I arrived Monday early evening - and have not had an internet connection until today! Flight was long but uneventful - the best kind! Driver was waiting for me and hotel had my reservation - so the logistics worked!
Driving into the city at 6 pm - the landscape was pretty much the same as any large European city - including familiar logos and facilities for Amway, KFC (lots of these), and Toyota. Sun was setting - and a bit hazy. I chatted with the driver on the way in - and learned about some of the challenges of driving in the city. The scariest is the prevalence of smash and grab - when a car is stopped at a light, there is a pretty high chance of losing anything that's visible! He noted that while men tended to fight back, women didn't - so women driving alone were often targeted. A bit challenging for the women who must drive to work!
Tuesday morning I was picked up by a driver to Tydon Africa Safaris - while many of my CSC teammates are staying a few days - up to 2 weeks! - after our assignment, I'll be starting a new project so need to return immediately at the end of the assignment. So for the next 3 days I learned about South Africa, the game farms and preserves - and lots of interesting details about the animals that live there!
Tydon Safaris is a tented facility so I stayed in a tent that was built on a platform. It was just outside the gate
of the Sabi Sands private game preserve - and at night I heard animals - and yes a couple of nights I heard the lions roar! But I didn't see any lions on the game drives - and the driver and tracker tried really hard to find them! All the drivers were extremely knowledgeable about the animals and their behaviors - and knew where in the park particular species of animals usually hung out. We saw lots of elephants, hippos, rhinos, monkeys, baboons, zebras, giraffes, impala (these are one of the lowest on the food chain and there are over 100,000 in the Kruger National Park), buffalo (the most dangerous of the 'big 5" because they have no body language - one never know when one when charge!
We did 3 game drives and one game walk. Yes a walk among the animals - and our lead carried an elephant gun - and yes it it designed to kill any animal that poses a danger to the group - including elephants. We started at 6 am - a chilly sunrise - and shortly came upon a herd of sleeping buffalo. They were behind some bushes - and not happy about being aroused. We retreated quietly and quickly - and headed in another direction. Fortunately they decided to have some breakfast - grazing - rather than following us. On the walk we learned how to track an animal and to determine how recently the animal had passed by.
About South Africa - I chatted with the safari team plus some guests from South Africa to get a sense of the country - I'd read 4 books and wanted a bit more information. I learned that the transportation infrastructure is pretty much non-existent - trains build for the World Soccer Cup are there but many people find them unsafe to ride. There have been reported numerous attacks on passengers by gangs. There's some intercity bus service - but not a lot. There are a lot of mini van buses - that pick up passengers standing along the highway. People are packed in - 3 - 4 to a row of seats - and no AC! Few people in the rural area have cars - they are very expensive as is fuel. They walk and hitchhike.
I also asked some questions about the education system since my small team will be working with the Ministry of Education in Limpopo. I learned that in 1994 when apartheid officially ended, all students were guaranteed a free education. JT, who was a driver and general do-everything - commented that many students expected free to mean receiving a certificate without putting in effort and learning - she commented and the feeling of 'entitlement' she observed. She's in her 20's - and during her high school years the school implemented Outcomes Based Education (OBE) - and the students worked in small groups - but - one person did all the work - and all expected good grades. Her voice showed frustration - she was typically the one who did the work - she wanted to learn! A couple of years later another approach was used - but she commented that the sense of entitlement really bothered here. I learned that the unemployment rate for young people 18-25 in many areas approaches 65%.
Our project will focus on working with preschool teachers to learn to use KidSmart - as well as leadership development. We'll be meeting with our client team on Sunday afternoon!
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