Electrical power disaster, Corruption etc.

For the last few weeks South Africa has had a lot of power outages, called "load shedding". The power is shut down 2-3 hrs/day, affecting industies, domestic users and traffic control (the so called robots, a.k.a. traffic lights, are out). The problem is caused by a governmental failure in planning 10 years ago, but no-one wants to take responsiblity for the catastrophic situation.

This is now added to the other major problems of this country: corruption, crime, HIV/AIDS, unemployment and poverty.

But it's still a nice and beautiful country, but where will it end... Like Zimbabwe?

A Weekend in Johannesburg

We just now came home from a very nice weekend in Johannesburg. We had found a nice place to stay in Randburg, which is one of the nicest parts of Johannesburg. It was a self-catering cottage, with a loft bedroom. Beautiful rustic interior decoration, and a nice garden.

The main reason for the trip was a concert with Elton John at the Coca Cola Dome, just a few kilometers from where we stayed. The Dome is the biggest of its kind in Africa, and was really PACKED! The concert was VERY nice, especially when he played his "classics", like Yellow Brick Road, Daniel, Your Song and the theme from the Lion King!

We also went to the Oriental Plaza. I was a bit disappointed because I had expected some chinese shops, but it was only Indian-Pakistani shops, selling clothes, materials and shoes!


We did a lot of shopping at different Malls! We also went to Hartebeespoort Dam which is one of the biggest dams in South Africa.


I think the Dam Wall has a beauty of its own. Almost like old bridges in Europe...


We also went to the Cameleon Village, at the northenmost tip of the dam. There was the biggest curio shop I have ever seen!

It's very nice to be home again!!!

A Reptile Encounter

Tonight around 7pm our lovely Boerboel bitch Diva took a stand at a cornwer of our house, and barked a hell of a lot. She never barks like that for no reason... With a flash-lite we discovered a darkish snake. Could be a Black Mamba, but more likely a Mozambiquean Spitting Cobra.

We called the "Reptile Recovery" guys, and they arrived within 5 minutes, and quickly determined that it was a Cobra, not a Mamba.
We followed the capture of the snake, and how wonderfully these guys handled the whole situation!



One has to know that the Mozambiquean Spitting Cobra is responsible for more deaths from snake bite than any other snake in Southern Africa, even though the Black Mamba is much more feared because of its aggressivity. (But the snake killing most people in the whole continent of Africa is actually the Puff Adder, which is not aggressive at all, unless you "step" on it. We had one of those at our front door less than two years ago.)




Less than 10 years ago, I would have shit my pants in a situation like this, but you get used to it. And the best way to control your emergency reactions is to know more about snakes, which is what I have done.
But it still was a kind of an adventure!
The 4th Moz Spitting Cobra in or around our house...