Fourways Market

If you want to live like a local in Johannesburg, you better be spending your weekends at the markets.
One of my favourite things about Jozi is the market culture. Every weekend there are multiple markets that take place on either Saturday or Sunday. Each market is in a different part of the city and has its own vibe. What all of the markets have in common is that they have great food stalls, alcohol for sale and some local craft shops - perfect hang outs for a sunny day in the city.

I previously blogged about visiting Neighbourgoods Market, located downtown, which is the most trendy and well known of the markets. I've now been to all of the other big markets as well; Arts/Market on Main, Bryanston Organic Market, The Sheds@1Fox, Fourways Farmer's Market. I've also been to 44 Stanley a few times, which isn't a market but is a cool little cluster of independent shops - different to the typical mega malls you find all over the city.

All of these places are definitely worth checking out, but I do have a favourite. Fourways has become my favourite market in the city because it has great live music, open every Sunday, and you can actually get a seat! It's a perfect place to grab some lunch and a bottle of wine and just hunker down to enjoy the music and meet new people. Literally every time I have gone, I've come away with some new people to hang with in the city. Speaking of which, I've got a rafting trip to plan with some Germans girls - see ya!

Rwanda

My trip to Rwanda was in one word, epic!

I was very fortunate to be traveling to Rwanda with my friend, who lived there for three years. This meant I got more of the local experience (bucket showers included) and that really is the best way to see a country.

I landed in Kigali on Friday around lunch time and was picked up by my friend, who had arrived a day earlier, and her local buddy. The three of us went for lunch and then back to his place to settle in, where we would be staying while in town. When we arrived I got to meet our second roomie for the week, my friend lived we these guys when she was a resident. These guys are such total sweethearts and made us feel right at home. Then we popped over to see another buddy and former co-worker and her two children. They were such a delight - everyone I met in Rwanda was so open and welcoming. We capped off our night with dinner and drinks at a great restaurant where I was able to meet two more amazing ladies who we stayed out with drinking into the night. I feel like I met and saw the whole of Kigali on day one - amazing!

The crew's old house in Buguma

The next morning we were up early for the drive to Nyagatare. It was a stunning three hour drive through the countryside up North. With all of the lush greenery and rolling hills, Rwanda could not be more beautiful. We made sure to stop along the way for amanzadi, hefty donuts, that are pretty common in different parts of Africa and oh so good. After arriving in Nyagatare, we were greeted by an old colleague of our little crew and headed up to Buguma where they used to live together. We visited the house they lived in, the school they worked at and the bar they owned! It was really neat to see all the places they had been telling me about and also to see them reliving those days. Then it was time for us to make the trek (over some pretty terrible dirt roads) back to Nyagatare for a traditional Rwandan meal. We had ubugali which is made from cassava flour and water, whipped into a sticky starch. We had some goat stew, root veggies and chapati, a flatbread. Wasn't a huge fan of the ubugali (served with peanut sauce), but the rest was very good. We made our way back to Kigali, unfortunately part of the way in the dark, which was a bit worrying because so many bikes and pedestrians walk on the roads and there are no streetlights to help see them. But we survived and once we got back into town we went out for a nice dinner with a crew of expats who were being hosted at a new restaurant opening - more good food!

On the way to Nyagatare

"Muzungu!!"

Standing in front of wild mountain gorillas

The next morning we went to see the local market which was chaos but I was able to get some nice fabric which I'll have made into a skirt as well as a small traditional painting that they still use cow dung to make; I couldn't resist. After that madness it was time to relax so we headed to the Hotel des Milles Collines (famously known as Hotel Rwanda). We spent the day relaxing by pool, which was lovely but also felt a bit surreal to be enjoying a swim in this pool that people had to famously drink the water out of to stay alive when being sheltered during the genocide. My friend was leaving that day to fly back to Joburg so we parted ways and I took a bus up to Musanze for the night. When I got off the bus, I was fortunate enough that I had been the only muzungu (white person) because my guide was able to spot me right away and took me to the hotel. I got very used to hearing the word muzungu as I traveled about, especially in the more rural areas, because the children don't see many white people and they get very excited and call out muzungu and wave when they see you. At one point I made the mistake of giving one child a high five and got swarmed by a group of school children wanting me to touch their hand too. Anyways, the next morning my guide picked me up and took me to the starting point for my trek to go see mountain gorillas. I was put into a little group of tourists with a local guide, who brought us into the Parc National des Volcans. It only took us about 30 minutes to get to the point inside the park where a family of gorillas was hanging out; lucky us. Ironically, the family was named the Hirwa Group, which means "lucky group". The family has one silverback, a few females, some adolescent males, a pair of 4 year old twins (which is very rare for gorillas - only seven documented cases to survive since the 60s) as well as 6 month and 4 month old babies. It was absolutely unreal to be so close to these powerful and stunning animals. They pretty much just went about their day, hanging out, eating, playing with each other and walking around, while we watched from a couple metres away. A few of the gorillas were playing together just right in front of us, which is a little scary when they are beating their chests, biting each other and rolling around, but they had no interest in us, just wanted to play together. Just before we left we went to take one last look at the silverback who was doing his own thing in another area. As we were standing there all of a sudden we could hear some of the other gorillas coming closer. One of the female gorillas started running down towards our group and I was on the edge so I turned in to get tighter to the others and out of her way when I felt a pound on my back like a kidney shot (although lighter than what I recall receiving from my brothers back in the day). The others in my group just looked at me incredulous and said, "you just got hit by a gorilla!" It was wild. She was obviously just being cheeky though because she could have really hurt me and she just hit me as she ran by, not using much force. So that was the end of my gorillas experience and although it was expensive, it was well worth it! I ended up hanging out afterwards with my two guides. We went for lunch, headed up to a nice garden and lookout point above the city and I decided to stay in Musanze for the night, getting a lift with my guide back to Kigali the next morning.

I had one final day in Kigali so I hung out a bit with the boys. We walked over to the Genocide Museum/Memorial. It was at times hard to see the graphic images, artifacts collected from mass graves, and to read the descriptions of horrific events, but it was a well-done exhibit. There was a second floor exhibit dedicated solely to the impact of the genocide on children, but just walking up the stairs made me start to cry so my friend very graciously said, "We don't have to go through that part." Which is kind of ridiculous, that I was tearing up just at the thought of children during the genocide as I was standing with someone who bravely survived the genocide as a child. I know he is too kind to have been thinking this, but if I was him, I would have been like, "Bitch, please. If I can walk to Tanzania in 1994, you can walk through this exhibit."

Eventually I had to head to the airport and say goodbye to Rwanda, which had been so good to me. I met fantastic people, was touched by a gorilla, had yummy food, saw incredible views, even the weather was amazing for me the whole time and we are in the rainy season - so lucky!

Rwanda, I will be back to see you again, I'm sure.

Bots & Zim Tour

Ever heard of someone missing their flight while sitting at the boarding gate? You have now!

I learned the hard way that South African Airways has a policy of not calling the names of missing passengers as a final boarding call. I was sitting at the gate, where you get onto a shuttle bus which takes you out to the plane, when they called first boarding. The sign about the gate listed the flight number and said "Priority" so I sat down to wait out the first batch of passengers and while sitting started talking to a couple from Australia. After a little bit I still hadn't heard final boarding called or my name called so I asked them, "Are you on this flight too?" Although they and all the other people at the busy gate were heading to Victoria Falls, they were getting there on a different flight. for some reason, they were just chilling at the wrong gate. So I ran up to the desk and said that I needed to get on the flight (15 minutes before takeoff) but the SAA rep told me I was too late. I pleaded for her to take me out to the plane, there was still time, I had been sitting right there - but no luck. I was told I needed to go and rebook my flight, the next of which was the same time the following day. SO FRUSTRATING!

I went through the process of rebooking my flight, paying the ticket price again and headed back home to sulk so I could return again the next day. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of the tour company I was supposed to meet up with the next day and everything on that end was fine.

I flew to Victoria Falls a day late and still had time to go down and walk along the falls. It was beautiful and with the sunshine of the afternoon there was a double rainbow over the falls - gorgeous!
A couple of us who were joining the Nomad Tour through Botswana had sundowners overlooking the Zambezi River and then had dinner as a group before settling in for the night, ready to set off the next morning. It was a good group of 10 of us (6 of us were camping and formed a nice little crew) and I enjoyed getting to know everyone new. Specifically there were a few people who also live in Gauteng, South Africa so we'll keep in touch which is awesome.

We head on our truck from Vic Falls up to Chobe National Park in Botswana and had a packed day. We went on an afternoon game drive and saw loads of animals up close. And then went straight to a boat and cruised down the river seeing more animals in the water and watched the sunset on our way back. This day was definitely the highlight of my tour.

The next day we traveled up through Botswana and into Namibia. We didn't really do anything in Namibia, just relaxed at our campsite on the river and prepared to head back into Botswana the next day. We went this route so that we could access Botswana's Okavango Delta from the North where there were the highest water levels.

In the delta, we went out on Mokoro boats (traditionally canoes carved out of local trees) which are manned by polers who push the canoe using long poles again made from a specific tree in the area. The delta is full of tall grasses and lily pads; it's really peaceful to float along. Although, at the same time you know you're just in a small canoe traveling through waterways created by hippos who could be anywhere in the water. The polers seemed to have a pretty good idea about where the hippos hang out at different times of the day though so it was safe - we even got out in one spot to go for a swim. We also popped by one of the deeper pools of water where the hippos were hanging out. We cut through the grasses and sat along the edge of the pool and just watched the hippos chilling out. It was pretty cool to be so close to them. Unfortunately, we didn't see any other big animals in the delta, even though the Big 5 do live in there, but I guess just not where we were. Kind of a letdown!

There was some confusion from the tour company about the itinerary and our booking which was a little worrying at first because we thought we might miss our flight home, but then it ended up being a blessing in disguise because Nomad Tours decided to charter a flight from our remote area of the delta over to Maun, where we were flying from. People usually pay for these scenic flights and we got it for free! Super cool views over the delta and neat to be in a small four-seater plane (including the pilot).

 All in all - a great trip! Now next week onto Rwanda for another exciting trip!