Swaziland, Dubai and Home

4 – 6 May

I left Swaziland on Saturday and landed in Johannesburg where David Derr, a friend from church, picked me up and took me to the Apartheid Museum. The museum chronicles the history of European settlers in South Africa, the socioeconomic factors leading to Apartheid (segregation), the Apartheid system, the struggle against the end of Apartheid as well as post-Apartheid South Africa.

A moving experience to view all of that in the span of a few hours. Unfortunately the Truth and Reconciliation Commission exhibit was closed. The TRC was one of the means by which South Africa avoided a blood bath following the dismantling of the Apartheid system.

After the museum David took me on a brief tour of the adjacent Soweto Township that those over 50 likely remember as a hotbed of anti-Apartheid protests in the 1970s. I had a pleasant visit with the Derr family prior to my return to the airport and my overnight flight to Dubai.
[Mandela’s house in Soweto prior to his imprisonment in the early 1960s.]

I arrived in Dubai Sunday morning and spent the day visiting the old Souks (markets) and going on a desert safari. I finally rode a camel.

View of Downtown Dubai from my hotel room. Yes, a haze blankets the city.

The Old Souks

Our desert safari driver, Seeth

Clearly I enjoyed this more than the camels

Today Monday was a quiet day of reading by the poolside. Tonight is my final night abroad. I look forward to my return to the US tomorrow. Tonight I watched the replay from yesterday of Manchester United losing to Chelsea, 1- nil. An international version of Monday Night Football.

Thanks for following my adventures these past 3 weeks via email. After many lectures, visits with friends and new acquaintances, and traveling through 4 countries, I gladly return home tomorrow.

Peace, Bob