Traveling to Africa this year? Tanzania, South Africa, Egypt? Start right now looking for the perfect mask. If you find the perfect fit, when wearing and when not wearing glasses, travel to Africa later this year can achieve a level of acceptable safety. But it will not be like it was before the virus.
EWT’s safaris later this year include South Africa, Egypt/Jordan/Israel and Tanzania, so this blog refers mostly to those destinations. Here’s what I see coming for all EWT travelers.
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What do Africans think about the Harry and Meghan interview? Watch South Africa’s Josh Pieters’ You Tube with four prominent media experts on the royal family who critiqued the interview, as if it happened, before it happened. Click here to enjoy then…
Realize that comedic relief from really horrible situations is an underprivileged people’s art form. Laughing is common when there’s no confusion about the situation, no equivocation on its wrongness.
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Covid is having a remarkable, somewhat complex effect on wildlife in sub-Saharan Africa. On the one hand the lack of tourists has given rise to a predicted surge in animal populations. On the other hand this has reduced poaching!
This is exactly the opposite of what was first reported and what a lot of sensational media tried to promulgate.
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Is anybody but Trump, the Proud Boys and me following South African politics?
Reporting today from Pretoria, three years and one day since the former South African head-of-state left office: “Former president Jacob Zuma dodged his appearance on Monday before the State Capture inquiry, headed by Deputy Chief Justice Judge Raymond Zondo, and took refuge at his Nkandla homestead protected by the MK Military Veterans Association dressed in fake camo.”
Let me translate across the ocean into the future, January 21, 2024:
“Former president Donald Trump dodged his appearance on Monday before the January 6th Commission, headed by Former FBI Director Christopher Wray, and took refuge at his Mar A Lago homestead protected by the Proud Boys dressed in fake camo.”
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Only one country in all of Africa can join Elizabeth Warren’s debate about a wealth tax: South Africa.
And in earnest. In just the last few years America’s fiscal situation has grown surprisingly aligned with South Africa’s. Probably because of the pandemic, but certainly because of globalization. Since South Africa’s politics have presaged ours for the last decade, it’s worth looking at what’s going on there.
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On January 25 President Biden issued a travel ban on the UK, Ireland, Brazil, most of Europe and South Africa. What does this mean?
For travelers with confirmed arrangements to any of these places this summer or later: nothing. You should disregard the notice, except that you should not make any additional arrangements – such as changes in your itinerary, airline reservations or extensions. For persons who were planning yet confirmed arrangements, you now need to wait.
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We are in the pandemic nadir: Yesterday the CDC listed 118 of the 197 countries in the world as virulent, out-of-control hotspots, and a handful including South Africa received the dreaded U.S. travel bans.
But of all the countries of the world there is only one that has an aggressive policy prohibiting any vaccination whatever: Tanzania.
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This blog is for old people who want to travel to Africa or similar places. Since old people are often spunkier and certainly smarter than young people, young’uns wouldn’t be wasting any time reading it, too. Just get your macchiato or Glenfiddich, whichever relaxes you best, find a rocking chair or bean bag then take a deep breath. Some brain scratching required.
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Why shouldn’t you buy a current RyanAir ticket for $11.85 between London and Shannon? Because you can use those funds to buy a cup of coffee and actually drink it.
Western travelers excited about returning to Africa and other far off places have a number of hurdles facing them. The most important one is how to get there. Current enticements by ridiculously discounted air tickets is not a solution.
Read moreI wanna stand up and shout through a megaphone! Listen, idiot Americans! South Africa shows us exactly what’s going to happen here now that Donald is gone!
But I’m torn, too, between just shutting up and letting the little birdie in my ear prove me remarkably prescient.
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Everyone wants to know: what will happen to the Republicans? Look to South Africa.
You know the “ANC,” the party of Mandela, but in American terms it’s the Republican Party of South Africa: The ANC dominated South Africa just like the Republican Party dominated America. It had a crazy president who left in disgrace then spent the next years dodging jail, while dozens of his cronies and former ministers and family did go to jail! Then, just when you thought he was gone for good! He’s back to crack the party in two!
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An excerpt from one of South Africa’s major newspapers’ today on our election:
“When a failed real estate developer and pitchman-for-hire became America’s president four years ago, it was partly due to the peculiarities of the nation’s electoral system. Nevertheless… Americans should have known better.
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Stipulated that much of politics is symbolic. Why else would a high court judge come to work in a burkha and often cover his head with a white mop tying it all up with a Christmas bow? But in this revolution dedicated to stamping out untruth, symbols slip.
Whether Kenya, South Africa or the U.S., if the tables were turned, I’d push through Amy to the court. It’s the law.
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Apartheid was coming apart. Reagan had just been overridden by Congress and lethal sanctions were about to fall on South Africa.
My partner and I packed our bags and raced to Joburg certain that young fellows from America would now be needed to market the “New South Africa” to the angry and suspicious Americans who had toppled them.
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The President’s incompletely known virus situation this weekend drove the media to explain “viral load.” This provides travelers excellent information for predicting when they might be unshackled.
Viral load is the “amount of virus in the blood.” As a critique of the President’s irresponsible behavior, and as an indicator for travelers, we need to understand it.
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