Bom Bom Island

Following three days in Capetown, we had a day at sea and stopped next in Walvis Bay, Namibia. This port town is nothing more than a trans-shipment zone, with coal and containers piled up on the docks. It rained all day, a rare event. The desert begins about 1 mile inland. (see picture) We had a beautiful sunset as we left the port. This town had its modern roots as part of the German colony of Southwest Africa and it is directly west from the mines at Kimberly, and the cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg. Three days and fifteen hundred miles later, we’ve arrived on Easter Sunday at the Bom Bom Island, or, maybe I should say, islet. It is a speck of land adjacent to Principe. Principe and Sao Tome are the two main volcanic islands that comprise the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe. There is a small resort here and we had a day at the beach. (Three pictures) Get out your maps because it is off the west coast of Africa at 1.5 N and 7 E. The islands were uninhabited until the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century. Principe is notable because British scientist Arthur Eddington’s expedition came here to observe the total solar eclipse of May 29, 1919. This is where Paul Johnson chose to begin his story in Modern Times. The experimental observations made by Eddington confirmed predictions made by Einstein almost two decades earlier in his theory of relativity . For Johnson, this process: A theory validated(or invalidated) by objective experimental observation …represented an epitome of the scientific method as the way to discover the truth about our world. (He contrasts Einstein’s insistence on proof before acceptance with Freud, who demanded no such thing regarding his celebrated hypotheses about the sub-conscious mind.) For Einstein, it meant the Nobel Prize in 1922 and ascension to “rock-star” status. The Western world at large, their confidence in their institutions and certitudes severely shaken by the events of 1914-1918, translated relativity into relativism. So if space and time were not absolute, then neither were moral concepts. And where was God in this new cosmos? According to Johnson, into the void created by a shrinking God rushed the modern politician, one often unhinged from traditional morality and quite willing to subject his people to unproven theories. We will see some of the results of modern politics in the days ahead as we visit Ghana, Senegal and Togo.

South Africa

We stopped in Durban, South Africa after 3 days at sea. Durban hosted last year’s Soccer World Cup and built themselves a fancy new stadium. The city has a large geographic footprint and stretches a long way from north to south. Its mild climate and excellent beaches attract many sun and surf lovers. Sugar cane is king here. The downtown is not large and a bit shabby. Growth has extended in all directions. The terrain is hilly and relatively lush. South Africa is struggling to recover after a tumultuous 30 years. The political leadership since the end of apartheid has been so-so and often seems motivated by revenge rather than reconciliation. The years of apartheid have yielded a substantial proportion of the population that is unequipped to compete in the modern world, and handicapped in their ability to make their democracy function. But this is a country very rich in resources. I guess we could say the same about Argentina or Burma or Indonesia. There’s a long list of countries that should be prosperous but can’t seem to keep themselves sufficiently organized to raise the standard of living. And South Africa is the richest country on this continent. Cape town is a very large port at the southwestern tip of the continent so it serves as the most important shipping center on the Atlantic. Its importance as a re-supply center and transshipping center have diminished since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The original Cape Colony is perched on a rather small bit of land, backed up against a huge mountain that protects it from any incursions from the east, south or north. The downtown, proper, has a few new buildings and a fabulous waterfront shopping complex called Victoria & Alfred. (Not Albert!) The central zone containing The Company Gardens is a lovely park and borders the Parliament. The west side of town has a series of beach coves with apartments, some rather new, and closely packed, overlooking the sea, a la Nice. The east side of Table Mountain contains some vineyard estates. The climate is pleasant. It’s not clear which way South Africa is headed. The political leadership seems to have been captured by modern liberalism (with all its wealth-destroying slogans and practices), but still fueled and energized by their sense of moral righteousness derived from their victory over the policies of apartheid. Good leadership will go a long way in helping this gifted country confront tribalism and stark poverty. Let’s hope they get it. Allpictures were taken in Capetown.

Mauritius

We arrived in Mauritius on Thursday, April 7, approaching Port Louis from the west after crossing from the east over the north end of the island. The city is on the west side of the island, facing Africa. The island is volcanic and closely resembles Papeete and Hawaii in profile. The French ran this place for most of the 18th century. With the Napoleonic Wars, Britain eventually took over in 1812. I would imagine the Suez Canal and the British possession of East Africa made this island not terribly important as a coaling stop. Mauritius is named after Maurice, a Dutch prince. So it is the nation of Maurice. Maurice sounds like a prenom, and I can’t think of many other countries with such a designation. Everyone knows of St. Moritz, but that’s a city. Only Mauritania, how strange! This calls for some research. At any rate, we took a walk around the downtown, visited the market, found a fabric store, and the church of St. Louis. The people on the street were mostly ethnic Indians, with a minority of black Africans. There is quite a bit of recent development on the waterfront and the shopping offered a wide selection of up-scale clothing. The market displayed bountiful supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables, and the prices for these locally grown goods was similar to prices at our local price-chopper. I include a statue honoring their first French governor. The people speak French and English and a local dialect. The post office dates from 1868. There is international banking here and of course, high-end tourism. The next day brought us Reunion, which is about 150 miles southwest of Mauritius. A landslide prevented us from visiting the main town, St. Deny. So we traveled in the other direction to a beach town, St Giles. Reunion is part of French overseas department and is sincerely French. The island resembles Maui, the roads are excellent, and there is even an active volcano. For Frenchmen who want a tropical paradise with their croissant, this is it. No hula here. Your pension can be generated in Paris and your Euros are pumped out at the local ATM here. It probably takes as much time to get here from Paris as it does, NY to Honolulu. You don’t hear much about Reunion but it seemed very nice. I wanted very much to visit the main town, but this will have to wait. From here, it’s still 1500 miles to Durban, South Africa. All pictures today are from Mauritius.

The Indian Ocean

We departed Marmagao, India for Male in the Maledive Islands. Though Male is due south, we tracked southeast úntil we reached the apex of the subcontinent, practically to Sri Lanka.. At this point we headed south for a day and then headed due west toward Male. What explains this indirect route? Pirates. The international naval task force has established protected corridors for shipping in this part of the world. The captain warned us about evasive maneuvers the ship would make in the unlikely event of an attack. We arrived safely in the Maldives . These are a group of reclaimed sandbars that have become high-end beach destinations for the jet set. The main island Male is the capital of this exclusively Moslem nation. There are hundreds of small islands. The international airport is on a piece of land reclaimed from the sea just across from the main town. I suspect international money helped build the runway. This airport is much closer to the sub-continent than the base at Diego Garcia. You must take a water taxi to get there, or a sea plane. We visited the main town and I’ve included some pictures. There are 2 pix of the presidential palace and one of the cemetery across the street. The male headstones are pointed and the female, round. There is a lot of development here. The town is relatively clean and I felt safe on the streets(picture). It is as crowded as any spot in Venice, perhaps more so. The main island is no bigger than say, Di Lido Island in Biscayne Bay(picture). Eiko bought some fabric here at a good price. From here it is 2000 miles (4 days at sea)to reach Mauritius.