Over the hills and far away

Growing up in the city, one is blinded to the plight that many in the rural areas face. We're lucky to have things so easily found and if anything was needed, a simple trip down to the shops or a phone call would get what was required. Even simple things like running water, electricity and a roof over our heads are taken for granted. With our modern, busy lifestyle, these thoughts never did cross our mind as there is always something else that was needed to be done or somewhere to be. I can't really say it is something we're guilty of as it isn't really something that should concern us but this past weekend, a group of friends and I set out on what was to be a typical "boys weekend" but turned out to be more than that. 

I've got a really great group of friends, as usual, we all can be idiots at times but that's the male species for you, there's nothing like a weekend away to forge those bonds, after all we are like brothers. From last year, it was in the works that we planned to venture into Lesotho via Sani Pass and stay the night, not only to brush up on our off roading skills but to also experience winter in one of the coldest parts of Southern African in the hope of seeing some snow on the way as we Durban boys don't really ever see it. After weeks of planning, most of which was done by our intrepid leader, Mr Nevin S Pillay, (Director at DNA Test and featured in April's issue of Forbes Africa Magazine), it was decided that the 2 day journey would have us depart Durban to one of the greatest mountain passes in the South Hemisphere, a gateway to South Africa's neighboring country, the Kingdom of Lesotho. 

Not much was known about our place of stay for the night, we knew it was a small village situated about 2 hours from the border and it was founded by a Roman Catholic Missionary who set up a church in the area. Seeing that we were going to be there on Mandela Day, a day South Africans celebrate in honor of our former President who helped bring down the apartheid regime, we decided as a group that we would donate items that would benefit the community and help them keep warm during the harsh winter period. Friends and families were generous in their donations with us collecting a substantial amount items, enough to fill the bin of a double cab bakkie!

Once loaded up on early Saturday morning, our group of 8, in two vehicles set off  on our trek to Sani Pass, making a pit stop in Underberg for some supplies for the nights stay. The Pass still remains an ever growing tourist attraction with many daring to conquer it, whether it be by 4x4, motorbike, bicycle and even your own two feet! It is to be noted that only four wheel drive vehicles are permitted on the pass but some do take their chances. Navigating through the winding gravel road isn't as easy at it would seem with obstacles such as cliff edges, rocks and waterfalls to cross, keeping a good pace, and following the rules of the pass is a must or you could end up in a ditch, as we encountered someone who found them self in one as we were heading up, helping the couple out was our first good deed of the day, once they were freed, we continued the ascent to the summit. 

Being winter, it would be pretty dry but with the cold temperature and snow fall from the previous day, most of the waterfalls towards the top were frozen. We pulled off to join the others who were enjoying the snow and taking pictures at the frozen marvel. This was my first encounter with snow, gathering a handful to make a snowball then realising how cold it actually was, numbing my fingers in a matter of seconds! After a few snaps with the frozen water and fooling around in the snow, it was time to get going again as the summit was close and there was a small matter about a Springbok game to watch at the highest pub in Africa. 

The crew, selfie at Sani Pass

The pub which is situated a the top of Sani Pass is 2874 meters above sea level, a one of a kind establishment which has a limited food menu but quite a good selection of beverages, the most popular being the local Maluti Lager. As said before, the pass is becoming quite popular and with the rugby game being on, it was more busier than some pubs in the city! With daylight still on our side and an unknown road ahead of us, we decided to make the most of our advantage and head for the village of Molumong where St James Missionary was situated in.

There really just was one road we could use and thankfully it was good as new, well some parts were being laid as we drove past thanks to the Chinese contractors who work 7 days a week on it! The road took us though the Thaba-Tseka district which meanders through the mountains, upon which we were greeted by even more snow and iced up roads. It was truly a site to behold, I felt like a kid snapping away pictures of the snow filled mountain side, as much as we wanted to stop, we had to make headway as there was still a long drive waiting for us. 

After about an hour of driving, we finally reached our destination which wasn't as straight forward as it seem as it involved us thumb-sucking a turn onto a gravel road, through the Sehonghong Gorge (which is quite a sight in itself) and eventually arriving at the St James Lodge. It was quite a humbling experience for myself, being used to home comforts, having a look at the lodge didn't bode well for me, for one it didn't have any electricity, no more complaining about load shedding for me! The Lodge was not bad, it just wasn't something I was not used to but no one else in the group minded, it was all about the experience and that's exactly what warmed me up to the place. 

We were practically one with the community, with the Missionary a stone throw away. Meeting the people of the village and seeing the joy and appreciation of the stuff we brought them was heart warming. It really is a struggle for them in remote places like this to get things that we normally take for granted. Spending the night in minus temperatures with just the warmth of a blanket really opened my mind as to what people in areas like this go through, I was still lucky enough to have a decent bed with plenty of blankets, not to mention a roof over my head. Others in the village live in small huts with no access to running water and zinc enclosed outdoor toilets. I couldn't manage to leave the warmth of my bed to use the bathroom in my room, these people have to leave their house to make use of the facility.

Community at St James Missonary

After spending a night there, it was an eye opener to the reality of how others live their lives with whatever little they have and are content with it. Here in our society we have people who have almost everything but still lead unhappy lives because they're always searching or wanting more. If only more people could see life in the way people of this community does, it really would make the world a better place. The heartfelt gratitude shown to us by the members of the Church and the Pastor will be long remembered and made it the highlight of the trip.

As the saying goes, "what goes up, must come down" and as much as I enjoyed my stay there it was time to go home. On the way back we had a lot more time to take in the views and beauty of what Lesotho had to offer. Although it neighbors the Drakensburg Mountain Range, there's something about the Maluti's that make it seem extra special. We even got a chance to play in the snow again! This time I learned my lesson, I wore gloves when handling the ice powder....but then it melted and my gloves got wet, so it didn't really work for me .

Going down Sani Pass is much more tricky than going up as you have gravity pulling you down the steep gradients. You have to be gentle on the brakes as not to over heat them and could cause you unnecessary problems. Luckily most modern vehicles like the ones we were driving with have down hill decent assist which helps keep the car at a steady pace without you having to apply brakes all the time. As we got closer to the east coast, the warmer weather was much welcomed as we peeled off the layers that kept us warm through the morning. Thinking back to what was suppose to be just a fun boys weekend, turned out to be something more, something that will live with me forever, some great memories were made and I hope many more to be made in the future.

Who has the power?

It's not often I sit down and write opinionated posts but after seeing things being said on Twitter over the past few months which made my brain quiver at some of the comments, I felt the need write this. Twitter is a great social platform for people to use but I feel some use it as an outlet to just to complain, sometimes I feel like I'm reading the comments section on the News24 website. Yes there is validation to some topics but people chose to ignore the logic behind certain things and just bitch and moan, mostly it is because many others are doing it, so they tend to think its "the cool thing to do". 

Whats got me all hot and bothered is the current Load Shedding taking place around the country but its not the actual power cuts that has me annoyed, it is the reaction from the public. If you guys didn't know, Eskom is having a MAJOR power crisis. The grid is taking massive strain and it hasn't been from now but for a good few years. They've managed the problem for a few years but with growing pressure on the grid and on going development they just cannot manage anymore and hence load shedding has been brought back into our lives. 

Now I'm not saying people don't have the right to complain, of course they do! They pay for the service so they should damn well expect it! The fickle nature of some tends to irritate me though, load shedding is announced and they're up in arms over it, swearing Eskom, swearing the government, swearing the coal for being wet, etc. Then AB deVilliers comes along, smashes a 100, Bafana win a game, Kim K releases a book of selfies and all is forgotten, then Eskom announce again that stage 1 load shedding is back, cue the outrage as if they never expected it in the first place. Lets understand one thing now, this problem is going to go on not for the next few months, nor the next few years but rather the next 5-10 years! So the milk has already been spilt, stop blody crying over it, there is no quick fix to it either, no matter how much money you throw at it, things take time to build and if you rush it, you're bound to fuck it up.

Many like to pin point and finger the current government for this but the reality is that the problem started a long time back, when the new government came into power, yes, sadly even our beloved Nelson Mandela has a blame in this whole matter, then minister of Minerals and Energy Penual Maduna would have been briefed on the countries energy situation which at the time was fine and had surplus but given that there was keen interest in the country from outside investment, it was always foreseen that South Africa would have an economic boom with the destruction of apartheid. We were a young country, rich in minerals and resources, ready to take on the world, and take on the world we did! Sadly not much attention was paid to our aging power grid, yes they were some new ventures taken such as the Lesotho Highlands project which produces a great deal of hydro power but there was nothing substantial to supply the country. At the same time, Eskom never performed maintenance on any of the running coal fired power stations. 

If one has a car, you have to send it for a service at regular intervals yes? Well same applies to power stations but hardly any was done. Like all mechanical things, they only span a certain number of years and with most of ours, we're pushing the limits, hence we're feeling the crunch now. Eskom detected this problem too late and hence began the rush to build 2 new coal fired power stations , namely Kusile and Medupi, let's not get into that mess. Why coal fire though? It's an old technology and there are cleaner methods to produce power now? Yes they embarked on greener ways to generate power such as the wind farms in the Western Cape and the Hydro schemes in Drakensberg and Ladysmith  but those aren't nearly adequate to supply the countries growing power needs and solar is juar far too expensive and not viable. 

Realistically the only answer to the problem now is nuclear, yes I know, "OOOO radiation, Chernobyl, mutants, toxic waste, blah blah." Do me a favour, before you complain, go do some fucking research, you have time to bitch and moan on twitter, open up Google and search nuclear energy. Not only is it the most efficient way of producing power but also the cleanest, the waste and deposits are minimal and its much safer than people make it out to be. The last disaster recorded from a nuclear reactor was Fukushima which in all honesty was due to unforeseen circumstances, it was something unpredictable but lessons were learnt in the process. If you need further proof that Nuclear is the answer, lets take a look at Europe, it's a nice place in which people like to frequent, lets take a look at a city, ah Paris, the city of love... did you know the primary source of electricity in Paris is from  nuclear power?

France's nuclear history dates back to the 1890's with Pierre and Marie Curie but the roll out on nuclear power came about in 1973 during the oil crisis when the "Messmer Plan" was unveiled. It started what has now become one of the biggest nuclear programs in Europe, so much so France produces excess power which they sell to "nuclear free countries" like Switzerland and Norway. There are lessons we can learn from France, set up these reactors distances from civilization, also added layers of protection to prevent another Fukushima from happening. So yes, like humans, nuclear power is evolving too. Also another interesting fact, did you know most war ships, aircraft carriers and submarines run on a nuclear reactor? They could sail the world non stop for 3 years without stopping! 

South Africa is no stranger to nuclear power either, the previous government are seen as the enemy because of apartheid but to see what they've achieved after being shunned by the world is sometimes jaw dropping. Pelindaba which is now closed was our main Nuclear Research Centre, they developed Atom bombs that made the mighty USA shit them self and saw them threaten the government with war if we didn't stop the program and tests off the coast of Namibia. They made strides into the technology and from that saw Koeberg being built and commissioned by 1984. It is till now the only functional nuclear power station on the African continent and still ranks as one of the safest ever built in the world, besides minor nuts and bolts that go into the reactor due to human negligence.

So we're no stranger to this sort of thing, but then came outrage over the alleged deal Zuma signed with Putin with regards to the construction of multiple nuclear plants in SA. Whats the issue? Have you people not heard of BRICS? Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, 5 of the worlds current fastest growing economies, yes South Africa is quite far behind the others but we're in there with the big dogs, we're all relatively young and we have the opportunity to share and help each other. South Africa has large quantities of uranium which is needed to power nuclear power stations, Russia has the experience in building them. A trade for their knowledge and our minerals seem fair but no, the self proclaimed justice league says otherwise but the same morons air their unsatisfaction when they don't have electricity to charge their phones or watch TV. 

It's quite ironic on the whole, they are against the solution but are angered by the situation. Like I said from the beginning, Load Shedding is hear to stay, I'm not saying everyday, every week and every year but for the next 5 - 10 years, just be prepared, even if Medupi and Kusile go live, the existing stations might have to be shutdown due to the lack of maintenance. Besides the fact that we recommissioned power stations that have been mothballed and are running over than their life expectancy, those even prove to be a hazard to the communities around them. So I appeal to everyone, yes its utter bullshit what we as a country are being put through but sadly it's one of those things, we're lucky we are informed of such things. Countries like India, Pakistan and other African countries have random unannounced power cuts for 6 hours or longer! We just have to somehow get through this, swearing, bitching, moaning won't help, it might help reduce stress levels but don't follow the herd and do it for the sake of doing it. Study your load shedding time tables, make sure you are prepared for them and find things to do during these times. Lets be civilised about the matter going forward okay?

A year that was...

Looking back at the year that was, 2013, it was pretty good which is why I suppose I can't understand why so many are wishing it away. Yes, for most of them it must have been a pretty horrible year especially if you're a Western Province supporter hence they're wanting to start off 2014 in a fresh mindset knowing that it is a brand new year. That's the thing though, its all in the mindset, at the end of the day it is you and how you react, how you control your mindset that can change the course of how things happen. Why does one have to wait for the turn of the year when you can do it now? Well, that's my two cents on the matter, I'm no motivational speaker neither do I want to be a preacher but that is how I see things from my perspective. 

For me the year kicked off to a tragic start, many heard about the sudden death of South African model Reeva Steenkamp. It made shock waves in the news and media all over the world but for me and many of her close friends it was for all the wrong reasons as the attention was only focused on the person who committed the crime and not on the beautiful soul that was Reeva. Not many know this but she inspired me to put more effort into this blog, she was just meant to be another model I featured on here but instead of just being that, she got me to take this blog more seriously as she corresponded via email, sharing ideas, suggestions and other things I can do to enhance viewer ship on here. So from the success I've had with this blog, I owe a lot of it to her. Thank you Reevs.

For my online presence, the years keep on getting better as I was fortunate enough to be invited to some amazing events. Definitely a highlight for me was the BMW Electro Mobility Summit where I was flown to George to partake in a days discussion with others in the industry on the future of the motor vehicle as well as see and drive future products from the BMW stable, this in turn gave birth to a new feature on the blog, the Bucket Seat which I must thank you guys out there for keeping the views coming is as its turning out to be one of the popular ones on here. We're looking at expanding the brands in the new year so keep a look out for them!

Other major events included Microsoft TechEd Africa 2013, going in as a novice and not knowing too much about system development, it was a tad bit intimidating but after spending a week learning and meeting people it was a real eye opener into the industry and to see what Microsoft has up its sleeves for the future makes me wanting to attend next years TechEd as well! Be sure to check out the other new segment that launched as a result of this, Bucket Tech, where we and with the help of some guest writers will be reviewing the latest gadgets that are on the market.

This year also saw me make my stage début as I was invited to be part of a bloggers panel at the first ever Durban Digital Day. The turnout was fantastic and my time on stage was nerve wrecking to say the least but again, very fortunate and privileged to be given the opportunity and to be recognised as one of the Durban based bloggers to be looked to.

Now I for one would tell you right away that I am not very active, sure I go to the gym 2 times a week, maybe 3 though  I'm a far stretch from being an athlete but when Mr Price Sport came knocking on my door asking me to participate in their inaugural Blog Olympics, I couldn't turn the offer down. Spending the day, hanging around with some of the best in the local online world was a blast and even though I was totally useless in most off the challenges which probably caused my team to come last, I never regret taking part.  

For me working with brands is important and as much as there is many to chose from, I can't work with them all, for one there is very little time to juggle my paying job with this part time hobby. Also I feel that I need to give whomever I work with the respect and time they deserve, hence I've been picky with ones I have chosen and more importantly I chose them because I genuinely like them and like working with them. One of the major ones being Tsogo Sun, despite them being one of the largest hotel groups in Southern Africa, their on line presence is second to none, with the team being on the ball to deal with PR matters. I have visited 5 of their establishments this year and I can honestly say that my experiences at all of them were brilliant. I look forward to keeping this partnership in the years ahead and also bring you reviews on the hotels I've stayed at.

Whats a year without parties? From the most recent @iLuvDBN launch party to seeing the number 1 DJ in the world, there's been tons of them but by far the most memorable one was the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in Cape Town which involved a pain staking but fun road trip with mates from Durban to Cape Town. It tested all of our patience but at the same time gave us time to bond.... well mostly annoy each other but it was an unforgettable trip and one for the record books.

As the year started off on a sad note, it also ended on a sad note with the passing of former President Nelson Mandela. Like I said in my post about him, we must learn from him and practice what he has taught us, be able to forgive and move on because most of the time it is you who has to be the bigger person and most importantly be thankful for everyday that you live and don't wish them away. It's been a great year for me despite the losses and obstacles but without them life would just be boring. Make the most of it and don't wait for tomorrow to make the change, do it now. 

Have a safe New Years Eve and hope 2014 brings everyone much joy and happiness. 

Thank you Tata

Its common courtesy to be thankful to those who help you and others whether they were asked to or not. Last night a nation, the world bid farewell to one of its greatest sons, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. He was born an ordinary human like you and me but he chose to devote his life to fight for freedom of the masses, he saw something that wasn't right and made a change to correct it. We can learn so much from the life he lived, from the smallest to the biggest, we are blessed to live in his era and to witness the change he brought to our beautiful country, it is because of him we are where we are today. It would be a great shame to his life if we as a nation do not live by his ideals and virtues, he gave us freedom and it is up to us to make the most of it.

“Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.- Nelson Mandela

Thank you Tata

#RIPMandela