africa south

I've made it home safe, and after getting home yesterday afternoon I crashed for nearly 14 hours. I must explain why I felt like when I was in Cape Town and parts of South Africa, that I did not actually feel like I was in Africa. I didn't start feeling like I was in Africa until I journeyed through Kruger Park for three days and then spent two nights in Limpopo province/Venda.

It really just comes down to a stereotype I have to confront. When I think Africa I think safaris and lots of black people. Cape Town was literally a rainbow city, and blacks were actually few in many places we went. In Stellenbosch we saw predominantly white people. The Afrikaaners, Brits, Indians, and people of Malay descent think of themselves as South Africans. And they are justified certainly, as I consider myself foremost American before Bangladeshi. At Kruger most people we saw at the ranger stations were black, however with the exception of one black family, all the rest were white or Indian people. Watching animals in the wild is apparently an activity for white or Indian people. This all came as a surprise to me. In India, I saw predominantly Indian people, regardless of where I went I always felt like I was in India. Italy was most Italians, Germany mostly Germans, Barcelona mostly Catalans, Korea mostly Koreans. I hadn't confronted so much diversity in a country since England.