South Africa – Nov / Dec 2022 – “Harties” (Pretoria Area)

It has been a busy time with travel nursing, and we needed a break. So, we departed for a 47-day visit to South Africa. It has been five years since our last visit and for the first time we had not limitations on the duration of a vacation. The visit coincided with two events: Dental surgery and recovery for Elsa during November and a family wedding on her side of the family in December. In between, we were looking forward to discovering new places or rekindle vague memories. Visiting with some old friends and hang with some family members were also on the agenda. Sadly, we could not see or visit everyone as Elsa’s dental procedures took longer and was more intense than anticipated.

Delta Airlines and the Sky Lounge lived up to their reputations. It is a long flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg: 16 hours give or take the winds. That is after connecting to Atlanta from Melbourne. The return trip was even worse with a connecting flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg; Johannesburg to Atlanta; and Atlanta to Melbourne. It did not help that most of the USA was snowed under on the day of our return😊

After arriving in Johannesburg (Oliver Tambo Int’l Airport), it was a quick overnight in a suburb of Pretoria called Centurion. There we collected my nephew Jeane’s car, who graciously insisted we overnighted at his place and use his car for the month of November. We made our home on the shore of ‘Hartebeespoort Dam’ at the home of Dailena (Dienie), Elsa’s best friend from high school! Known as the town of ‘Harties’, the lake is surround by numerous villages and we lived in one called ‘Ifafi’. The location was ideally suited about 13 miles from Pretoria (capital of SA) and 22 miles from Johannesburg. We did four trips to the dentist and specialist over a two-week period in Pretoria.

Dienie has a beautiful home overlooking the lake and her incredible hospitality insured a speedy and successful recovery for Elsa. The area lent itself to some interesting exploration… We hope to provide a snapshot of South Africa to our American friends in the next few postings – the cultural diversity, financial disparity and beauty of the country.