The streets are alive with the sound of generators

We have been in South Africa for 3 days but have suffered load-shedding 4 times already. South Africa is suffering load-shedding because it cannot generate enough electricity, so suburbs have power cut off for two hour blocks. The first night we were here the power went of for 2 hours from 6pm to 8pm, but we were zoned out from jet-lag so it didn’t matter.

Friday night getting ready to cook dinner, and bang the power goes off for another two hours. Then Saturday morning we get up early because we are collecting our 4WD, we leave the apartment at 8am and bang the power is off again. On the way north we stop at a supermarket to get more supplies, but we knew driving through town that the power was off, as the traffic lights were all out. The supermarket has a huge generator screaming outside, and inside is half -dark with only some of the lights operating.  This is South Africa 2015, but they are building new power stations and it will all be fixed – in 2020!

UPDATE: As I wrote this post I wondered why someone was running a generator in a powered Caravan Park, until I realised – off course the power is off- and we are load-shedding again!

 

Camped at the Vanrhynsdorp caravan park.
Camped at the Vanrhynsdorp caravan park.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *