With my 40^th birthday rapidly approaching, I was conscious that – while I’m reasonably well-travelled – I’d never been to Africa, at all. I thought I’d best remedy that pronto and booked myself two epic trips to the continent for the same year. 

Unfortunately that year was 2020 and they both promptly got cancelled. But this week I finally made it! I’m writing this weeknote while watching the sun set over Kruger National Park and looking forward to hitting the safari trail early in the morning. 

So this is going to be a shortish weeknote but there are pics to make up for it (and many more over on my Insta).

Some things I did this week 

Wrapped up work in the first half of the week with a determination to actually take time off. 

• Preparing for our upcoming 300 Seconds session at Camp Digital, where I’m working with the organisers, Nexxer, to bring new voices and stories to the stage 
• Helping a client plan for their next phase of intranet work 
• Getting into the thorny detail of information architecture on another 

Then I jumped on a plane and went full-on with my holiday. A walking tour of Johannesburg, followed by a day learning about the apartheid era at Constitution Hill, the Apartheid Museum, and Soweto. 

It was emotionally hard going. Growing up in the 1980s anti-apartheid campaigns were talked about pretty frequently by the adults in my life. My nan told me about Steve Biko; my grandad sported Free Nelson Mandela badges; we were taught Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika as a protest song in the school choir. The kind of thing that’s probably familiar to anyone who attended a London primary school around that time.  

The injustice was one of the big themes that informed my emerging political consciousness, I guess. But I had no idea of the grim detail of systematic disenfranchisement, dehumanisation and sheer cruelty involved. Nor the extent to which it continues to ripple through later generations in the form of economic inequality. I cried a few times during the day, especially when it related to any of the late 80s/early 90s events that I remember watching on the news at the time. 

All that said, this trip has been a reminder that while every country is shaped by its past, it lives in the present. And present-day Johannesburg is far more fun than its reputation suggests and the South African bush is one of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever seen. I’ll be back. 

What I’m reading 

I like to know a bit about countries I visit, especially when its somewhere I know little about, as it gives me context on the places I pass through and stories I hear from tour guides. So I’m getting stuck in to A Short History of South Africa by Gail Nattrass.  

Connections 

Caught up with my good friend Lindiwe Mazibuko for dinners and long, long chats about life and politics. Mostly politics. But the personal is political and all that.

Coverage 

The weekly round-up from PR Academy had some nice things to say about my Comms Rebel chat with Advita Patel. 

The hotel review no one asked for 

A triple hotel week. The first – Voco Johannesburg – was close to perfect: 

• Full sized glasses for water 
• Plentiful bedside power provision 
• Hangers! Lots of them! 
• An excellent hairdryer, clothes steamer and loads of nice little touches like a make-up-removing flannel in the bathroom. It’s so refreshing to see things like this, where a hotel recognises that women travel too and offers the little things that make life just that bit easier.