stashes.  After they claim the booty, they meticulously place our belongings back in our bags, leave the car, and run back into the forestry.

Now, I have to note here that Jim is a big, buff guy.  He’s 6’4’’ and 220lbs with muscles you could bounce a quarter off of.  He also always carries himself in a very calm and deliberate manner.  So, seeing this Hugh Jackman look-a-like high-tailing it out of our little rental car and screaming like a scared schoolgirl will forever be one of the most hilarious moments I have witnessed in my life.  After a shocked silence, and once we knew Jim wasn’t going to get eaten by the hungry baboon, my friends and I died of laughter for a good five minutes at the expense of the poor guy and teased him all the way home. 

Man, I love South Africa and the crazy adventures we’ve been having.  Next up was Gansbaai to go shark cage diving.  Hopefully they don’t find their way into the cage!

Occurred: 2/8/10 – 2/11/10
Written: Saturday, 2/14/10

The week after Storytelling, several of us didn’t have class until the following Friday. So, we decided to take a road trip to Durban, the third largest city in SA right on the east coast. Manglin, from our Storytelling class, had hooked us up with some rooms in his family’s timeshare resort, the Umhlanga Sands. It was gorgeous.  While Durban certainly is not as physically beautiful, cosmopolitan, or international as Cape Town, I found it beautiful in its own right with a ton to see and do. I had no idea, but it has the largest Indian population outside of India, because Indian migrant workers were brought to SA through Durban to work on the sugar cane plantations.

After the 6 hour drive from Jo’Burg to Durban, we hit up uShaka Marine World, which has the 5th largest aquarium in the world. It’s also a Sea World-type of entertainment park plus a water park, so it was huge. They had a great shark exhibit and a cute restaurant where you could eat right next to a large tank housing some medium-sized sharks and large fish.  Afterwards, we went to Willson’s Wharf because we were on a mission to get Durban’s best “bunny chow,” an Indian delicacy that my classmates told me I HAD to have. Expecting something like a samosa, it turned out to be a curried meat stew stuffed inside a hallowed out bread loaf. I learned that bunny chow came from the times when the migrant workers needed a way to transport their curries to the fields, thus putting the curries in the bread.

The next day I had planned to take surfing lessons, since the Indian Ocean is supposed to be far warmer than the Pacific Ocean. BUT, there turned out to be a huge wave of blue box jelly-fish coming close to the surf.  So, we decided to beach it up resort-style, and explore the city.  For the remainder of our time in Durban, we went to an indoor Indian-African market, saw the new soccer stadium built for 2010, and checked out the Gateway Mall, which is supposed to be the biggest mall in the Southern Hemisphere. We also went to a Cubana, which is a Latin-themed chain of bar/restaurants which, at least to me, is known for their hookahs (or “hubbly-bubblys,” as they call it here). 

 The morning of our departure, we all went out on a boat ride to tag sharks (for tracking purposes) that are caught up in the nets put down to protect the swimmers. While there weren’t any sharks that day, we DID see TONS of gorgeous dolphins swimming in schools all around our boat in search for food. I was so surprised how closely the captain pulled up to the dolphins – when I went whale-watching in Vancouver, regulations made us stay at least 150 ft away from the whales at all times. I was in heaven!!! It was the first time I’d seen wild dolphins….I wanted to jump in the ocean and swim with them! But I didn’t (a wise choice methinks).

I really enjoyed Durban – gorgeous weather, great views, interesting things to do – but man I was excited to get back to Jo’burg. I’m starting to feel like Jo’burg is my home!

Occurred: 2/1/10 – 2/5/10
Written: Saturday, 2/6/10

The day after I arrived into Jo’Burg, the other exchange students and I took a tour of the Wits B-school and registered for classes. My first class, Storytelling, was a phenomenal elective unlike any that I have taken at Fuqua. The purpose of the class is to teach leaders how to motivate and inspire their people through the power of storytelling. There were about 30 students (expanded to accommodate the exchange students), and the first thing I noted was the make-up of my Wits classmates. For the most part, they were older by about 5 years than your average American MBA program, there were far more part-time students than full time (which is common in SA because more companies sponsor students), and far fewer women. In the elective of about 22 WBS students, only 3 were female. Most notably, though, was that there were a disproportionate amount of Indian South Africans in the class relative to the entire population. So, upon first look at my new classmates, I was skeptical that these older, seemingly conservative guys were really going to get into telling stories. Case in point: I turned to the Afrikaans guy sitting next to me and enthusiastically introduced myself in my usual bubbly way. “I’m Heinrich,” he said. “Oh, like Henry?” I asked. “Yes,” He said. “Can I call you Henry?” I asked, smiling and half jokingly. With a stone cold expression, not a smile to be seen on his face, he shook his head sternly and said, “No.” Ouch. Ooooo-kay then. I turned my attention back to the professor.

However, by the end of the 4 day long course, these seemingly conservative guys really showed a different side of them. We told personal anecdotes, made up allegorical stories, and abbreviated versions of our life stories to the larger class and in smaller groups. We did exercises similar to those you’d find in an improv class. I liked that Storytelling had to make everyone open up and get comfortable with each other very quickly, since I really wanted to learn from and integrate with my South African and exchange student classmates. For instance, in my small group for life story sharing, I was in a group with Heinrich, a tall and serious Indian South African named Manglin, and a 23 year old exchange student from northern Italy, on his first trip outside the US and first class in English ever! As diverse as we were, it soon became evident from our stories that all people share many of the same personal challenges, and themes of love, loyalty, perseverance, overcoming challenges, etc, were universal. It was far more fascinating to hear about their experiences growing up within the context of their environment that was unique from my own. For example, Heinrich and Manglin shared two very different experiences about growing up during the transition from apartheid to democracy. Our class culminated on the last day with everyone telling an allegorical story that is based on a personal anecdote. Heinrich, the humorless and stuffy engineer from that first day, told a simply *hilarious* animal story that had the entire class on the floor laughing. Manglin wowed the entire class with his romantic music-themed fairytale that ended in a beautiful guitar serenade of Eric Clapton’s “Change the World.” As with nearly all of my MBA experiences, I continue to be reminded of the brilliance of my classmates and how much I can learn from them, despite first impressions. I only wish that I had more time to spend with them!

Occurred: 1/28/10 – 1/31/10
Written: Sunday, 1/31/10

Upon arrival into O.R Tambo International Airport, it struck me as how much more strict security had gotten since I visited last. In the short walk from customs to the transportation area, at least four customs officials stopped me to see my passport and question my goods and purpose for visitation. But I got through without incident, and I was off to b-school.

Anyways, I arrived at the Wits Business School campus, which is located in a neighborhood called Parktown. The b-school campus is separated from the main university, and my residence is situated a short one minute walk from it.  All the exchange students live in the Trematon House, a large house-like building with several apartment units inside. Walking up to Trematon, it was like an episode of the Real World: I heard someone shout “TIIIIIINNNNAAAAAAAAA!!!” from an open window as I dragged my suitcase up the walk, and my peers came out to greet me. The nine exchange students are a very diverse group – three Africans from Kelley, one American girl from Anderson, one of my fellow American Dukies, one Swiss girl from St. Gallen (my apartmentmate), two Italian guys from Bocconi, and me. Instantly I knew that this group was down for lots of fun, and I was right! The guys had been partying it up for the past week, and that night, we went to a club called Manhattan (aka “The Hat”). Clubs in South Africa are an interesting phenomenon with the men sporting legitimately good-looking fauxhawks and the DJ playing the latest GaGa followed randomly by Dirty Dancing’s “Time of my Life.” (Not the dance remix either. The real version. Lol.) One exceptional thing to note about SA is that the food, transportation, and more importantly, drinks here are amazingly cheap!!  Always good for a student budget!

Logistically, we spent the days before class registering, getting cheap cell phone plans, and renting cars. We got two small cars for the nine of us at a monthly rate of about $130 per person. Not bad! A car is an absolute necessity in Jo’burg, as the city is very large and spread out with a poor public transportation infrastructure.

Stay tuned for details on my first class at Wits!!