Heading to the Dark Continent

[heydaralon]

I don't know what it is about DrYouth that I hate so much. Maybe its the fact that he refuses to listen to the Mike Duncan Revolutions podcast I recommended. Maybe its the fact that he is this ignorant ass caveman that refuses to expose himself to new cultures. Maybe the fact that he didn't know what the Intellectual Dark Web is and I got tired of explaining it to him 200 fucking times. But honestly, I give up. I cannot keep trying to enlighten this very awful man. He just won't listen. So fuck it, I'm throwing in the towel. I have more important stuff to do like post thought provoking content on this forum. You can't help everyone, and I already help plenty of folks on here.

[DrYouth]

Back from Africa... I survived and witnessed no cannibalism.

It was definitely eye opening.

South Africa is in a bad way.

The voting majority has elected some bad players and the official political correctness gets in the way of commenting on this internationally. Zulu culture is very tribal and traditional and they put unconditional trust in their leadership. This leadership is of course tribal and inclined to serve the needs of immediate kin first and extended clan second and poorly at that. It seems various large interests have gotten into bed with Zulu leadership and the consequences are dismal.

There are a lot of demoralized people in South Africa, black and white alike.

Botswana has had a lot more success. That being said there have been some challenges recently. Massive herds of elephants are getting out of control so that private farming is becoming increasingly difficult to impossible. A recent proposal to bring back a regulated elephant hunt was reversed due to international pressure.

Zimbabwe is an absolute shit show. They literally don't have money in the banks. Victoria Falls was nice though.

Mozambique is incredibly underdeveloped. Communism did not go well after the Potuguese pulled out. They do like to blame outside interfering forces although it is hard to say if there is any truth to these claims. Given that communism hasn't really worked out anywhere, I don't tend to put a whole lot of stock in this narrative. Fortunately things are beginning to stabilize, but it felt like going back in a time machine to the stone age... maybe earlier.
Since the Portuguese left the stone houses that they built on the Island of Mozambique, the local people couldn't maintain them and they are all in ruins. The people reside in mud houses with thatched roofs. A few foreign investors have started to buy and restore the historical stone homes very recently. This island is a UNESCO world heritage site.

That all being said...
It was a great trip!

[Montegriffo]

Welcome back.
How was the flow at Victoria Falls?

[DrYouth]

Welcome back.
How was the flow at Victoria Falls?

One half of the falls was very impressive... the Zaire half seemed weak.
Overall it was breathtaking.

[Montegriffo]

Welcome back.
How was the flow at Victoria Falls?

One half of the falls was very impressive... the Zaire half seemed weak.
Overall it was breathtaking.

It's top of my bucket list but timing is vital.
How many jabs did you need before you went on the trip?
Did you bathe in the Devil's pool?

[C-Mag]

Back from Africa... I survived and witnessed no cannibalism.

It was definitely eye opening.

South Africa is in a bad way.

The voting majority has elected some bad players and the official political correctness gets in the way of commenting on this internationally. Zulu culture is very tribal and traditional and they put unconditional trust in their leadership. This leadership is of course tribal and inclined to serve the needs of immediate kin first and extended clan second and poorly at that. It seems various large interests have gotten into bed with Zulu leadership and the consequences are dismal.

There are a lot of demoralized people in South Africa, black and white alike.

Botswana has had a lot more success. That being said there have been some challenges recently. Massive herds of elephants are getting out of control so that private farming is becoming increasingly difficult to impossible. A recent proposal to bring back a regulated elephant hunt was reversed due to international pressure.

Zimbabwe is an absolute shit show. They literally don't have money in the banks. Victoria Falls was nice though.

Mozambique is incredibly underdeveloped. Communism did not go well after the Potuguese pulled out. They do like to blame outside interfering forces although it is hard to say if there is any truth to these claims. Given that communism hasn't really worked out anywhere, I don't tend to put a whole lot of stock in this narrative. Fortunately things are beginning to stabilize, but it felt like going back in a time machine to the stone age... maybe earlier.
Since the Portuguese left the stone houses that they built on the Island of Mozambique, the local people couldn't maintain them and they are all in ruins. The people reside in mud houses with thatched roofs. A few foreign investors have started to buy and restore the historical stone homes very recently. This island is a UNESCO world heritage site.

That all being said...
It was a great trip!

+1

Thanks for the report

[DrYouth]

How many jabs did you need before you went on the trip?
Did you bathe in the Devil's pool?

None... we've had all the necessary vaccinations for previous travels...
Malaria prophylaxis.

Devil's pool is a selfie magnet... didn't degrade myself for that experience.

[Montegriffo]

How many jabs did you need before you went on the trip?
Did you bathe in the Devil's pool?

None... we've had all the necessary vaccinations for previous travels...
Malaria prophylaxis.

Devil's pool is a selfie magnet... didn't degrade myself for that experience.

So are the Taj Mahal and the pyramids at Giza.
Seems like a weak reason not to do something. Are you not good with heights?

[DrYouth]

The tension between Afrikaner and Bantu tribal people is of course the main narrative of South Africa.

We had plenty of experiences with both sides of that narrative.

The dominant narrative is of course the fall of Apartheid with Nelson Mandela as the saviour. The slave lodge is the next narrative and the history of the great international slave trade... with Arabs, Portuguese and Dutch as the villains.

These are both good stories of course.

But the Afrikaners want you to know the story of the great trek, British oppression and the concentration camps during the second Boer war.
None of these parts of history are covered in the official narrative. They have been suppressed...
Afrikaners as victims and British as villains doesn't hold much truk with the masses.

So I enjoyed getting the full story... listening to all the narratives but not allowing the gravity to pull me into one narrative as the font of truth.
I do feel for the working class Afrikaner's whose nation has fallen into such dire circumstances and who has to face threats of violent crime on a continuous basis with little expectation for effective police response.

Another interesting narrative is that of the Koi-San... the bushmen who were the actual indigenous group in South Africa at the time of the Dutch arrival at the cape. They were displaced by both Dutch and Bantu and little is left of their culture other than some cool rock art. We did encounter actual San people in Botswana... they are at the bottom of the cultural hierarchy... but interestingly they are mythologized by all the cultures... but live mostly in myth and on the margins.

[DrYouth]

Are you not good with heights?

I'm fine with heights.
I have bungee jumped and look forward to sky diving when the time is right.
It just seemed undignified. I call it like I see it.
Enjoyed the falls and took plenty of pictures... but Devil's pool seemed unnecessary and it was also on the Zambian side.