AFRICA reprise- Kenya/South Africa – 23rd Sept 2018 – Day 10

I was up early and offered breakfast though we were promised packed last night. Pretty ordinary – fried egg, samosas, toast, tea. No butter. Hot water with milk.

We managed to squeeze into the small taxi, had to exit at the Nairobi International airport barrier to walk through security while the car and bags drove through. I don’t know how much good that does. More scans before check in; my carry bag could have been a problem at 12kg but was allowed on.. More scans and even shoes off. And then a long wait.

A 4 hr flight to Jo’burg (SAA food and service was appreciated) where we each bought a SIM card for the phones, found the rental car, and drove north to Pretoria.

We stopped on the road to shoot my old University of South Africa sitting on the edge of one of several ridges in Pretoria. We saw our first white beggar, a white woman, standing on the lane marker. Going further on the highway, we passed the ugly, black, reject chromite mine dumps, turning off to Mooi Nooi (pretty girl), where we last lived till emigrating in 1981. And what a mess; so sad to see it. First stop the post office, now a church, and the adjacent fenced-in school. Rubbish blowing around, the houses in poor condition, the shopping centre with high security fencing to protect a further mess. Across the main road from the original homes, is a new centre in better condition, where the orange grove and blue gums once were. Our house is now a 2nd hand ‘shop’; old fridges and bits lie in the garden. I went into the Wimpy bar (like a McDonalds), spoke briefly to the young black serving woman who replied she was not even born when we left! I could not live here.

We continued on the old road to Rustenburg, to pass the lovely Cape Dutch ‘Rondalia’, still a tourist resort, but now hidden behind trees and fences. I loved passing here at night on the Suzuki 425cc as the orange blossom filled the valley. Now ugly shops line the road.

I could not recognise the road as we approached Kroondal; a mish-mash of ugly buildings, rubbish lined fences instead of the neatly fenced wheat fields and trees. David and Pauline have a large thorn bush property south of Kroondal, on the rocky slopes of the Magaliesberg, a high quartzite ridge running east-west, the physical and climatic boundary between the northern and southern Transvaal (as I knew it). We arrived at about 7pm to an emotional meeting – we have become so old! I could hardly recognise David. Dinner was waiting in Pauline’s ‘Christmas’ room, a permanent fixture. There we met their daughter Natalie (again) with their children and talented husband. And a single lady who lives in a small house 200m away on the property. The large ensuite bedrooms are all upstairs, protected by a strong gate at the head. We watched the sinking bright moon from the veranda, reminiscing about the long distant past. The church, the people.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•