Bodhi Bum

So my time in South Africa which originally started off as a two week adventure, has now become a three month job placement. I'm here for the long term and it's now become just another job, albeit an interesting one in an interesting place. I never really thought I would make it to Africa, and funny enough, being here it's almost like I really still haven't made it to Africa. At least not the real one. All those pictures on TV when you're growing up, Bono trying his best to help the starving masses, genocide, rape, starvation. It's all a little much to take in. But to be honest I've seen about as much of that here that I've probably seen back home in Canada, or the Uk, the US, or Australia, where I"ve lived. The sad reality is that people suffer, thousands die every day, but it's not in your back yard, or even the average white South Africans back yard. It's tucked away where you don't have to see it, and deal with it. Just the way it is. Sad, but true I guess.



Strange how I'm sitting here in relative luxury, surrounded by the trappings of success waited on pretty much hand and foot, when just outside the hotel door is Africa. It may not be at my front door, but if you drive just about twenty minutes out of Joburg you start to see the shanty towns and tin shacks. But hey, I've seen more of those in Asia, where people are quite happy and contented with their lives living in those same small shacks. Not saying I'd want to trade places, but it seems that poverty seems to weigh down a little more intensely here, and the close family ties and love for each other that I've found in the poorest slums of Asia seems to be replaced by a much darker and hopeless feeling here. I know that the desperate starvation of Ethiopia, senseless genocide of Rwanda, and religious slaughter of Sudan are about as far away from South Africa as Iraq is from America. But here you get a sense of it, and the real Africa I guess really isn't all that far away.

But what are thoughts of death and starvation, when you get to visit the Lion Park and play with baby lions?? Two weekends back we got tired of working on a Saturday morning by the pool on the laptops, and decided to head to a Safari. Problem is, the closest real Safari to Joburg is about five hours away. So instead we settled for the Lion Park. It was only about a half hour drive from the city, and we got to go four by fouring in the bosses new company car. I warned him I snapped my mother's front axle on her Z24 doing just the same, going offroad in a sports car, but he didn't listen. And right by the duck pond we got stuck, he floored it, and something snapped underneath. We were able to drive out, but the car is toast, and he had to get a replacement next day.



The park was ok, quite a few animals running around the place. But the highlight was playing with the baby lions. They were four to five months old, and amazing. Everyone was scared, since these babies were actually about the size of a good size dog, with fangs as big as your thumb. But they were so tame I couldn't help swatting them around and playing with them just like a big playful cat. Worked fine for a while, until one of them got a little too excited and decided to clamp his claws into my arm. Drew blood, and took a minute to pry him off, but no major damage done.

Here's a few pics of my new apartment.




Next weekend we decided to head a little further afield, and ventured out to some mountain with some big long, strange Afrikaner name, to do some Canopy Tour absailing thinging. Basically they just run cables from one side of a gorge to the other, back and forth, hook you in, and give you a big shove. It's a hell of a lot of fun, and a good day out. The pics speak for themselves.

This weekend everyone abandoned me and flew back home to London, leaving me here to mind the ship and run the show at work. So this past weekend I pretty much just chilled out pool side, did a little work, got a little sun, sipped a few cocktails and enjoyed the easy life. Unfortunately it's now Monday and the easy life has come to an end. Till next time....

Bodhni