Ghost Mountain, where we are staying, was so named by the Zulu as a result of a mistake. In times past the area was inhabited by the Shangaan people and they used to bury their kings on the mountain. Even after they were driven out by the Zulu they would return at night to the mountain top and bury their dead kings with funeral celebrations that included fires and much loud ululation. When the Zulu saw this happening at night they did not know what was happening and assumed that the fire and noise was the activity of ghosts. Today we drove in land rovers into the hills and visited the house of a Zulu Man named Justice. He explained Zulu culture to us and we learned that life is heavily focussed on family responsibilities. Women do the housework and men take jobs and that’s it! If a man wants to marry a girl has to give her father 11 cows if he is an ordinary man, but up to 30 cows if he is a chief! How about a community financial system based on the cow standard! As before, we ...
Well here we are in Capetown after 27 hours of travelling! But thanks to flying business class we arrived yesterday evening fairly fresh and, after a good night’s sleep, were ready to enjoy our first day in South Africa. We met up with our friends from Alabama, Jim and Cheryl, this morning and had a great catch up. Travelling with those two is always good fun.
ReplyDeleteThe weather was a bit miserable today so we did not take any photos worth posting. But the outlook is good so we hope to post some good ones of Capetown in the next couple of days.
Getting here was not completely straightforward. Yesterday at Johannesburg airport we had to queue jump because our flight from Sydney was late in and we risked missing our connecting flight to Capetown. The airport staff let us come through but it meant us oldies bending down and squeezing through metal railings! Thanks to some assistance from other travellers we managed, but it was both funny and embarrassing at the same time. Glad there are no pictures.
Anyway we are here now and the Table Bay Hotel is a gem. It is an older building that has the elegance of early 20th century architecture but the interior is very modern and luxurious. The room is very comfortable and we had the best night’s sleep! Tonight we meet our tour guide and other travelling companions for a briefing and dinner afterwards. Can’t wait to get started!