Africa For A Weekend 8: South Africa🇿🇦

           ^{My First Time Hiking ~ Lion's Head Mountain, Cape Town, SA.}

It's official. Cape Town, South Africa🇿🇦 is now my favourite city in the world, joint only by Nairobi, Kenya🇰🇪.

I did not expect this at all, with all the horror stories, warnings from friends and family, and bad press surrounding South Africa.

I thought I'd just visit briefly, to get it over and done with, aiming only to get back out alive and in one piece. But I've already planned my next trip here (for much longer than a weekend).

It took me travelling here, to truly understand things for myself.

I learned a lot about South Africa (SA). And one key insight is that you cannot ignore its history, especially regarding Apartheid. Because it shaped a lot of SA today, from its society, to its external reputation.

However, SA's history is multifaceted, it's not just black and white. There's a lot of nuance that I hadn't observed prior, until I got here.

One key lesson I learned is that: MOST people are good!
I heard a lot of horror stories. People warned of armed robberies, racial discrimination, and all kinds of crime that I'd subject myself to just by being in SA and especially by being black. While it might be true that my phone was pickpocketed, and that I got extorted for cash by armed police at night. I could have easily avoided this, if I tried. But this isn't unique to South Africa, it's not the only country it has happened to me in, it can happen anywhere, but is particularly common in Africa unfortunately, which is another issue in and of itself. My overall experience with all kinds of people here has been overwhelmingly positive. I felt that most people wanted good for me, always giving me advice and support. I've made great friends in both Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Another lesson is that: focusing on race is an oversimplification of SA's issues.
See my point above: "it's not just black and white". Ultimately, and as cheesy as this sounds, we are all one. When I first saw the two leading political parties ANC, and DA. It was easy to immediately categorise one party as "for black people", and the other party as "for white people" but I believe this is an oversimplification that does South Africans more harm than good. We live in modern post-Apartheid times and I believe it's important to vote for the party that does the most good for all. As it's voting week in SA, I've had countless conversations with various Uber drivers all complaining about the ruling party, corruption, but fearing the opposition party out of fear of "Apartheid part 2". I believe the focus should be on assigning the best people for the job, regardless of what they look like.

One final lesson is that: Cape Town is my definition of heaven on earth.
Cape Town is essentially the best of Europe combined with the best of Africa. Africa has the beautiful weather, climate, music, food, and just general "good vibes". Europe has the structure, safety, organisation, efficiency, and to put it simply "high standards". As a UK-born Ugandan, for a long time, I've yearned for something "African" like Kampala, or Nairobi, but growing up in London, I've grown used to the benefits of European (or Western) standards, like good roads, infrastructure, services, and less corruption. In fact, these "European standards" are often the major reason Uber drivers from neighbouring countries gave me for why they fled their countries, for Cape Town. Cape Town is like a mini Europe planted inside Africa, something I've never experienced before, but I love it.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with my time in South Africa. I've kept this report short and sweet, just like my trip. I'll definitely be coming back, for longer. But, next time I'll take the necessary precautions to not get pickpocketed, or extorted by armed police (by avoiding high-risk areas at night!).

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Sources:

• Lots of conversations with Uber drivers
• My own first-hand experiences in SA