Thursday, July 24, 2008
I wrote the following a couple of days ago on my flight from Singapore to Johannesburg. After arriving in Tokyo, I realized that my cell phone had been stolen from my luggage. At Johannesburg airport, they actually asked me at the airline counter whether or not I had a cell phone in my luggage (in addition to many other items), but I answered no assuming this was a security check to prevent cell phones being turned on while in the passengers' checked in luggage (my cell phone was out of battery). Anyway, when arriving in Tokyo, I realized that someone had been in my luggage and stolen my cell phone.
While in South-Africa, I actually read an article about rampant airport crime in Johannesburg, but I did not think about this when packing my luggage at 6 AM. At the same time as scanning luggage for bombs, the Johannesburg airport personal apparently also scan the luggage for valuables, which are then kindly removed from the luggage. I guess a business case study in effiency is warranted. Anyway, bye bye cell phone. It was getting old anyway... Back to what I wrote on the airplane:
Having just watched “Street Kings” on my flight back to Singapore, I must say yet again that I do not understand how Keanu Reeves manages to get any acting jobs. To restate that, I do not even understand how he got his first acting job, but he proves that talent is not necessary for success in the entertainment world. Also, when will the alcoholic cop concept finally grow old? I am hoping soon. “The Bank Job”, a British film which I also watched on this flight, was a much more entertaining flick. Anyway, back to Africa.
We spent the most of one day driving the almost 600 kilometers from Kruger National Park to Johannesburg. While I did not spend any time in Johannesburg, let me write a few lines about this miserable city. The wealthier parts of Johannesburg are what I imagine Baghdad’s green zone to be like. Crime is so rampant that a big portion of the city’s successful population is considering to emigrate or to move to safer parts of South-Africa (many have already done so). Now, most politically correct guidebooks will inform you that crime is a problem in Johannesburg, and that you should take precautions there just like you would in any other major city. This is complete crap. The safety level of any major city should be compared with other cities based on crime statistics, and Johannesburg would come out poorly in comparison with most developed European, American, or developed Asian cities. It is simply nonsense that the same level of caution is required in all major cities, but this is the impression I got from several guidebooks and message boards that I read prior to going to South-Africa. Carjacks, robberies, muggings, and all other types of crime are rampant in Johannesburg, and anyone travelling to Johannesburg should really reconsider the necessity of going there.
Johannesburg is situated on flat agricultural type land and does not have any of the charm or the magnificent scenery that can be found in and around Cape Town. In addition, there seem to be zero tourist attractions in close vicinity of Johannesburg worth visiting, though Johannesburg remains the most convenient starting point for visits to Kruger National Park. Luckily it is possible to travel to Kruger National Park without driving through central Johannesburg.
After staying one night at a hotel in Johannesburg, we took a flight to Livingstone in Zambia. This city is located close to Victoria Falls, though it is less conveniently located than the city of Victoria Falls located in Zimbabwe. We decided not to visit Zimbabwe in consideration of the uncertain domestic situation. Robert Mugabe, who brought Zimbabwe to independence from British rule, has managed to destroy the country and the situation is probably worse now than it was during colonial times.
We spoke with some tourists that had visited Zimbabwe during the previous week, and apparently everyone including airport personal is begging for money. The individuals I spoke with had stayed at the colonial Victoria Falls Hotel, which used to be considered one of the best hotels in the world. On one morning, the hotel ran out of coffee, and there apparently was no champagne available in the champagne bar.
While we are discussing Zimbabwe, some whites I spoke with in South-Africa are worried that the likely future president of South-Africa, Jacob Zuma, will ruin South-Africa in a similar fashion to Robert Mugabe. Mr. Zuma has been charged with several offences, but is the favorite to succeed the current President in the upcoming election. The fear is that corruption will be even worse than in the current government, which is considered to be utterly incompetent. My favourite Jacob Zuma is the one of him knowingly having sex with an HIV positive lady (who also accused him of rape), while excusing the incident by claiming that he had a shower afterwards. Let us return to Zambia.
If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago to locate Zambia on a map, I would probably have placed it somewhere in the middle, but now I am more enlightened. Everyone I met in Zambia was friendly and positive, and in general people seemed much more confident about the future than people in South-Africa. Due to the proximity to Victoria Falls and the current situation in Zimbabwe, hotels in and around Livingstone are popping up almost on a daily basis, and the town is buzzing with commerce and developments.
The only negative surprise when visiting Zambia was the abhorrent visa fees. I “only” had to pay $50 for my single-entry visa permit, but certain nationalities (including British and American citizens) need to fork out more than $100. The visa fees can only be settled in USD cash, no other currencies are accepted. With only two immigration lines and hundreds of tourists, it took us more than 1 hour to clear immigration and customs. I understand that visa fees provide much needed income for the poor government of Zambia, but they can at least try to make the entry process speedier and less miserable.
There are several attractions in and around Livingstone worth seeing, and on my next visit I certainly want to cross the border to Botswana in order to visit the Chobe National Park. Since we were only going to spend two days near Victoria Falls, we decided not to take anti-malaria pills, though I know anti-malarial pills are highly recommended. I have never seen more mosquitoes in my life than in my hotel room that was located next to the Zambezi River, and I spent a good portion of the day killing mosquitoes with a newspaper. In the end, Yuka and I left Zambia without being bitten by mosquitoes even once, but I would not recommend the risk or trouble to anyone else. I will write more on malaria in my review of the hotels we stayed at while in Africa.
It is easy to spend an entire day just watching the Victoria Falls, and there are lots of nice walks to be taken around the falls.
I would recommend getting a re-entry visa upon entering Zambia, as this will allow you to visit Zimbabwe to see the falls from the Zimbabwean side. We decided not to do so due to the expensive visa cost, but I honestly was not very excited about the prospect of visiting Zimbabwe. There is an area between Zimbabwe and Zambia that you can visit without getting an exit stamp in your Zambian visa, and I am sure we could have been more adventurous than what we were. At least we were able to cross the bridge over the Zambezi River and to step on Zimbabwean soil, though I did not venture any further than that.
On the Zambian side, there is an interesting trail that takes you down to the foot of the Zambezi River, and on the way down we came across a gang of locals that were in the process of killing a spitting cobra. It was a rather gruesome scene that I caught on tape, not sure if these actions should be approved in a National Park.
After visiting the Victoria Falls, we took a cab to the city of Livingstone, which has some interesting colonial houses and a very good African restaurant. We felt safe while in the city, though there are no attractions that would compel anyone to stay there for very long.
On the day of departing Livingstone, we took a morning helicopter flight over Victoria Falls.
The cost was $100 for 15 minutes, and it is true that the size of the Victoria Falls can only be appreciated if seen from the air. It is simply not possible to get a sense of the gigantic size of the Victoria Falls when seeing them from the ground, and there are some portions of the falls that are only viewable from the Zimbabwean side and vice versa.
While we generally used South-African Air while in Africa, on the return flight to Johannesburg from Livingstone we used Zambian Air as there were no available seats on any other airlines. This airline is fairly new, based in Zambia, and not part of any alliances, thus I was fairly skeptical about the safety prior to boarding. However, we were very pleasantly surprised. For some reason, the crew was mainly foreign, probably because qualified personal cannot be found in Zambia. The service was impeccable, the Boeing plane seemed reasonably well kept to the naked eye, and I was almost a bit disappointed not to be offered anything more exciting. I was thinking we would be placed in a Soviet type propeller airplane without windows commanded by a drunk crew, but as usual reality turned out to be less exciting and dangerous than my imagination.
While in South-Africa, I actually read an article about rampant airport crime in Johannesburg, but I did not think about this when packing my luggage at 6 AM. At the same time as scanning luggage for bombs, the Johannesburg airport personal apparently also scan the luggage for valuables, which are then kindly removed from the luggage. I guess a business case study in effiency is warranted. Anyway, bye bye cell phone. It was getting old anyway... Back to what I wrote on the airplane:
Having just watched “Street Kings” on my flight back to Singapore, I must say yet again that I do not understand how Keanu Reeves manages to get any acting jobs. To restate that, I do not even understand how he got his first acting job, but he proves that talent is not necessary for success in the entertainment world. Also, when will the alcoholic cop concept finally grow old? I am hoping soon. “The Bank Job”, a British film which I also watched on this flight, was a much more entertaining flick. Anyway, back to Africa.
We spent the most of one day driving the almost 600 kilometers from Kruger National Park to Johannesburg. While I did not spend any time in Johannesburg, let me write a few lines about this miserable city. The wealthier parts of Johannesburg are what I imagine Baghdad’s green zone to be like. Crime is so rampant that a big portion of the city’s successful population is considering to emigrate or to move to safer parts of South-Africa (many have already done so). Now, most politically correct guidebooks will inform you that crime is a problem in Johannesburg, and that you should take precautions there just like you would in any other major city. This is complete crap. The safety level of any major city should be compared with other cities based on crime statistics, and Johannesburg would come out poorly in comparison with most developed European, American, or developed Asian cities. It is simply nonsense that the same level of caution is required in all major cities, but this is the impression I got from several guidebooks and message boards that I read prior to going to South-Africa. Carjacks, robberies, muggings, and all other types of crime are rampant in Johannesburg, and anyone travelling to Johannesburg should really reconsider the necessity of going there.
Johannesburg is situated on flat agricultural type land and does not have any of the charm or the magnificent scenery that can be found in and around Cape Town. In addition, there seem to be zero tourist attractions in close vicinity of Johannesburg worth visiting, though Johannesburg remains the most convenient starting point for visits to Kruger National Park. Luckily it is possible to travel to Kruger National Park without driving through central Johannesburg.
After staying one night at a hotel in Johannesburg, we took a flight to Livingstone in Zambia. This city is located close to Victoria Falls, though it is less conveniently located than the city of Victoria Falls located in Zimbabwe. We decided not to visit Zimbabwe in consideration of the uncertain domestic situation. Robert Mugabe, who brought Zimbabwe to independence from British rule, has managed to destroy the country and the situation is probably worse now than it was during colonial times.
We spoke with some tourists that had visited Zimbabwe during the previous week, and apparently everyone including airport personal is begging for money. The individuals I spoke with had stayed at the colonial Victoria Falls Hotel, which used to be considered one of the best hotels in the world. On one morning, the hotel ran out of coffee, and there apparently was no champagne available in the champagne bar.While we are discussing Zimbabwe, some whites I spoke with in South-Africa are worried that the likely future president of South-Africa, Jacob Zuma, will ruin South-Africa in a similar fashion to Robert Mugabe. Mr. Zuma has been charged with several offences, but is the favorite to succeed the current President in the upcoming election. The fear is that corruption will be even worse than in the current government, which is considered to be utterly incompetent. My favourite Jacob Zuma is the one of him knowingly having sex with an HIV positive lady (who also accused him of rape), while excusing the incident by claiming that he had a shower afterwards. Let us return to Zambia.
If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago to locate Zambia on a map, I would probably have placed it somewhere in the middle, but now I am more enlightened. Everyone I met in Zambia was friendly and positive, and in general people seemed much more confident about the future than people in South-Africa. Due to the proximity to Victoria Falls and the current situation in Zimbabwe, hotels in and around Livingstone are popping up almost on a daily basis, and the town is buzzing with commerce and developments.
The only negative surprise when visiting Zambia was the abhorrent visa fees. I “only” had to pay $50 for my single-entry visa permit, but certain nationalities (including British and American citizens) need to fork out more than $100. The visa fees can only be settled in USD cash, no other currencies are accepted. With only two immigration lines and hundreds of tourists, it took us more than 1 hour to clear immigration and customs. I understand that visa fees provide much needed income for the poor government of Zambia, but they can at least try to make the entry process speedier and less miserable.
There are several attractions in and around Livingstone worth seeing, and on my next visit I certainly want to cross the border to Botswana in order to visit the Chobe National Park. Since we were only going to spend two days near Victoria Falls, we decided not to take anti-malaria pills, though I know anti-malarial pills are highly recommended. I have never seen more mosquitoes in my life than in my hotel room that was located next to the Zambezi River, and I spent a good portion of the day killing mosquitoes with a newspaper. In the end, Yuka and I left Zambia without being bitten by mosquitoes even once, but I would not recommend the risk or trouble to anyone else. I will write more on malaria in my review of the hotels we stayed at while in Africa.
It is easy to spend an entire day just watching the Victoria Falls, and there are lots of nice walks to be taken around the falls.
I would recommend getting a re-entry visa upon entering Zambia, as this will allow you to visit Zimbabwe to see the falls from the Zimbabwean side. We decided not to do so due to the expensive visa cost, but I honestly was not very excited about the prospect of visiting Zimbabwe. There is an area between Zimbabwe and Zambia that you can visit without getting an exit stamp in your Zambian visa, and I am sure we could have been more adventurous than what we were. At least we were able to cross the bridge over the Zambezi River and to step on Zimbabwean soil, though I did not venture any further than that.On the Zambian side, there is an interesting trail that takes you down to the foot of the Zambezi River, and on the way down we came across a gang of locals that were in the process of killing a spitting cobra. It was a rather gruesome scene that I caught on tape, not sure if these actions should be approved in a National Park.
After visiting the Victoria Falls, we took a cab to the city of Livingstone, which has some interesting colonial houses and a very good African restaurant. We felt safe while in the city, though there are no attractions that would compel anyone to stay there for very long.
On the day of departing Livingstone, we took a morning helicopter flight over Victoria Falls.
The cost was $100 for 15 minutes, and it is true that the size of the Victoria Falls can only be appreciated if seen from the air. It is simply not possible to get a sense of the gigantic size of the Victoria Falls when seeing them from the ground, and there are some portions of the falls that are only viewable from the Zimbabwean side and vice versa.While we generally used South-African Air while in Africa, on the return flight to Johannesburg from Livingstone we used Zambian Air as there were no available seats on any other airlines. This airline is fairly new, based in Zambia, and not part of any alliances, thus I was fairly skeptical about the safety prior to boarding. However, we were very pleasantly surprised. For some reason, the crew was mainly foreign, probably because qualified personal cannot be found in Zambia. The service was impeccable, the Boeing plane seemed reasonably well kept to the naked eye, and I was almost a bit disappointed not to be offered anything more exciting. I was thinking we would be placed in a Soviet type propeller airplane without windows commanded by a drunk crew, but as usual reality turned out to be less exciting and dangerous than my imagination.
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