There are many wild animals. I think it is time to see them, because I am in Africa!
The morning is coming. Actually Catherine, last host, told me that I should stay more night, but I couldn’t do. I already arrange the place to sleep at the next town and next next town. It is sad to leave from kind family.
The fruit which Catherine gave me is a rambutan.
Many cars have the trailer with bicycles on a highway. But there is nobody who cycles except me on the highway.
The farm of corn;
Today I feel peaceful during cycling, because the host in Mafikeng introduces me his coworker in Lichtenburg. My host, Hilton in Lichtenburg, will join on a bicycle race tomorrow.
I am invited in dinner tonight. It is my first time to drink South African beer.
This is a typical food of South Africa, Mielie Pop. It is different type of Mielie which I had yesterday. It is like Korean rice cake.
The next day I visit his daughter’s house. They say it is South African pan cake. I think it is also similar to Korean food.
Kitty
I was supposed to sleep only one night in Lichtenburg. But they have a friend who has a lion farm so that they want to show me lions. So, I am gonna see a lion today!
So, the first thing I see in farm is a lynx which looks like a cat.
LION!
There are over 70 lions in the farm!
I like this photo!
The farm doesn’t buy food for lions, because they can get free food which is dead animal from other farm.
There are albino lions. A lion lives in Africa and a tiger lives in Asia. One day an owner of farmer bought two tigers. Unfortunately lions found some hole to the next tiger cage from the fence in the night, and four or five lions killed two tigers. Oh.. poor tigers and owner. I guess he paid a lot of money to buy tigers.
A little cute lion! It looks like a small puppy.
Owner tells me some strange thing. There is a game of lion that people can hunt the lion. What? Hunting lion??
He says that many customers are from Russia. It costs from 12,000$~36,000$ for one lion. If they hunt a female lion, it will be around two years old lion. If they hunt a male lion, it will be around 5 years old lion.
So here is the way for hunting the lion. The worker puts a lion under anesthesia. They drive to forest with putting lion on a cage. They must release a lion before a lion wakes up. Then a hunter walks in to bush!!! (Not with car, but with walking!!!!!) Of course they will be some workers for emergency. If there is a big dangerous situation, workers will kill lions first. But it is still dangerous thing to hunt lion by walking that some of hunters got injured.
After hunting lion, people got the skin of the lion they hunted. But they don’t eat lion.
Is it weird story?
When I look at small baby, a mother of them snarl. But it is so cute to see them, so I keep looking them! But suddenly a mother of them barks too loudly ever!!! It is the scariest sound I’ve ever heard!!!! Almost my heart stopped because I am very scared!! It makes me so nervous that if I face them in other country, …………….. oh.. I can’t imagine.
(There is no wild life on a highway in South Africa, because all of them are in the fence. But it is possible to see wild animal on the highway in other country.)
When he touches fence, lions come and touch his hand with their body. There was accident at other lion farm that one customer did the same thing and his finger was bitten!! After owner is gone, one people follows the same thing and a lion does the same thing to customer. Oh..
Later the owner tells me that he never go into cage, because it is like suicide.
Male
We have a bbq. The weather is so perfect that I enjoy so much.
This is the beer of South Africa.
It is so tasty. It is kind of weird that we have a meat in front of lions.
They are not like a dog that they don’t close to us when we eat meat. But when the owner brings dead animal, all of lions walks around cage.
It is said that they don’t feed lions with alive animal for incase. If they eat alive animal, they can be very violently and then it would be hard to manage.
The next day I cycle to Mafikeng which is the last city of South Africa.
This is Silo which is for keeping corn or cereal.
I already found the host in Mafikeng from couchsurfing.org. I want to take the rest and write a journal. But the problem is that the most of house doesn’t have WiFi. They use USB internet which has even limit. It is totally not easy to use Wifi. It means I am gonna struggle to post on my website and research info. I think if I am going to more north, it would be harder.
My host name is Johann and Karina. They want to show me Game Reserve. I didn’t expect to see wild animal soon, because I don’t have enough money to do what normal tourists do. Wow. It is totally unexpected to see lions and other wild animals that I am so excited.
This is the list of what they have.
Let’s go!
It is quite different from the lion farm that it is so huge!!!! The first thing we see in the car is giraffes. Always I am wondering that they are not tired of neck!
This is Waterbuck. You can figure out them easily! They have a white circle on their hip.
White circle on hip=Waterbuck!
This is Eland
A horn is straight and they are really big.
This is Blesbok. They have white thing on their face.
Also on legs;
This is Rhino!
Isn’t it cute?
It is quite impressive animal.
Their skin makes me confused.
White thing on the face!!! Blesbok!
Rhino!
My host’s neighborhood’s baby! My host loves the baby so much.
I like Rhinos! They are so big!
What is this? Impala!! He says to me that I can see something on their hips.
‘What?’
‘Brand of McDonald!’
‘hahaha’
Impala is so cute!
Specially eyes!
Red Hartebees. It is similar to Blesbok.
Red Hartebees.
Warthog! It reminds me of Lion king!
It seems that they are the shyest animal, because they always run away with standing their tail.
Here is another impressive animal, Buffalo! Their horn is like woman’s hair. Johann tells me that I am so lucky, because it is hard to see many buffalos in one time.
Impressive!
If I hide horn from a monitor, then it is totally the same as cow.
Many buffalos
Kudu. It reminds me of another animation, but I can’t remember well.
Eyes are so cute!
It is male, because he has horn.
Question! What is it?
Hint: a white circle on their hip.
Answer! Waterbuck!
Question: What is Johann doing?
Hint:
– It is white culture. Black people don’t know it.
– It is like the game of water melon that to spit as far as.
– The game makes children stronger.
Answer: Animal’s poop! He says this poop is clean and good for health that if I have emergency on forest such as no food, I can eat poop! !
The start was this. I asked to him that what kind of this poop is as pointing with my finger. But he picked it up and fingered. I thought ‘oh.. he touches poop.. oh.. no way!!!!!!!!!!! Now He is holding poop on his mouse! Oh no way!! ’
His wife, beautiful lady, also does!! .oh…..
I can hold poop with hands, but I can’t hold with my mouse.
“Hey Karina, it is like doing bungee jump.”
“Have you done bungee jump?”
“No. I mean it is too afraid to do.”
I try to close poop near my mouse over several times, but it was really hard. Finally I do! But I couldn’t do like Johann that I spit just in front me. Anyway success!!!
But why it is white culture? Since 17c, Netherland farmer moved to South Africa and lived in the bush. That’s why. In fact his neighborhood, black people, doesn’t know this game.
Actually it was so hard to cycle in Latin America, because I really don’t like insanitary. But the problem was that there was not much clean thing in Latin America. (One of the reasons I like South Africa is that it is really clean country.)
Now I feel like I become stronger after this game.
“I hold poop with mouse, so from now there will be nothing I can’t eat!”
Rhino. I am sorry that last week at midnight one rhino was killed by poachers who wanted to have horn of rhino. Oh.. it is so foolish.
Buffalo
Warthog
Black Wildebeest. It looks scary.
Springbok. Oh I can’t believe that I had jerked meat of African animal, springbok which friends gave me. Now I don’t have it anymore. The first time when I eat, tasty was like eating sheep. But now I love biltong.
Zebra. I like Zebra and giraffe.
Blesbok.
Black Jackal!!
I enjoy so much touring at Game Reserve. Totally it was unexpected thing, because I didn’t have money to tour! Thank to Johann and Karin, I have really good experience.
This is Greyhound(Dog, not bus)!
The next day, I visit host’s office. While they are working, I walk around the town. It is really stressful that local people hassle to me too much. As I come back, Johann wants to go to a Post office by walking with me. It is ridiculous that local people stop hassling to me at the same load, because I am with the man. HOW STUPID COWARD YOU ARE. It has been over one year to be treated badly since I went to Latin America. Some of them are really rude ever since Central America. They are so stupid, idiot and coward that they never hassle if I am with a local man. I’ve gotten too much stressful because of some of this stupid rude local people. I don’t have any choice. I can’t hit them or teach them. The only thing I can do is to ignore and get stress. It is not only dangerous to cycle woman alone, but also too much stressful. So why I keep traveling? Because there are more kind, generous and gorgeous people!
Anyway I love South Africa so much that I am gonna cross the Botswana border and come back to get another stamp. I can only stay one month in South Africa instead of no visa. It is 50 km (31.25 mi) to the border that Johann gives me a ride.
It is so embarrassed that immigrations tell us something which doesn’t make sense. One of them says to me that I must go back to Korea to come back South Africa. I have already known that other people went to some other country and back to South Africa. One of them says it can be possible and one of them says other things.
Totally it wastes of the time to talk with them. I am wondering how they got a job in immigration. They must follow the law, not their opinion.
It seems that it would be hard to get another month. I feel sad.
This is my host house. He is an architect and his wife is a somotologist. Architects are not many in South Africa, because there are only a few universities which have a course of the architecture. It is different from Korea that every university has a course of the architecture in Korea. So there are so many doctors and lawyers, but there are maybe only 10,000 architects in South Africa
Karina asks me that what my favorite country is. I answer that Mexico is so nice that their food is awesome. The next day, she cooks Mexican food. I feel a bit sorry, because she shouldn’t cook for me, but I should cook for her.
My host’s neighborhood is black people. It is my first time to see that different color people are friend to each other. So, I enjoy staying with them.
The next day Johann brings me at his project. He is building a new school at countryside because the other school is too old. Local mine company is paying for building school, but it will run by government.
It will take two years and cost 1.5 million dollar. This is not nice school like other school in the city so that 1.5 million is not much expensive. I am too shocked that ‘what? 1.5 million?’. Why am I shocked? Because it is my dream to build the library for local poor people. I am not gonna build many nice buildings unlike Johann that the library which someday I will build will be cheaper, but anyway I realize that it will cost a lot and take long time.
How many children are there in a playground? But I think it is the same that there are not many play things like a seesaw and a swing in Korean school. The different thing is all of Korean children don’t play in the playground, but all of children play in South Africca.
When I start taking a photo, children are looking at me.
Suddenly all of them are coming.
They love being been taken picture. When I show them picture, I am being nervous, because all of them stand around me and enclose and then they push each other like wave. I feel like somebody will fall down and step.
When I came back, some amazing thing happens in my life. Johann lets me drive. IT IS MY FIRST TIME TO DRIVE A CAR IN MY LIFE. People have told me that I am amazing, because I am cycling. To me, you are more amazing; because you drive a car which I can never try driving!!!!!!!
The car is manual that it is a bit complicating, but I think I drive very well, because I have experience that I’ve already driven over 13,000 km (8,125 mi) (by bicycle).
I can’t believe that I drive A CAR. It was my dream to drive a car!!!! If somebody asks me that what the most amazing thing is, I will answer that driving car is the most amazing during cycling around the world.
I feel super amazing incredible unbelievable awesome!!!
Karina loves not only cooking, but also making beautiful table. We have had dinner always with their neighborhood.
Tomorrow I will cross the Botswana border that I ask them what currency is. John’s wife, neighborhood, says they have been Botswana so that they have money of them and they will bring some of them. So I also bring some of South African money to exchange.
But later they want to give me the Botswana money for free. I say ‘no,no,no. I need exchange’. But they say ‘no,no,no, just take all’. We tell each other ‘no,no,no’ again and again. Later finally I take their money that it is around 50$. It is too big money to me. I do appreciate it.
In the morning, I am embarrassed that I didn’t say anything to Karina when I left their house. Actually I couldn’t say, because something was on my throat that if I start to say b for bye, I must have cried so much. It is my first time not to say anything. Oh I am sorry. Sometimes I am too emotional.
I thank that John and Johann become my partner until getting out of the cicy.
The traffic sign of South Africa is the best that I’ve been. They even calculate between two cities. It is hard that I’ve been with gorgeous people, but suddenly I become alone. And then my feeling is so lonely ever.
The people I meet are so generous and kind in South Africa. Most of them in the America continent, didn’t say to me ‘come in and sleep inside.’ Even sometimes it was hard to find to put my tent. Only two or three times people asked me to sleep inside in the America continent, but in South Africa most of the them let me sleep inside. So I feel like South Africa is the most amazing country to cycle!!!
But it is time to leave to the next country, Botswana. I am wondering that how will be Botswana?
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Route
Days I spent in South Africa= 31 Days
Distance of cycling in South Africa = 1,443.16 km / 901.98 mi
Cities I stayed in South Africa= 18 Cities
Cape town, Paar, Worcester, Touws River, Laingsburg, Leeu Gamka, Beutufort west , Three sisters, Victoria West, Farm Wolwecop, Strydenburg, Hopetown, Ritchie, Warrenton, Bloemhof, Farm Srydport, Lichtenburg, Mafikeng
Money I spent in South Africa = $ 185 ($60 Yellow fever) // (1$= 8.04 Rand)
People who helped me on the road in South Africa =
Nazzema Jardien (Cape Town), Police office of Paarl (Paarl), Church of Worcester (Worcester), Duren Coetlee/Sarel & Hettie Dorfling (Touws River), Charlotte Knight (Laingsburg), Police station of Leeu Gamka (Leeu Gamka), Police station of Beutufort west (Beutufort west), Hennie Walt (Three sisters), Patrick&Michel Fann (Victoria West), Pieter & Annare Jooste (Farm Wolwecop), Thys Pretorius / Murich & Pid Delport Kerkstraat-Upstairs Gastehuis (Strydenburg), Koos and Daleen de wet – BIGGI (Hopetown), Ane and Craig – Magersfontein Golf course (Ritchie), Gorden (Warrenton), Albert&Augusta Nel(Bloemhof), Herman&Catherine Holtzhauzen (Farm Srydport), Hilton Davis (Lichtenburg), Johann & Karina van der Wath (Mafikeng)
People who donated to me = Andrew Prenty, 하정혁, Ville Venäläinen, Shon&Ayesha Naidoo
