What I love about South Africa

Posted by Linda Markovina on 26 January 2012

It’s the start of 2012 and so many of us will be heading far and wide over the next 365 days. Some of us will be travelling for work, some for pleasure and some relocating to other areas of the world to pursue careers, loves or just for the sheer vagabondish adventure of it all.  No matter how tough we think we are, there will always be that one point on our travels when we will definitely get ‘the feeling’.

We’ve all had it at least once. You could be sitting in an airport lounge, minding your own business when someone walks past you with a small South African flag pinned to the side of their suitcase; or walking on an unfamiliar street corner and get a wiff of grilled meat on an open fire and icy cold beer. Sitting in a bar in a sea of unfamiliar faces and languages you hear a ‘howzit’ drift over the gabble of foreign tongues.

Homesickness is that longing pang in the pit of your stomach, where you get a small emotional twitch for that place you know as home. No matter how much I travel I still absolutely and completely fall head over heels in love every time an airplane or car tyre skids onto a SA tarmac or dirt road. And you know why? Because I am in a committed, lifelong relationship with this country. Sure it has its bad qualities, its few traits that make me want to go and sleep on the couch and mumble obscenities under my breath. But we have so many amazing things going for us that I am determined to be positive in 2012, and hurumpf in the general direction of all the gloomy, depressing, negative couch potatoes that have nothing good to say. When problems pop up I am planning to get off my butt and do something about it and not just wax verbal about what should be done. Every action no matter how small is important.

And for those of us who are not travelling beyond borders – here’s a whole pile of reasons to kick up those feet and smile because you’re in one hell of an amazing place.

I love the fact that we don’t have any tornados, or earthquakes. I had the misfortune of being on the 52nd story of a skyscraper in Japan when they had a massive earthquake and am now petrified of high buildings. And don’t even get me started on tsunamis and typhoons.

The landscapes in this amazing country are incredible. The Drakensberg, the Karoo, Tsitsikamma, the Indian and the Atlantic ocean and the Garden Route are just some of the spectacular vistas that make me shiver with glee every time I drive through them.

Have you noticed our amazing wildlife lately under the sea, on the land, and in the air? We have everything you can imagine, right on our doorsteps. Including one of the most intensely populated floral kingdoms in the world and over 900 species of birds.

We invented the kreepy crawly, Pratley putty, cats-eyes on the roads and Dolosse blocks (large, concrete blocks designed to break up wave action used along harbour walls).

I love the fact that we still have open roads and free parking spaces. In a world where the human population is exploding we still have a sense of space around us.

I love our unique words, words that only a South African can identify with. You know lekker, yebo, Aikona, Ayoba, Aita, Ag, Aweh, Dinges, howzit, just now, dof, larny, robot, padkos, muggie or gogga, indaba, mzansi, spaza, wena, shongololo, hhayibo!, fundi, cozzie, hundereds, soapie, the 411, babbelas, sorted, kief and koki’s,

There are incredible festivals all around the country and there are some wild, wacky people who go to them. The Grahamstown Festival, Splashy Fenn, the KNKK, Kirstenbosch summer concerts, the J&B Met, Cape Town Pride Festival, the Design Indaba, Oppikoppi, the Jazz festival and Rocking the Daises.

I love the sound of crickets and beetles in the evening, and the fact that we are still very courteous to our elders. I love hating the f-ing taxis and the way we get all patriotic over a beer commercial when we are overseas. I love the smell of Highveld thundershowers and lying in bed watching the Two Oceans and the Comrades marathons, while constantly plotting to enter the next year.

Here’s to Mandela, Dr Christian Barnard, Steve Biko, Desmond Tutu, Pierte Dyrk Uys, Nkhosi Johnson, Thandi Klaasen, Gerard Sekoto and George Pemba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Soweto Gospel Choir, Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee. Alan Paton, Esther Mahlangu, Shaka Zulu, Nkensani Nkosi, Gavin Rajah, Dr Moloi-Motsepe, Basetsane Khumalo, Miriam Makeba, Natalie Du toit, Zackie Achmat, Sol Plaatjie, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Antjie Krog, Hugh Masikela and Nandos adverts. Good on you Zapiro, the McGreggor sisters, Peter Mangubane, Fokoffpolisiekar, David Goldblatt, Walter Sisulu, Mark Shuttleworth,Oscar Pistorius, Bruce Fordyce, Joseph Albert Mokoena, Jaques Kallis, Victor Matfield, Ernie Els, Ryk Neethling, Kingsly Holgate. Right on Sibisiso Vilane, Ruben Riffel, Margot Janse, Luke dale Roberts, Lucillia Booyzen, Carte Blanche, Elana Meyer, Jonty Rhodes, Kass Naidoo, Freshly Ground, Gerry Rantseli, David Tlale, Tiaan Nagal, Dj Ready D and Dr Christiaan Barnard. And the great thing is  I could go on and on and on.

More than anything, I love our passionate people who are deeply connected to their history. We depict togetherness unlike any other country; in a global context where war and racial hatred can sometimes seem like the easiest route. We never lose hope that one day things will get better. There is such an amazing diversity of people who still have a fire in their bellies that we can make a positive difference in about 11 different official languages.

We can also toyitoyi like it’s nobody’s business when we believe in a cause and we are probably the best people to get a party started. And our women are some of the most beautiful and powerful in the world (as far as I am concerned).

You can call it a dopey-eyed, rose-tinted, squishy-centered optimistic view of our country. But I know that for every bad, corrupt, disappointing, terrible doom and gloom you might find, there most definitely is still the complete opposite of it; alive and kicking out here.

Bring on a positive 2012.

Photo by: mister-e (Flickr)

 

Find out more about South Africa and get top local tips from Africa.com/south-africa/travel

 

What do you love about South Africa?

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