Notes from the field - Johannesburg and East Mpumalanga, South Africa

Guest post from Manon Jacquin who assisted me at the start of a new project in South Africa.

A glimpse into the first few days of a two months trip in South Africa for Anton's photography project.

We landed to Johannesburg late that evening.

The day before we were in Italy, leaving our apartment where we had spent the last two years. A crew spent the whole day moving boxes and furnitures in a container that would stay in Genoa, Italy, for the next four months, before heading to our next destination: British Columbia, Canada.

I slept the entire flight. 12 hours total. Exhaustion and emotional release from the past two weeks helped.

At landing, we had to drive a 20 minutes ride to our airbnb. Sounds easy, I know. It turned out to be a rather stressful ride. Johannesburg is sketchy, you never know whether you are safe or not. Streets where empty. Pitch dark. At some point we drove through a “town ship“ - the equivalent of favelas in Brazil. It lasted only 5 minutes, but the tension was real. Dodgy people on the left, we listened to security recommendations: don’t stop at stop signs, drive through, even if the light is red. This is to avoid car jacking. Last but not least, South Africa is home to left side driving. How fun when there is no traffic so no one to follow! I was lost. Eventually we arrived at Palmrose avenue, the safest area of Johannesburg. A gated neighbourhood with security guards. We kept comparing to Brazil where we used to live six years ago.

Johannesburg, Gauteng Province

We stayed for three days in Johannesburg. We mostly recharged. Ate incredible food, slept early, worked out a bit, and had an incredible evening where we ended up having a bottle each of delicious red wine. This never happens to us, but that night, the atmosphere was too good!! Being out of Italy was so energising. We realised how much diversity - in food, people, cities - innovation and mixed culture are so important for us. It’s been a while since we had such a change in scenery. It broadened our perspectives already.

One morning, we found ourselves at Uncle Merv’s coffee, in Maboneng. Maboneng used to be a hype area in Jo’burg, where artists, shops, bookstore and galleries thrived. At least, this was the case in 2018. Not anymore. The taxi dropped us off on Kruger and Fox streets, in the heart of Maboneng. We were the only whites. We clearly were uncomfortable. And for good reasons: people were staring at us, wondering what on earth were we doing here. It was only 10 am in the morning, perhaps too early for tourists? Nevertheless, we headed to the coffee place. It was open, but not one in there. When I say coffee place, please don’t expect a Starbuck type of thing. Obviously. Rather, think small open wooden bar with two high wooden chairs. Lots of plants, nice vibe overall.

Someone came to us, saying the owner left to grab something, he’ll be back shortly. We had a look around, an art gallery was right next to it. Eventually we walked a bit further down the street, to explore and witness what changed since 2018. We recognised a small gallery where used to be a bookstore. I remember buying a book on South Africa’s resilience and peace building. That bookstore is none existent anymore.

When heading out, we heard someone calling us. Uncle Merv’s coffee owner! At first we were a bit mistrustful. Turned out we exchanged our whatsapp number and had the most elevating conversation we didn’t have for a while with him. For close to one hour, we discussed photography (he was perhaps as geeky as Anton about cameras, oh boy!), the importance of being in the moment, how covid negatively impacted Maboneng, looting in Jo’burg, the Mpumalanga province, and African art collections.

We hugged and said goodbye, until next time, perhaps in September when we come back.

eManzana, East Mpumalanga Province

Our next stop was the Paradise Resort, eManzana. The contrast between the name and the place was rather astounding. More on that later.

eManzana is a small town three hours east of Johannesburg. Driving through towns like Bethal, Hendrina, and Carolina, always reminding us of the Dutch and English colonial past. Driving through Carolina was unsettling. All eyes on us, we didn’t see a single white. It’s always a challenge to know when we are safe or not. We rather assume we are not the most welcomed.

Arriving at the Paradise Resort was such a relief. Gugu (pronounced “Kuku“) welcomed us so warmly, along with her dog Flesh. Oh boy. It was love at first sight with that one!! He spent the whole week with us. The Paradise Resort has about ten little self catering houses, a swimming pool (empty when we arrived, it’s winter here), at the foot of the Prayer Mountain. The sunset that evening was incredible, and when Gugu said we were more than safe here and that we could go for walks around the house, I felt so good.

There was always an issue at our house. First, no shower. Then, we were locked inside, impossible to open the door. Then, brown water when taking baths. Oh, and there was no electricity in the bathroom. And of course, spiders and lezard were very common to encounter in the house. I know this may sound like a bad experience to have? It was nothing but. We didn’t sleep that well in a while, woke up between 4:30 and 5:30 am in the morning to go shoot photos and explore the surroundings, and met incredible people. After all, this house felt more as an upgrade compared to the two months trip living in a van in the cold and humid Netherlands last November!

How on earth did we find ourselves at the Paradise Resort, by the way?

While still in Italy, Anton contacted a Rock Art specialist after reading his PHD thesis, asking if we could meet because we were interested to better understand South African First Nations cultures and traditions. To Anton’s both surprise and joy, Mduduzi replied, and suggested we meet at the Paradise Resort since he would be there with five students to make research at a rock art site nearby. Oh my god! A dream of mine coming true!! To follow experts on the field and learn more about first nations!

That site was specifically known for rock art made by the San People, depicting animals, people and dance scenes. I learned we all have at least 1% DNA coming from the San People. They are the origin of humanity. We were at one of the first site on earth where human descendants drew their first paintings. It was unbelievable and felt very special, as you can imagine.

These paintings are believed to be the results of healers trance dances. The paintings were the results of visions, things they saw in the spirit world. Mduduzi is conducting research there because it is still not possible to date the paintings. To do so, he came with students in archeology to do excavations around the sites. There were four sites, La Rochelle one, two, three and four.

The site was stunning. A 45 minute drive from the Paradise, half of it being on a dirt road. Somehow I love driving off roads. The call of the wild, I suppose! The first morning was cold. And we had proper down jackets. The students only had a thin cotton jacket. I felt for them!

The rest of the week turned out to be so rich in connection, discoveries, and photography. Being disconnected from the external world (no internet, hence no social media, no supermarket, no drinking water) unsurprisingly reconnected us to our own nature, to Nature, and Humanity as a whole.