It Hardly Ever Snows In Africa

Africa is known for many things, its beauty, which are its wildlife, which include all the animals and plants as well as the coastline and the marine species found all around African ocean area. Its the culture, which is still alive and well because Africa is not as developed as the western world, we have so many different tribes even within my own country, and each have their own customs. We have many languages just like any place with a lot of colourful clans desperate to keep their own culture and language in a modernising world.

Pictures of winter

The thing about Africa well most of it anyways is that it is always hot, its hot all year round in most places, or it does not get as cold as other continents. There are few places in Africa that actually snow, so most African people do not know what it actually means to feel cold or have a white Christmas. I have only seen snow once in my life and where I live it may snow again after 20 years maybe because of some unusually cold weather. The only places that really always experience snow and where people get to Ski in the winters are areas that are mountainous such as the Drakensberg  Mountains here in SA and other mountainous areas in Lesotho, the other place I know in Africa that people can go for a Skiing vacation here in Africa is in Morocco.

As I was saying we really do not have white Christmases and I do not get why people still advertise Santa Claus in his made for winter costume when Christmas is always in the middle of summer here. We have a tradition of having a braai here in SA unlike the indoors stuff done in cold countries or should I say since we can’t have snow man we have BBQ’s (braai’s), we are a meat loving nation, you can tell by working around the street by the amount of out of shape people.

More traditional people slaughter cows, goats or sheep during festivals including Christmas where friends and family or even the community come to feast and enjoy the day together.  Watching movies made overseas which is what everyone does since not many movies are made here, I am sure lots of people want to know what it’s like to ski, to take part in winter sports, but I’m pretty sure some are happy with the warm climate and would not be able deal with snow storms where there is so much snow that you are trapped under piles of snow and cars can’t start and roads are not even visible so people are stuck in their houses.

I hope to visit some place where it snows some day, and be able to do some skiing and make a snowman and throw snow balls but I feel it’s better that we do not have such cold weather, there are too many poor people whom I feel would be ill-equipped for extremely cold weather.

Till it snows here or global warming does some crazy shit we shall continue to enjoy this warm climate, and mildly cold winter temperatures.

UPDATE 2012/09/08

Towards the end of winter its was snowing in places all around South Africa (places in KZN, Gauteng and the Freestate and other provinces that I cannot recall), some people for the first time got a chance to make snowman, family's were stopping on freeways where it was possible to do so just to take pics in the snow. Winter is over now here in the southern hemisphere, we have now experienced some rain to welcome the spring (3 days in a row without stopping, glad it was gentle rain though or else there would have been floods). 

Posted in: life