African Adventures

(just so you know i tried to upload photos but the internet is too slow)

Today we are in Tema, capital of Ghana. Just the fact that I have had the opportunity to be in Ghana blows my mind. Unfortunately, I am IPM, meaning I’m stuck on the ship all day. But from what I can see it looks like a fairly modern port. From where I’m sitting, I can glimpse…… a container port (oh god so sick of constant complaints from passengers regarding or docking in container ports.. its Africa.. they don’t have cruise terminals).

Beyond the limits of the fairly modern industrial docklands I can see several high rise buildings, the towering lights of a soccer stadium and rows of brick housing fading into the distance. There are only new cars in view – and the tour busses all look comfortable and air conditioned. And sadly, this will be the total of my experience of Ghana.

We’ve been in Africa (or the seas around the said continent) for the past 10 days and it has been absolutely stunning. Nights out in Cape Town, visiting the little Xhosa orphan girls and mama tutu in the African Savannah, Quad biking in the towering dunes of Namibia surviving the surreally frenetic markets of Togo – this is a continent of dynamic contrasts. Every place we have visited has been strikingly different from the last.

Our first port of call on the African continent was Maputo, an interesting city with dilapidated and abandoned Portuguese buildings lining the streets, yet with a brilliant new mall set to the west of the city centre. Mozambique is a country with strong South African influences, and although very dusty, was hardly what you would think of when told you were going to a small city in an impoverished African nation. It was very pleasant; a fairly laid back place, with all the action centred on the main market, an enclosed place full of vendors selling almost anything you could imagine. There were wide open vistas filled with fresh fruits, meats, baskets and vegetables which lead on to claustrophobic lanes fully enveloped by their vendors stores and hanging with beauty products, snack options and swatches of hair. There were so many swatches of hair that at points, you had to physically push through them to advance any further. I wondered if I would end up in Narnia.

Maputo Mall was a direct contrast to this. A sparkling jewel of cement and glass, this gaudy building appears to be the pride of the city. Boasting a huge array of shops including a modern grocery store, clothes shops and a big fat Nike store smacked in the middle, It could have been anywhere in the world (despite the fact that there was no ATM within 2 kilometres- we were informed it was “all credit cards”in the centre). After wandering, we found our way to a wonderful alfresco dining area dotted with nice restaurants (a la South Bank). We sat in the communal area in the middle and were able to order from several restaurants at the same time. It was a big group, so nice to have plenty of space to spread out. I ordered food from the Lebanese restaurant, but chicken cottage and some unnamed place were also bringing food to our banquet table. We sat in the sun, drank beers, ate food, had a shisha pipe (thanks to the Lebanese restaurant) and watched the people go about their daily lives. Everyone we saw seemed to be well dressed and happy, although security at the gate probably had something to do with this. They are so proud of this mall. In the grocery store, I found stacks of exercise books and school stationary printed with pictures of the mall and details about it. In Maputo, they don't have Barbie or superman on their school books – they have Maputo Mall.

Our next stop was South Africa. I have always had mixed feelings about my desire to visit this country. I mean, I knew the natural splendour would be unmatchable, but I was unsure about the people. A lot of South Africans live in Australia, and in general, I have found them all to be racists and... Well, to be frank, elitist snobs (not ALL of them, mind you, but MOST).

We first stopped in Durban, where I was IPM. Our second stop was East London, a mid-sized city on the Eastern Cape. I was lucky enough to score a tour to the “cultural village”, which turned out to be pretty much the best thing ever!
Along with two busloads of passengers (fortunately including several of my favourites), I was ferried through the savannah into Xhosa country. The whole area was treated like a different country during Apartheid, where this group was particularly oppressed by the regime. The landscape was stunning. The village had been set up as a Canadian initiative to preserve the Xhosa culture. Upon arrival to the village we were met by 15 girls, ranging in age from 6 to 13, singing and dancing at us as we walked down the grassy path to the speckling of huts that constituted the village. I cannot even begin to explain how gorgeous these little girls were. Wearing nothing but little white skirts they sung to us in four part harmony. Upon seeing me – who obviously was young and “pretty” (I guess.. to them) they forcibly attached themselves to me. At one point, I was holding 6 little hands in my own as we walked the village. Upon arrival they did a full song and dance concert for us, showcasing their traditional dancing.

After this, we were separated into two groups – males and females. The menfolk went down to the “circumcision hut” to learn about that ritual’s place in our culture and we accompanied the matriarch, Mama Tofu into the learning hut. Mama Tofu talked to us about women’s business- and teaching the girls about sex education. They have a terrible AIDS problem in the area – Mama Tofu said there are around two funerals a week. She takes care of 15 little orphans at her home in her own village. They try to get the girls to stay virgins – even doing a virgin test. The virgin test, interestingly enough, is to get all the girls to stand in a line and have them jump on the spot for up to 20 minutes. She says that after 10 minutes, girls that have not remained abstinent have to stop. She says “you can see the spark is gone”. Mama Tofu at 92 was sprightly and a real comedienne and a real inspiration of what a strong woman can do for her community.

There was a craft market and a splendid buffet lunch, cooked for us by mama tofu’s daughters in traditional pots on traditional fire pit in a tradititional hut. It was amazing! No one could really believe what a wonderful experience we had just had. Saying goodbye to the girls was hard- they wouldn’t let go, and one of the little ones even cried and chased after our busses as we left. Absolutely gorgeous.
The next stop was the one we had all been waiting for – Cape Town! This marked the end of the third segment of the world cruise, and we said goodbye to many passengers who had become good friends throughout the duration of the first three segments. Cape Town was also my first experience of an overnight in port- and I couldn’t wait to get out on the town.

But before the partying came... Shark diving. A group of 10 of us had had this planned for over a month, and had been counting down the days til our great white shark diving adventure. And the day had finally arrived. Come 9am, we bundled into a mini bus and began the 2 hour trip to our destination, a small coastal town known as the Great White Shark capital of SA. The town is in close proximity to seal island, drawing the itinerant sharks from the entire coast to the flesh rich waters.

It was an absolutely stunning day when we arrived in town, blue sky and sea stretching long to the horizon. We met our diving instructor at Shark Lady Tours and snacked on hot buttered muffins as we received our instructions on how the day would run. We were told the dangers, how we might see sharks up to 6 metres, how they might attack the cage or mouth the bars. When asked who would like to go first, of course my hand shot up. I was in group one with Tim, Ashley and Nathaniel (all pacific princess dancer/cruise staff. Cruise staff represent!). We boarded our boat and sliced through the sea towards our destination – a cage tied to a buoy about 3 km away.

The day was warm but the water was freezing. All the while during our transit to the cage, I was being slapped by damp hanging wetsuits that already began to freeze me. Also, the chum bucket, containing all sorts of fish guts was being stirred and readied. Once we reached the cage and it was safely secured, we were instructed to don our wetsuits, booties and masks. We then slid down into the cage.
The cage itself was about 1.5m wide, 2.5 m tall and maybe 5m wide - the proportions for 4 people to fit snugly alongside one another with only mild claustrophobia. Once the first shark had been sighted, attracted by the stinky chum we were about to swim in, we slid down into the cage one at a time. The water was breathtakingly cold- about 10 degrees centigrade. The dive master then threw out the “lure” (a giant fish head) and shouted directions for us to look. You then had to push yourself under the frigid water and hook your feet under a yellow bar to keep you submerged.

And there it was. Great white shark. Coming straight for us. Seeing these huge creatures close up was unbelievable. Over the course of the day we saw 10 sharks, ranging in size from 2.5 to 4m in length. They mouthed the cage and hit it with their tails. At times the sharks were only 40cm or so away from us. Once out of the cage, it was still thrilling to watch the shark’s approach, especially when they breached the water’s surface, teeth gnashing, just like jaws. When we saw the 4m shark, it was simply unbelievable. So big- and SO FAST. If you were to fall out of the boat, you would not stand a chance against these giants.
After two dives each, the sharks gradually dispersed. We then visited Seal Island to see what brought the sharks for 100’s of miles to this one spot. The seals were cute, but I have never smelt anything more offensive. The scent was an abomination – kind of like... I can’t even compare it to anything – but no wonder the sharks find them so easily – they REEK!

We watched the video of our trip back on dry land with vegetable soup and coffee, then got in the minibus for our trip back. Our bus driver had, very intelligently, got us a huge quantity of beer, which we all smashed on the 2 hour drive. It was one of the best bus rides I have ever experienced- people mooning passing traffic, singing along, going crazy, the boys peeing in the bush in a line not realising they were in full view of a school- classic times.

We got back to the ship very boozed and set about resurrecting ourselves for the night ahead. It was so cool to get ready to actually GO OUT somewhere... getting ready to go to the crew bar has some how lost its allure.
I’m not going to go into detail about the night out on the town but after many detours a big group of us ended up in some random club – mercury I think? They were playing crazy dubstep music and everything got rather hazy from that point. I do know Nat, Jas and I made it back to the ship at about 4am, where we collapsed into our bunks and passed out.

Next morning, Toby, Jas, Sam, Amy and I met at the gangway at 9am to begin our day of “exploring cape town”. I was particularly impressed to see Toby on time as, rumour had it, he was seen walking up the gangway only one hour earlier as the disembarking passengers left the ship.
That day we took the cable car up the magnificent table mountain and spend about two hours on top posing for photos and enjoying the unbelievable view. We then went on a wild goose chase for Nandos, which unfortunately ended at KFC on the dockside. Then we shopped up a storm in the dockside shopping centre until heading back to the ship for a much needed power nap

Sail away was absolutely beautiful. The sun was setting over the sea as we sailed away from port, and we were followed by dolphins, porpoises and seals. It was an amazing finish to two mind blowing days in one of the best cities in the world. I can’t wait to get back to Cape Town- the atmosphere and ambiance is unmatched by anything I’ve ever seen.

Next stop on the African Adventure portion of the world cruise was Namibia. I was IPM for the first port, Luderitz. Apparently it wasn’t very exciting. The next port was Walvis Bay. Welcome to the skeleton coast. This is the part of the world where the desert stretches all the way down to the sea, rising in magnificent sand dunes as far as the eye can see. A big group of us decided to go into the desert that day … on quad bikes. I can’t tell you how much fun it was gunning it along the sand, then riding up the side of a huge crescent dune to come careering down the other face at breakneck pace. It was terrifying and hair raising and so much fun. We rode for about an hour and a half, following our guide to the most amazing vistas and then down to the beach. Things got a little hectic towards the end when certain people got a little careless... but we all made it back unscathed... although we did pass ashley’s original quad bike half submerged in quicksand on the way home. Getting off those bikes, we felt as if we could conquer the world. Namibia is quite an interesting place... it’s like South Africa but extremely sandy and a bit more chilled out. It seems like the different races get along a lot better as well.

Following Namibia we spent four “glorious” days at sea (yuck), before hitting Lome, the capital of Togo. This was “real” Africa. We took a shuttle bus into town, and looking out the window during the ride, the comment was made “this place is going to be WAY too hardcore for our passengers”.

WE were dropped off at a tourist market, where extremely insistent shop keepers annoyed the crap out of us. I bought a little mask key ring, a pair of crazy African pants (which I later discovered, I am too fat for), a carved wooden game of “scruitiny” and regrettably, an overpriced skirt that I purchased due to the lack of ability to escape the seller. We then escaped the hustlers of the tourist market to walk the streets of the town. It seems that markets extended about 10km in all directions. We walked for maybe an hour and a half and saw no break in the frenetic stores laden with all sorts of goods. The streets were packed out with people, some carrying their wares (including pets) on giant pillars on their heads. Once we hit this area, no one noticed us, and it was amazing just to walk through and observe this crazy-busy world. Cars and motorbikes hurtled between the meandering pedestrians, about with about 6 near-accidents occurring every minute.

We then caught a taxi out to the “fetish market”. This market is the centre for purchasing ingredients for voodoo spells and black magic- which is big in Togo. The market consisted of a patch of dirt surrounded by shacks. Out the front of each shack were huge tables piled to capacity with freakish dried creatures and monkey skulls. The dried creatures were all partially decomposed, their fur and entrails still clinging to the bones. The dried bodies of rats, Snakes, Lizards, Birds, Owls and even meerkats lay there on the tables... their little eyes closed with horrible expressions on their faces. There was a freaky monkey as well. It was SO cool! A little man took us into his hut and explained black magic and white magic etc. then we browsed the aisles of this deathly supermarket. I bought a “souvenir” voodoo doll – a horrible little wooden figure with all these nails stuck into it and freakish human hair on its head. SO AWESOME!

Whilst waiting to get on the bus, we were all held up by one of the waiters from the dining room, who had come ashore with only his crew card, had some voodoo spells cast on him and didn’t have the $100 to pay. I told him if he gave me $50 I would put a curse on him.

And that is where we are up to. After leaving Ghana, we will sail for three days to Senegal where we will be docking in Dakar. Then it’s on to Madeira, Gibraltar and then we are into the Med! I can’t believe the world cruise has almost come to an end! 2 weeks to go! After that... Hello Greek islands!