Apart from the football, I had a great time.

I was in South Africa as long as the English team was. South Africa is a country of great contrasts. Each day was like a different holiday.

As well as the football, I went by cable car to the top of Table Mountain, played football in a township, night clubbed in Cape Town, wine tasted in the Cape Winelands, I went on safari, visited Robben Island and generally played the tourist.

I met lots of great people and made loads of new friends.

bafana bafana

I’ve uploaded some of my photos from South Africa. They capture the many different aspects of this trip.

The most moving day (apart from watching England get stuffed by Germany) was the trip to Robben Island. Here Nelson Mandela spent a good part of his life as a prisoner for resistance to apartheid. Now it is a museum.

We were taken a tour of the prison by en ex-political prisoner. This man was only a couple of years older than me. We would have been at University at the same time. Whilst he was organizing against apartheid on his campus, we were doing similar things in London.

great view

He spent three years in Robben Island for his ‘crimes’, I went down the pub afterwards. How different our lives have been. It makes me realise just how easy things have been for me.

South Africa has come a long way since the end of apartheid. But it still has many problems to face. The FIFA World Cup 2010 has changed the image of South Africa for me. I expect it is similar for the many that ignored the scare mongering and followed their teams.

I suspect it will have changed South Africa as well.

thank you south africa

Popularity: 21%

Be Sociable, Share!

•