Of blackberries and baboons

African tales float through space and time with much vigor. I recall my first experience traveling abroad where when asked where I was from and even though “Cape Town, South Africa” was the answer, it mostly yielded the same response “ah, Africa, do lions roam freely where you live .. ?”

Sigh. Not always :).

My response typically followed with an “even though my business is running a software development company (at the time) and I met you via the internet, through all this my pet lion was standing right beside me.”

I have to laugh.

Because as absurd as this may seem, every now and again, I do see horses roaming about the freeway or cows crossing the road. Traveling slightly out of town, one has to be careful of the baboons crossing the freeway or donkeys watching traffic go by.

Only in Africa.

This is true, but there is a catch. We have the best of both worlds. We can be hustling and bustling away in the city centers, lunching at the Waterfront or having cocktails at the One and Only or we can travel for 30-60 minutes and have a taste of the open road and country life. Only 30 minutes from the airport, we can pop in for a swim in Gordons Bay or travel a bit further and head for Goudini Spa. Do we want some adventure, lets go abseiling off the Knysna Heads or Bungee off the Gouritz river.

We have it all.

My point? The rest of the world may (or not) think that we are nothing but a third world country straddling along to make ends meet, when really they are starting to realize that we have the skill, technology and resources available to make things happen (evident in the 2010 World Cup being hosted here).

At the end of the day, I am a South African and I may have a baboon (literally) as my neighbor, but at least I can still get the best coffee in town, surf the web via wireless internet access and stare at the most magnificent view (ocean and/or mountain) one has ever seen. Bliss.

Technology rocks, but South Africa rocks more!