During my recent whirlwind visit to South Africa, the excitement in anticipation of the Soccer (Football) World Cup was tangible - especially in the city of Johannesburg where almost all the shops, streets, houses and businesses are decorated aswell as vehicles - private cars, taxi's, mini busses, motorbikes and even kid's bicycles ! Everyone - no matter what their race, age, gender, background or beliefs have joined together as one in anticipation of this exciting event, and the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg was full of happy, smiling faces welcoming foreign visitors to our shores.The very first photo - above - shows that even the most humble abode's are sporting the South African flag in support of the Bafana Bafana team (who drew 1 - 1 in the opening match yesterday against Mexico. Did you watch it ?!)
The photo below shows that the football spirit has even carried through to the younger members of the country !
Clubs, bars and restaurants screening the games live are all flying the flag high - as you can see in the photo below ....
The official World Cup mascot below, is called 'Zakumi' which is taken from 'Za' (abbreviation for 'South Africa/Zuid Afrika') and 'Kumi' which means 'ten' (for 2010) in several African languages ... including the Tanzanian language of Kiswahili !This photo below was taken in the foyer of the hotel we stayed at in Johannesburg earlier this week - it was a larger than life stuffed 'Zakumi' character. Zakumi is apparently a leopard (but I think looks more like a cheetah ?) - am I the only one who think's his/her face is not very welcoming/friendly ? (Why not a huge, happy African smile, Zakumi ?!)
The hotel we stayed at also had a huge black and white football themed archway made completely of balloons in the entrance hall, as seen below .....
My next post will be all about the 'fever' at the Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport, along with photo's taken there earlier this week. Until then, happy World Cup watching ;)
GO BAFANA BAFANA !
