DJ Trava

Posts Tagged ‘South Africa’

One of the best neighborhoods in the city of Cape Town, to get a feel for the culture and the history of South Africa is the small neighborhood of Bo-Kaap.  The best way to really experience this area, is to stay for a bit of time, not just simply drive through.  The character of the area is vibrant and the people are genuine and hospitable.  Car hire in South Africa is available from center of the city, and from it is not much of a journey to Bo-Kaap.

During the weekends there are many sporting games, as rugby is popular and widely played.  In the many community halls local musicians perform on the weekends, as well as inviting anyone in who wishes to listen, to their rehearsals throughout the rest of the week.  The group, Cape Minstrels are also well known and gather quite a crowd.  And if you feel like a cooking class, many people open their homes to tourists for instruction on the preparation of the traditional cuisine of South Africa.

There is no town center where you can find out information for your first visit.  It is usually advised by many who have traveled to the neighborhood, to hire a local to take you through the area.  In this way you can be certain that you will not be missing any of the treasures such as the different religious ceremonies and festivals, best place to find the great restaurants, the architecture and the art markets.

The neighborhood is located on the side of Signal Hill, the streets are incredibly steep and lined with houses painted in the traditional bright colors.  It is as colorful as the hillside town of Positano, Italy is pristine.  Many of the residents are Islamic, and the mosques dot the hillsides and the cobblestone streets.  This is a small neighborhood but is a mix of the new world and the old world making this one of the most interesting neighborhoods in South Africa.

I’ve been researching the healing qualities of South Africa’s indigenous plants. Many cosmetic companies have already been using the South African indigenous plants for decades. But, my interest is for my own curiosity and practice. As I live in comfort in one of the luxury hotels South Africa has to offer, I also, go out into the hot and humid nature reserves to do on-site research. I’ve been studying the healing properties of plants all my life. My mother was a healer in her community and I would go with her on her nature walks where she would actually talk to the plants, and ask them for permission to use their roots or leaves or stems. As a child, I never understood this part of her practice, but now that I’m an adult and am a doctor of natural medicines, I can appreciate just how much she respected all life, all lifeforms.

I’m more interested in skin care and skin repair. I’d like to create a product that will actually restore damaged skin tissue. Either from damage from the sun to damage from a fire or chemical burn. I’m looking for a plant my mother used on burn patience, she’d apply a balm from a particular plants root and then put the plants leaves on top of the balm. The village where she worked had no medical doctors. So, she was kept very busy, but I remember when she’d apply the balm, the burn patients pain would subside and the healing began right away. Through my studies, I’ve found that the balm helped protect the skin from any more water loss and also acted as a pain reliever. Plus, just being around my mother was a peaceful, calming experience, that any person coming with in her aura was put at ease. My mother told me, that healing can only begin when the patient is at easy with the world.

South Africa, I hope, will always keep it’s knowledge of healing plants alive by, as it’s starting to do, maintaining and protecting it’s abundance of natural remedies found in nature.