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Saturday
We
drove through (and under) the mountains to
Worcester
.
Here we met up with teacher Reggie Cesar and his four grade 12
students from Vusisizwe Senior Secondary School who are the initial South Africa Science Ambassadors
and will work with us in Sutherland. |
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In
the Afternoon we visited Yolanda's home in Zweletembo, the black
township
of
Worcester
.
Here we were invited to join in a custom of respecting her
family’s ancestors. A part of this involved swigging a strange
form of home brew from tin cans. Some of us showed more respect than
others. |
| After
a great dinner at a steak house to celebrate Stewart’s 17th
birthday, we went and watched ‘War of the World’s’ at the Worcester
cinema.
It was the first cinema experience for the SA students.
Siyabonga phoned his friends in the township several times during
the film to tell them what they were missing! This alien experience turned
his world upside down. |
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Sunday
A
long drive through the Great Karoo arid region out to Sutherland. We
stayed at the Kambrokind and Jupiter Guest Houses. At night time the dry air and high altitude gave us a spectacular
view of the Milky Way and out first glimpse of the Magellanic Clouds –
satellite galaxies to our own. The owner of the Kambrokind, Jurg Wagener,
has a great telescope which he let us use.
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Monday
An icy start to the morning in Africa's coldest town. The
South African learners had never seen ice on the street before.
Sutherland
High School
gave us a look at the future
South Africa;
black, coloured and white students all being educated together. |
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In
the evening we went out to the Observatory, getting out first view of SALT
at dusk. and were given a tour of the visitors centre.
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We
then met Retha Pretorius, a scientist researching binary stars using
the 1.9m
Radcliffe telescope.
She had just discovered a new one! Retha is South African but
she is researching for her doctorate at the University of Southampton in
the UK. |
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After
dinner we spent two hours standing in the road in the middle of nowhere
gawping at the sky. |
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Tuesday
We
spent the morning at Roggeveld
Intermediate school giving the last of our half day space science
sessions. In the evening we had an up close and
personal meeting with SALT. Engineer Gerhard
Stewart explained many of its technical details with us so that we
can begin creating our web learning resource.
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Wednesday
Today
we took a 110km run out over an unsurfaced road to Fraserburg
to see the fossilised dinosaur foot prints.
Actually these giant reptiles predate the dinosaurs. Mr
Cripps found evidence for contemporary African wildlife when he drove his
minibus into a fresh Aardvark hole in the middle of the road.
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| Night time saw us back at SALT.
This time we were even more privileged by being able to see the telescope
taking engineering test images. Lead scientist David Buckley showed
us star fields and globular clusters. |
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Thursday.
We
said goodbye to the SA students and Reggie.
With most of the educational part of the visit complete we started
a couple of days of tourist activities.
Then there was a big drive out to George which ended with a visit
to a crocodile and cheetah breeding zoo.
The UK
students showed what
softies they really are by making a donation to the conservation of
cheetahs and having their photos taken with the babies. We
then went under Africa by visiting the Canga caves.
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Friday
Started
with a paddle in the
Indian Ocean
at Victoria
Bay
.
Then it was out to Knysna
for breakfast at a Wimpy in the High Street followed by a short visit to
the Percy Mdala High
School in the black township to say hi and give the headmaster and grade 12
students details of the project and how they could get involved.
What an excellent school! This was followed by a mini safari to get close-up and personal
with elephants. Then it was a long drive back to Cape Town
finishing with a great
South African style dinner at the Lady Hamilton Hotel.
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Saturday
Our
final South Africa
experience was a
poignant one. A boat
trip out to Robben Island in the bay.
Here political prisoners opposed to the Apartheid regime were
locked away. Nelson
Mandela spent 27 years here in this cell.
We were shown around by young students and ex-political prisoners.
Despite the appalling history of cruelty and oppression we heard
about throughout out visit, we have been uplifted by the positive outlook
of the people of South Africa
and their
determination to create a great future for everyone in their country.
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