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Today we traveled, a lot. It was an all-day drive from the Northwest Province where Madiakgama’s property is located all the way to the Limpopo Province, where we were staying at a small town called Vaalwater.
The drive there was a fascinating, educational and disturbing. I had seen the poverty in Africa before but I’ll never get used to it coming from America. I can tell you this; our poorest people have no concept of poverty compared to some of the shanty-towns we drove through. The worst contained thousands and thousands of shacks, no larger than a tin tool shed found anywhere in the US. Inside of these homes lived up to a dozen people with no running water, no electricity, and no heat. Occasionally we'd drive past a makeshift buggy made up of a a car axle and plywood pulled by a donkey. Every so often we'd pass people carrying bundles of sticks on their heads. This is the poorest of the poor.
At every major town there were signs warning about HIV. The percentage of HIV positive people here is staggering and sickening. We stopped at a gas station and I began reading a local paper. There was a cover story of the former Vice President, Jacob Zuma who was just this week acquitted of raping a 31 year old woman. She was HIV positive and when asked if he was concerned for his health his response was: "NO, I washed it off after I was finished." I need to reiterate that this was South Africa's Vice President and the former, and still future likely successor for the President. At the recent International AIDS conference in Toronto, enraged AIDS protesters stormed the South African booth because the minister of health was displaying Garlic, Beets, and African Potato's as an effective counter-treatment for AIDS. There was another story about Police officers who broke into their own police safe and stole 4 million South African Rand. The ringleader, and 3 others were systematically being assassinated, by whom was the question. And then there was a story about a rally and a website called Africancrisis.org which was threatening a boycott and a rally by white farmers to bring awareness to the increased violence at the hands of black militants. It appears that white farmers are increasingly being targeted for murder and torture and the government has purportedly been sweeping the problem under the rug and not actively investigating the problem. Crime and corruption is epidemic in South Africa and I was shocked to understand just how bad it was. I read a lot about Zimbabwe and the horrendous situation there, but I had no idea it had gotten this bad in South Africa – which I always thought of as a more progressive African country.
As we continued along the road we saw a lot of things you'd never see in the states; like a brush fire which was shooting flames into the road with no fire department in sight, an ambulance picking up a road kill and putting it under the gurney, and 4 year old kids walking down a road miles from the nearest town. I realize I'm focusing much on the negative, but I am concerned for South Africa. It has some of the greatest natural treasures on earth. I am concerned for south Africa. In 1993 my wife and I hunted Zimbabwe on a trip that was nothing short of magical. The property we hunted was taken over by the Zim Government as a land claim and the huge herds of sable have all been destroyed. Zimbabwe is a mess and I'm sure I'll never visit there again. I hate to see this happen to South Africa. If South Africa falls then whatever hunting is left in southern Africa will be prohibitively expensive. South Africa has also been relatively friendly to bowhunters compared to other southern African countries. This country is vast and wild. All I can say is anyone who wants to bad mouth our President, our system of Government, or our way of life needs to visit here for 1 week. Michael Moore should spend a month in Shanty-town. These America-haters have no idea how good they have it.
I’m telling you this because it’s part of the experience. There’s more to the hunt than the hunt itself. The cultural experience is worth the price alone – to me. We got to Vaalwater around 8PM. The motel is not exactly the Four Seasons but it did fine. Tomorrow I start my buffalo hunt.
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Our Professional Hunters for this safari is: Madiakgama Safaris |
