Umuzi

Sihle Khumalo delighted his audience with his dry sense of humour at the launch of his second travelogue, Heart of Africa, at the Melrose Arch Exclusive Books last week. The event doubled as The Citizen newspaper’s first Citivibe book club do of the year, and CitiVibe editor Bruce Dennill was on hand to welcome guests and introduce the author.

Khumalo took centre stage as he quietly shared the joys of travelling in Africa – particularly in Uganda and Rwanda. Saying he grew up wanting to “have each leg in a different hemisphere”, he was thrilled to find an actual white line demarcating the equator in Uganda where he could do exactly that. Khumalo shared the story of trying to travel by ferry from Mpulungu in Zambia to Kigoma in Tanzania. The ferry’s day of departure kept changing, partly courtesy of it being unexpectedly hired by the UN to move refugees. First it was leaving on a Friday, maybe Saturday, and then Monday – possibly. Noting that the best way to travel in Africa is without planning or expectation, he laughingly told how he diligently went to the authorities to report that his visa would run out while he waited for the elusive ferry. The immigration officials were unruffled about it and told him to return to them once it had expired. Khumalo took it all in stride and all was resolved on the Monday. The ferry arrived on Tuesday.

Khumalo also related the dubious joys of accommodation in Africa – including a room with low walls allowing for some sharing of his neighbours’ more intimate moments. Also, a stay above a night club where Lucky Dube’s Remember Me was played again and again – welcome at first but perhaps a little too much at two in the morning.

One of the highlights of this trip around Central Africa was a night in a pub perched 30 metres above the river Nile with a thousand stars in the sky above him. He remembered thinking, “Wow! No amount of money can buy this!”. Another highlight was his third bungee jump in Jinja, Uganda (also above the Nile) with bare feet feeling “the breeze through my toes”.

One of the saddest moments of his trip was visiting the Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda. He realised that the Rwandan genocide could have been prevented and that the response could have been “far more swift”. However, he found the country itself beautiful and definitely recommends that other travellers put Rwanda on their itinerary. He said, “It truly is the land of a thousand hills”.

Guests were treated to a Q&A session: asking about his travel budget ($60 a day should do it); paying bribes in Africa (most of the time he didn’t have to pay officials); the idea of a “United States of Africa” (maybe in the long term but definitely not now); women in Africa (beautiful!); and whether he felt conspicuous while travelling (“No, after all I am a brother!”).

Saying his journey through the heart of Africa was not about getting to destinations but about exploring, he told how a security guard he met said that he was not in South Africa, that he was in the “real Africa” now.

Enthusiastic fans can probably look forward to a third book in Khumalo’s Africa series, as the author plans to travel to the continent’s northwest sometime in the near future – time, and his wife, permitting of course!

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• Heart of Africa by Sihle Khumalo
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  EAN: 9781415200810
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Umuzi and The Citizen’s Citivibe book club are pleased to invite you to the launch of Sihle Khumalo’s latest romp through our continent, Heart of Africa.

In Heart of Africa, the author who gave us Dark Continent my Black Arse once again travels into Africa by public transport, and this time to its continental core: the Great Lakes region. Ever the wandering stooge, he recounts with his signature wit and charm the sometimes impossible travails of getting from one point to another – even if the two are not remote from each other at all! A much matured storyteller emerges in these pages.

We hope to see you there!

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, 11 March 2010
• Time: 6:00 PM for 6:30 PM
• Venue: Exclusive Books, Melrose Arch, Shop No HL19
  Melrose Arch Piazza
  Melrose Arch Blvd
  Johannesburg | Map
• RSVP: melrosearch@exclusivebooks.co.za, 011 684 1260

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• Heart of Africa by Sihle Khumalo
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  EAN: 9781415200810
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The accidental tourist, Chris Harvie, has been at it again. The author of Do NOT Take this Road to El-Karama had the good fortune to attend a rather raucous wedding in a small Karoo town recently:

'Whoop!” exclaimed the umfundisi, beaming mischievously – glinting eyes and shining teeth in a glowing round face.

“Umtshato!” yelled the congregation, also beaming, in response. “Wedding!”

And this was not the first time. The good priest brought it on every time he thought he was losing his audience – which was quite often – and it was very effective.

• Read the complete article in the Sunday Times

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• Do NOT Take this Road to El-Karama by Chris Harvie
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  EAN: 9781415200643
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Intrepid traveler Sihle Khumalo has been all over Africa (you can read about his meanderings in Heart of Africa and Dark Continent My Black Arse) and can say with some confidence that he’s well-acquainted with the continent’s many different transport systems. Except, that is, for those of his native country – South Africa.

Always eager to experience things for himself Khumalo recently undertook a journey from Soweto to Sandton by way of Johannesburg’s newly-minted Bus Rapid Transit network, ReaVaya. How did BRT fare? Here’s Khumalo’s on his maiden journey:

Having travelled by public transport in more than 10 other African countries, it was only natural that I explore my own backyard using taxis and the newly launched Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) System – better known as ReaVaya. Amongst other things I wanted to see how our public transport system compares with the rest of Mama Africa.

My plan was pretty straightforward: take ReaVaya from Soweto to the centre of Johannesburg and then a taxi to Sandton. On a Friday afternoon, a day before my trip, I decided to walk from my office – which is in downtown Johannesburg – to buy myself a ReaVaya ticket.

In Gandhi Square, at the Metrobus ticket kiosk, I was told by a gum-chewing lady that she only sold tickets for Metrobus and not ReaVaya.

• Read the complete article at NewMobilityAgenda

Book details

• Heart of Africa by Sihle Khumalo
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  EAN: 9781415200810
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• Dark Continent My Black Arse by Sihle Khumalo
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  EAN: 9781415200360
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Image courtesy New Mobility Agenda

Umuzi congratulates renowned South African photographer David Goldblatt, who has received the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award, “a prize to stimulate a photographer’s creativity by offering the opportunity to carry out a project that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.”

Goldblatt was honoured for his latest project, “TJ”, as collected in a forthcoming book, TJ: The Various Names of Johannesburg. As with his earlier work, Some Afrikaners Revisited, which featured contributions from, among others, Antjie Krog, Goldblatt has again teamed up with a writer, in this case Ivan Vladislavic, whose new novel, Double Negative, forms part of the book.

More from Art South Africa:

David Goldblatt has been awarded the prestigious Henri Cartier-Bresson Award (2009), for his project “TJ”, . The award is intended for a photographer of exceptional ability who has an established career and has completed a significant body of work. This award will be followed by an exhibition of David Goldblatt’s essay of Johannesburg photographs at the Henri Cartier-Bresson in 2010.

Goldblatt has been photographing and documenting South African society for over 50 years. Born in Randfontein in 1930 to parents who came to South Africa to escape the persecution of Lithuanian Jews in 1890, he was simultaneously part of privileged white society and a victim of religious persecution and alienation. Motivated by his contradictory position in South African society, Goldblatt began photographing this society, and in 1963 decided to devote all of his time to photography.

• Read the complete article

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• David Goldblatt by David Goldblatt, Lesley Lawson
  EAN: 9780714840512
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• Some Afrikaners Revisited by David Goldblatt
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  EAN: 9781415200254
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• TJ: The Various Names of Johannesburg by David Goldblatt (incorporating Double Negative by Ivan Vladislavic)
  EAN: 9788869652189
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Over the weekend, Sunday Times columnist Fred Khumalo published a piece that compared his first visit to a Greek restaurant – which left him shaken, as plates flew all around – to journalist Narissa Subramoney’s haste to conclude that president Jacob Zuma had accidentally fallen at his recent wedding. Subramoney, it seems, doesn’t know her Zulu customs too well. Ask before you assume! is Khumalo’s lesson:

Back in the ’80s when darkies dining in white suburbia were still a rarity, one of the magazines I was freelancing for commissioned me to do a review of a Greek restaurant in Durban.

It will probably sound silly to the born-frees who don’t know what it was like then, but it took a lot of agonising on my part to agree to the assignment: I just couldn’t see myself dining at a restaurant owned and patronised by white people.

• Complete article in the Sunday Times

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• Touch My Blood by Fred Khumalo
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  EAN: 9781415200049
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When, as a teenager, Oscar Pistorius was caught sneaking into a girls’ school, his punishment was two months’ ballet classes with the very same girls – which must have been quite a challenge for the budding young athlete, bending into a plié on prosthetic legs!

He calls himself “other-abled” or “differently abled” rather than “disabled”, with good reason: Pistorius has single-handedly (or double-prosthetic-leggedly?) changed athletics, by challenging to compete in standard IAAF events, including the Olympics. It’s been a see-saw affair, with scientists lining up on both sides of the issue, some saying Pistorius gains no advantage from his famous “blades”, other saying his advantage must rule him out (in a very ironic twist) of non-disabled sports.

In this wide-ranging podcast interview with the BBC, Pistorius talks about all aspects of his life, including the latest opinions on his blades. Get to know this mature and personable young athlete:

• Click here to listen to the Oscar Pistorius podcast at the BBC (originally broadcast Mon 14 Dec)

Book details

• Blade Runner by Oscar Pistorius
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  EAN: 9780753519394
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• OSCAR: Die verhaal van Oscar Pistorius by Oscar Pistorius
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  EAN: 9781415200681
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You’re invited to a discussion with author Francis Wilson about his book Dinosaurs, Diamonds & Democracy: A Short Short History of South Africa at Mandela Rhodes Place this evening:

Event Details

• Date: Monday, 07 December 2009
• Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
• Venue: Mandela Rhodes Place, 23 Church Street
  Cape Town | Map
• More information: Phone The Book Lounge on 021 462 2425

Book Details

• Dinosaurs Diamonds and Democracy: A short-short history of South Africa by Francis Wilson
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  EAN: 9781415200865
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It took Afrikaans actress Antoinette Pienaar almost 40 years to find him, but when she finally did Oom Johannes Willemse started teaching her all about the healing herbs of the Karoo. Their story is encapsulated in Pienaar’s book, The Griqua’s Apprentice / Kruidjie roer my.

For more information on herbs and cures, don’t miss Pienaar’s herbal remedy website, Kruie Kraai Koning.

Deep in the heart of the Great Karoo of South Africa, at the foot of a mountain without an official name, a Griqua herbalist is teaching a white woman to heal people with herbs. Oom (uncle) Johannes Willemse, already in his nineties, was a little annoyed that it took well-known Afrikaans actress Antoinette Pienaar nearly 40 years to find him – he had been dreaming for decades that she would be the one to help him pass on his knowledge.

When she arrived at Theefontein, the sheep farm owned by her second cousin Jacques Pienaar, in 2001, Antoinette was severely weakened after contracting cerebral malaria in West Africa – but she decided to stay on at the farm to be healed by the Karoo and its herbs.

• Read the complete article

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• The Griqua’s Apprentice by Antoinette Pienaar
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  EAN: 9781415200735
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• Kruidjie roer my deur Antoinette Pienaar
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  EAN: 9781415200599
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Image courtesy Kruie Kraai Koning

No stranger to traveling or travel writing Chris Harvie, author of Do Not Take this Road to El-Karama recently undertook a journey to Sirheni camp in the Kruger National Park:

Not the stressed-out Venus, the wet bed or the 45°C heat could drown out our serenity. ‘Welcome to Sire-hee-nee Bashvelt Camp, Kroojah” squawked Australian Kelly from the Garmin as we entered the camp.

Fed up with the German bloke aggressively instructing us to stay on the route and tired of even the seductive French tones of Stéphanie, we had set the contraption to Australian English. You should hear Kelly trying to say Thohoyandou.

We’d run the gauntlet of Giyani’s cops and cows, both hazards lurking in the shade of occasional thorn-bushes and randomly rushing unexpectedly into the road. We’d negotiated potholes through lovely Venda villages and overtaken numerous Mozambican bakkies headed for the border at Pafuri, laden with plastic chairs and plywood cupboards.

• Read the complete article in the Sunday Times

Book details

• Do NOT Take this Road to El-Karama by Chris Harvie
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  EAN: 9781415200643
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