Spend a day in South Africa and chances are you will come across Biltong in some shape or form. Any shop that sells food is likely to have some biltong, be it chopped, in sticks, in a big hunk or its poorer cousin droewors (dry sausage). Many haute-cuisine South African restaurants try to incorporate it into their tourist freindly menus.
Biltong (from Dutch Rump-Strip) is made from strips of meat. Generally beef is used, but also kudu, ostrich, springbok and just about anything with a heartbeat. Fish Biltong is known as Bokkoms. The meat is dried with rock salt, coriander seeds and vinegar, but as with any traditional delicacy there are many variations.
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SA Loguers Ben and Trekker - respectively, an American in SA, and a South African in the US - are kicking the English language around.
A South African walks into a bar…
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SA Loguers Ben and Trekker - respectively, an American in SA, and a South African in the US - are kicking the English language around.
Keeping with the theme of seasonal wardrobes, summer’s arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere and my friends and I are planning a trip to the coast. This, of course, requires an update of my beach wear.
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Costume or Swimsuit?
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Deaths from ritual circumcision in the Eastern Cape have been in the news recently. Township blogger Nozuko P gives an overview of the practice.
Boys’ Initiation - a Xhosa Tradition
The reason I’m writing about this is because everybody is reading about Xhosa initiations which go wrong. In the month of June, that is what’s in the news. In my culture, June is the begining of the year - not January like in Christianity. That’s why most people who follow Xhosa culture don’t celebrate the 1st of January as the begining of the year - for us it starts in June with the full moon.
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SA Loguers Ben and Trekker - respectively, an American in SA, and a South African in the US - are kicking the English language around.
Well Ben I wonder if this word has gotten you in as much trouble in South Africa as it has me here in the US. I once had half a math lecture turn round to stare when I asked my friend the perfectly normal question, “Can I borrow your rubber?”
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SA Loguers Ben and Trekker - respectively, an American in SA, and a South African in the US - are kicking the English language around.
“Go ahead, just put your bike in my boot”
“I’ll pop the bonnet and we can check the engine”
“He just cut us off! Blow your hooter at that guy!”
Now to those unfamiliar with South African lingo the above sentences might seem a bit impossible - and the last one downright raunchy…
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The Western Cape’s little slice of France, Franschhoek, is celebrating Bastille Day all weekend - why not join in the joie?
“Franschhoek”, in Afrikaans, literally means “French corner” - it’s the valley where, in the late-17th century, a wave of Huguenots eventually settled, fleeing Catholic persecution in their native France. Today, the Franschhoek Valley is one of South Africa’s top wine-producing areas, and its village is chock-full of food-and-drink delights, as well as pretty little places to stay.
Franschhoek Bastille Day Events
The Franschhoek tourism authority has several weekend packages to put its French flair in easy reach: click over …
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SA Loguers Ben and Trekker - respectively, an American in SA, and a South African in the US - are kicking the English language around.
It’s winter in South Africa, brrr, what to wear? Not a sweater, certainly - unless you’re a masochistic type who gets a thrill from denying your body the chance to benefit from its own heat.
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Sweater or T-shirt?
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According to a news report on national broadcaster SAfm yesterday, eight young men in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province have died from botched circumcisions in the past two weeks.
The winter month of June represents a kind of “circumcision season” among the Xhosa, who predominate in the Eastern Cape, and who use circumcision to mark a teenage boy’s journey into manhood. The most famous Xhosa circumcisee, of course, is Nelson Mandela (see his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, chapter four).
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As a city, Cape Town’s known for its “Big Six” attractions - meet them all through SA Logue’s Cape Town Big Six tag!
Robben Island
There’s no doubting Robben Island’s significance in South Africa’s history: it has been visited and populated - mostly by prisoners and society’s outcasts - since the late 15th century, when the great Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias first rounded the cape. Of course, it is most famous today as the former residence of Nelson Mandela, who spent the majority of his 27-year prison sentence in the island’s maximum security prison.
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Prison Bars
“Robben” means “seal” in Dutch; the island once was home to a thriving seal colony. Today, it hosts upwards of 45,000 African (Jackass) Penguins, several herds of buck, and the families of those who run the Robben Island Museum, which, in my book, provides one of the top experiences a visitor can have in Cape Town.
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