By Bob Van Leer
(Johannesburg, South Africa, June 3, 1986) - Today Betty and I arrived in South Africa after a 16 hour flight from New York on a Boeing 747. The name of the continent, Africa, has always conjured up images of a wild, primitive place, the last continent to be explored by civilized man. So what are our accommodations?
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Half-way around the world" »
By Bob Van Leer
(Johannesberg, South Africa, June 4, 1986) - Even with "jet lag" and being nine hours ahead of Gold Beach time we arose at a fairly respectable 9 a.m. and had time for a short tour of Sandton Centre which connects to our hotel, Sandton Sun (which is rated 5 star). A publicity blurb on the shopping center says, "Sandton Centre itself hosts about 250 merchants in shops which for sheer class and variety probably cannot be surpassed anywhere in the world." However, in spite of what the publicity releases say, prices in the Centre are definitely not cheap.
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1600 Killed In Violence" »
By Bob Van Leer
(Johannesburg, South Africa, June 5, 1986) - In a whirlwind tour today lasting from 8 a.m. to midnight we did some sightseeing in the South African countryside and listened to five speakers in four sessions in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Pretoria is the administrative capital of South Africa, about 20 miles from Johannesburg.
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Economy Basket Case" »
By Bob Van Leer
(Cape Town, South Africa, June 6, 1986) - Today was a day of relative rest after the tight scheduling of yesterday; not a single speaker, compared to the five of yesterday. In the morning we toured Johannesburg and shopped for African curios downtown. Then we returned to our hotel, the Sandton Sun, for lunch and to pack for the flight to Cape Town.
By Bob Van Leer
(Cape Town, South Africa, June 7, 1986) “ We spent the day touring the Cape Town area and in the evening had dinner with the highest level representative of the South African government we have talked to yet.
By Bob Van Leer
(Plettenburg Bay, South Africa, June 10, 1986) - Today a tour of South Africa's wine country around Stellenbosch was on the schedule but Betty and I decided to spend what time we had exploring more of downtown Cape Town. Betty found a whole store with nothing but beads and this kept her occupied for most of the time.
By Bob Van Leer
(Durban, South Africa, June 12, 1986) - Today started with a quiet trip to Zululand but wound up with the major development of the day: a declaration of a State of Emergency by the government, roughly equivalent to declaring Martial Law in the United States. President P. W. Botha declared the State of Emergency effective at midnight last night and before dawn police swooped down and arrested activists.
By Bob Van Leer
(Sun City, Bophuthatswana, June 13, 1986) - This is one of the semi-independent black tribal states set up by South Africa as a part of its attempt to sort out racial problems. No nation besides South Africa recognizes these as independent states, considering them vassals to South Africa. But there are differences.
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Black Tribal State" »
By Bob Van Leer
(Sun City, Bophuthatswana, June 14, 1986) - Today was a day of relaxation. The only scheduled events were lunch and a tour of the facilities. In the morning I took a tour of a game reserve near here, in Bophuthatswana national park. This was different from Wildlife Safari in Winston. These are wild animals in a preserve that extends for many miles. I never did get a figure on the size of the park.
By Bob Van Leer
(Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, June 15, 1986) - Another whirlwind day started at Sun City, Bophuthatswana, at 4:30 a.m. with a three hour bus ride back to Jan Smuts Airport at Johannesburg. Increased security was evident at the airport with more soldiers around carrying Uzi machine guns. We boarded a South African Airways flight to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
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Plume From Falls" »
