Tour d'Afrique - Cairo to Cape Town by Bike

The people:
• Firstly the Northern Cape (province we entered the country in) was a little like Namibia and Botswana in that there were not that many people around. Once we approached Cape Town in the Western Cape the population density shot up. On my travels after the tour along the Garden Route and into the Eastern Cape it was largely a tourist population, but many western style towns and farming communities existed.
• South Africa is often referred to as “The Rainbow Nation” referring to their diversity in heritage between the variety of tribes native to the area and the diversity of settlers in the country. With eleven official languages this country does celebrate its diversity which being from another diverse nation like Canada is really inspiring to feel their national pride toward this identity.
• What an interesting collision of worlds. Up until this point in the trip, the terms “locals” and “natives” felt synonymous. Now in South Africa it feels much more like so many other nations in the world where the native population is confined to certain areas while the settlers take up most of the space. It is interesting to see a nation in this state as it makes me question my own presence in Canada. It is strange to think of this place that I call home as land that was once frequented by natives and was not “owned” at all.
• I am particularly conservative with issues that involve racism to the effect that I will never use skin colour as a descriptor for people and tend not to notice proportions of ethnicity within groups. South Africa with apartheid so recent in their history is much more progressive to this effect. I was often asked when speaking of someone whether they were “white, black or coloured” and often I had no idea. For some – I hope many - there is no implied racism at all but rather similar to referring to the heighth or length of hair of someone. However, for others this opens the door to form opinions of others before even meeting the person.
• Thank goodness that apartheid is dead and it is apparent everyone having equal opportunity by the rules. It is interesting to note the divide that still exists between backgrounds. This is of course a generalization and does not apply across the board, but it did seem that by and large, people of European descent live a lifestyle that westerners are familiar with. People of African descent continue to live a lifestyle more in line with what I observed throughout the rest of the continent. People live in “informal settlements” that on the outside look like inhabitable place, but as I have heard from numerous sources on the inside offer a desirable lifestyle.

The landscape:
• The Northern Cape was beautifully mountainous. I thoroughly enjoyed cycling between, up and down mountainsides and traversing the areas valleys. Once into Western Cape, the mountains became rolling hills and gently sloped into the sea. There were occasionally sea cliffs, but generally the land went gently into the sea offering nice beaches, albeit cold due to Antarctic currents. Around Cape Town is stunning with Table Mountain and the chain of mountains that run down the Cape Peninsula and finally dive into the ocean not far west of the confluence of the Indian and Atlantic oceans at the Cape of Good Hope. Along the Garden Route the scenery is also stunning with mountains, beautiful coastlines, deep river gorges, lots of wildlife and a variety of green landscapes. Farther inland of course are the large and small Karoo deserts.

What a great, yet strange way to end a tour such as this. I started my integration back into western society in South Africa. After four months of sleeping in a tent every night, very simple pleasures felt extremely lavish and completely ridiculous at times. The beautiful scenery was a great distraction from that though! I can definitely see myself coming back to ZA!