For the last few years there have been rumours that, if one was born in South Africa, and now holds a different citizenship, one has to apply for a South African passport or they will be penalized financially, and possibly not let into the country. No one is sure how these rumours started, but it caused anxiety amongst South Africans holding passports from other countries. On every passport your country of birth is listed. I used my American passport to enter South Africa, and of course South Africa is listed as my place of birth.
I arrived in Cape Town and moved quickly through the line to the customs officer. She looked at my passport, asked how long I would be in South Africa and stamped my passport without comment or questions. In a few seconds I was back home and found my cousin waiting for me.
My last visit was in 2019, when I was in Namibia, and then flew to Johannesburg. Hard to fathom that 7 years have passed so swiftly, and with such very turbulent changes. Covid, returning to Israel, the ongoing war, world changes, - I feel like I have been shaken in a snow globe and that the flakes are still far from settling.
I loved being in the Cape - at once totally different and exactly the same. Wonderful weather - lovely hours spent in Kirstenbosch, Cape Point, eating delicious food, enjoying genuinely friendly service.
We joined friends on a 5 day tour to Namaqualand - a land ancient and awe inspiring, mythical and mystical. This land is deep in our DNA, and genetic codes. Africa is where we began, it is where I am rooted, its beat is always within me. I reconnected with places, with friends, with family and am eternally grateful for having this time, and that I was able to go.
Perhaps there will be an increase in the amount of settled snowflakes. ......
