Miserable in the 'Mother City'

It's wet, miserable and cold in Cape Town, a prelude to what soccer fans can expect when they arrive for the World Cup next month. I note that in all the marketing hype for the FIFA competition, no-one has actually mentioned the weather. ('Probably best not to...everyone agreed?') June is Cape Town's winter and it gets very cold and rains alot if you didn't know. Forget the golden beaches, shark cage diving and all those alluring brochures full of scantily clad Western Cape babes. That's Summer and another six months away.

The weather is doing little to shift my mood which took a swallow dive yesterday. Since I got here, I've felt like a fish out of water. It's that din again. The endless white noise of city life. The noise of commuter traffic building up first thing in the morning, (Give me Caprivi birdsong any day!) and the dense hum which follows all day long and into the night. Then there’s the conversation. People talking about stuff and things, I can fortunately no longer relate to. Yesterday, I overheard three business people discussing the logo branding of a well known mineral fizzy drink for over half an hour which such intensity and conviction, you felt their lives depended on it. They probably believe in the tooth-rotting product as well. How sad is that?

I've spent the last two days helping to build a bar for the World Cup. A friend offered me the job and I accepted feeling the need to do something other than stare at a computer screen, as well as earn some cash. It's on the edge of the 'fan park', a large penned enclosure in the city bowl, which when completed will offer thousands of football supporters without tickets, the opportunity to watch the games televised live on large screens.

The idea of this corral, is one of containment with a dual purpose. It means official sponsors of the World Cup (not going to mention their names because I find the whole thing vile and cynically exploitive) can sell their heavily branded products to a literally ‘captive’ audience without fear of competition while providing a ‘safe’ venue for football tourists, concentrating their revelry and beer vomit in one place.

I took a wander around the fence that surrounds the ‘fan park’ yesterday. It’s stunningly situated against a backdrop of Table Mountain and the formidable Isiko Natural History and Art museum. What struck me was the number of poor, hopelessly unemployed men sitting around it, in various stages of what can be only be described as despair. (Quite a few middle-aged whites too whom you tend to notice). No doubt come the glorious day and they will be shunted out of sight. After all, we wouldn’t want anything to upset the sponsors...

Back in Cape Town

Flew back to South Africa on Thursday from Kasane in Botswana to Cape Town via Johannesburg. Travelled on budget airlines which is a relatively new and welcome development in this part of the world. South Africa now has three low cost airlines, Kulula, One Time and Mango which for some reason, all sound like fruit drinks.

Uneventful trip until I was pulled in by immigration officials at Joburg because of an unpaid 'overstay' fine of R1000 (£90). I had actually paid it in Cape Town a few months earlier but because I had no receipt, and it was still registered on their computer as outstanding, they insisted I pay or be refused entry. I did ask them to ring Cape Town airport immigration to check with their colleagues' computer but they refused, leaving me no alternative to cough up again or spend the rest of my life in the arrivals section.

The second upset of the trip was receiving a call from a friend who was supposed to be picking me up at Cape Town airport, to say he couldn't make it because his pregnant wife had just gone into labour. This news required me to ring around a number of friends, to try find someone to pick me up as well as somewhere to stay. Fortunately, I did manage to find someone. I've been living in his office ever since. Poor John.

The one piece of good news was receiving word that my application for residency in South Africa had been approved. This means I can now live and work in the country for three years. This news brings to an end, a long period of uncertainty about the future. Now all I have to do is try and generate some work to allow me to live here.

It's only been five days but missing Elle already. Her birthday today too.

Making a plan

'If its not one thing, it's another'...is becoming quite a catchphrase around here. Yesterday, Elle's Toyota Hilux bakkie broke down about 70km from Katima. Unable to fix the problem, we had to ring for a vehicle recovery truck to tow us into town. Initially, the problem was put down to a blown fuse. But nothing is ever simple it seems, and hopes of speedy repair were dashed when the mechanic identified a further problem with the alternator. Unfortunately, the required replacement part is in Botswana, and can't be got until Monday, leaving us without a car for a weekend and a hefty repair bill to look forward to.

This latest development has thwarted our plans to drive the 1300km to Windhoek next week, where I intended to catch a plane to Cape Town. (Fortunately, I hadn’t booked a ticket yet!). As they say in Africa, I will now have ‘to make a plan’.

This expression, a common phrase among old Africa hands, seems like a contradiction on a continent where relatively little goes according to plan. But here it means something entirely different. ‘Making a plan’ is entirely reactive to the unforeseen, and means finding a solution to a problem or a situation when there usually isn‘t an obvious one. Having to ‘make a plan’ is a test of one’s resilience and resourcefulness and can range from making a fan belt out of a sock to sourcing a crate beers late at night. The latter born out of necessity.

Just seen a small crocodile in the garden. About two foot long he shot past me and into the water at breakneck speed. Just hope Mum isn’t around...

Hyaena Cubs

Elle returned from the park today with news and pictures of hyaena cubs. The little critters, which look like a cross between a rodent and a pig (in my view) were captured on the remote camera playing outside their den. This is quite a breakthrough for her and she is very excited at this new development.

She also brought home a dead baby Vervet monkey which she found. It was promptly added to her hyaena 'stinky brew' - a barrel of coagulated cow's blood, currently fermenting in the garden which she uses for bait.

Power has now been fully restored to Sijwa thanks to the purchase of a new electrical inverter. The solar electrical system is charging once again and delivering enough current to comfortably power two laptops during the day. The internet is also working well for a change.

Elephants in the garden

We had elephants in the garden last night. A concept, never mind a reality, I'm still trying to get my head around. They announced their presence about 9pm, with a deep, throaty, rumbling sound (Think Tyrannosaurus Rex in Jurassic Park) outside the bedroom window and then proceeded to slosh around in a small pond at the bottom of the garden. We couldn’t actually see them through the window and going outside to take a closer look was definitely out of the question. But they were definitely there, as evidenced by the flattened grass and elephant poo which we found this morning.

Elephants and hippos are a big problem for local subsistence farmers and villagers here and not a night goes by when you can’t hear, humans shouting and banging metal in the distance, in their vain attempts to scare these monsters away from their vegetable patches and crop fields. (I can’t imagine farmers at home trying to deal with this sort of problem!)

Making lots of noise, seems like a largely ineffective way of countering large animals with notoriously thick skins, not to mention risky. Another method, which has proved quite successful, is the use of hot chillies, which some farmers deploy round their fields. They not only keep elephants at bay but grow well here in the generally poor soil producing a valuable cash crop. A definite win win situation of which their relatively few examples when it comes to human wildlife conflict.

Have to go Home Affairs tomorrow in Katima to extend my visa for ten days. Given a choice, I would rather pull out my toenails with a pair of pliers which I reckon it would be marginally less painful.

Problems take their toll

It's been a tough week. The electrical solar system which powers Sijwa seems to have been damaged in the generator fire. (Although we now have good reason to believe that the fire was caused by a short in the electrical system!) Attempts to fix it have so far failed and we have been without electricity for a week now which presents a whole host of other problems. (My laptop is presently being powered by a car battery!)

Getting an electrician in the middle of the African bush is no mean feat, although we did manage to get a young apprentice to look at it yesterday. Unfortunately, he was unable to help because is knowledge of solar-powered electrical systems was limited. The wiring of the system, which was done by the German missionary who lived here previously, is also archaic and confusingly colour coded.

We've also had a robbery to boot. Someone it seems stole a pair of my trousers and Elle's handbag and contents from our bedroom. (Fortunately, she keeps her purse elsewhere!) Thieving by the locals is common here and something unfortunately one has to live with. We suspected Evans for awhile but have no proof. We know he pilfers food but we turn a blind eye to that. He's not poor either, telling me he has a thousand pounds saved in his bank account.

Until Elle moved in, Evans had a 'maintenance' budget for Sijwa, which by his own admission, he used to supplement his salary with. Since he lost that, he now feels somewhat aggrieved and feels that Elle should make up the shortfall in cash. (Remember this is money which he embezzled from the budget. Work out the logic there...)

All these events, although they might seem minor to some, take their toll mentally. Both Elle and I feel tired and worn out, just trying to manage all the variables here and put in a day's work. I've been trying to write newspaper articles but am endlessly frustrated by intermittent internet, bad phone service and constantly having to recharge my laptop battery which is last about 20 minutes now. On top of that both our laptop adaptors/transformers blew last week with the short on the electrical system and had to be replaced.

Elle has gone into the national park today to set up a remote camera at a hyaena den which she has located with the help of her radio tracking collars and Google Earth. She's hoping to find and photograph hyaena cubs. She's walking in on foot with a colleague from WWF which is risky. (While I get to stay at home and mind the dog!) We know there is a pride of lions in the area and a large herd of elephants - her worst fear - have also been reported.

Fire!

Major drama this morning when the petrol generator burst unto flames. Fearing it would blow up, both Elle and I immediately fled from the house. After regaining my senses (or perhaps losing them) I went back only to find huge flames leaping from the shed where the generator is housed. (To make matters worse, the shed also contained a full jerry can of petrol which we only bought this morning!)

Terrified that the fire would spread to the trees above and the thatched roof of the house just yards away, I had no option but to try and put the fire out. In the absence of a fire extinguisher, this involved gathering buckets of sand from the yard, entering the shed and throwing them onto the burning generator. Mindful, that it might blow up at any moment, this was carried out with some urgency. Fortunately, the Gods were on my side and I managed to eventually smother the fire, saving us from what would have been a major disaster.

Needless to say, the generator is no more, reduced to a molten mass of plastic and scorched metal. It's the afternoon now and Elle is still quite shaken by the experience. I'm just glad it happened when I was here and I was able to put it out before it spread to the house.

Don't know what the cause of the fire was but hopefully will have a full enquiry when Robin the fireman gets back later today. Will also ask him why there is no fire extinguisher in the house...