Holiday shelfies - a range of books by African writers adds to a holiday on the continent, says Ilona Hanne. Photo / Ilona Hanne
Anything to declare?
Over the years, returning to Aotearoa New Zealand from an overseas holiday has led to many an hour lining up in the ‘something to declare’ line at Auckland airport. Jet-lagged, tanned and tired, we unpack bags and subject a range of travel souvenirs to the critical eyes of the frontline MPI biosecurity team.
Last week’s return from southern Africa was no different. Thanks to an animal-loving 11-year-old, our list of items to declare included an ostrich egg, a couple of porcupine quills and various bird feathers, as well as the more common wooden carvings and processed food items (if you haven’t tried the salad and fries sauce from South African restaurant chain Spurs, you are missing out, trust me).
To the 11-year-old’s delight, his egg, quills and feather collection (guinea fowl and hadeda ibis, for the record) all passed muster and are now proudly on display in his room. While my choice of travel souvenirs didn’t get a critical look from the biosecurity team, they got a very critical look, and a loud complaint, from my husband about the extra weight they added to our suitcase.
Other than a wooden hippo or a random sauce, my favourite holiday souvenir from anywhere in the world can be found in high streets and villages all over. Forget tribal masks, animal and food products, or even postcards - when it comes to souvenirs, I prefer books. Specifically, books written by authors native to the city, country or continent I happen to be visiting.
Looking out of the car window as we drive through Johannesburg is interesting, but it is made far more interesting if you have read Trevor Noah’s autobiographical book Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. Then, as you drive past numerous houses, cramped together in the vastness that is Soweto, you notice the driveways, and you remember Trevor’s words: “There was maybe one car for every thousand people, yet almost everyone had a driveway. The story of Soweto is the story of the driveways. It’s a hopeful place.”
Trevor might be reflecting on the Soweto of his childhood, but Niq Mhlongo’s short story collection Soweto under the Apricot Tree brings the Soweto of today to life, capturing the vibrancy of the place in a way no walking tour or guidebook can do.
As our holiday took us to Durban, the city with the highest concentration of Indians outside of India, Quraisha Dawood’s novel Stirring the Pot gave a voice to some of the descendants of indentured workers brought to Natal from India between 1860 and 1911 to develop the sugar industry in the area. While this book focused on the life of South African Indians today, Shevlyn Mottai’s book Across the Kala Pani looked back to those who came before them, with a fictional story about four women who leave Madras for the sugar plantations of Natal.
While she now lives and works in the UK, Shevlyn Mottai was born in Pietermaritzburg, another town we visited during our South African holiday. A second-hand bookshop there was the perfect place to pick up a copy of Zulu novelist Sibusiso Nyembezi’s The Rich Man of Pietermaritzburg, translated into English by Sandilie Ngidi nearly 50 years after it was first published in Zulu. It might be decades old, but this comic novel perfectly captures rural South African village life, as the tale unfolds of a pompous stranger trying to con his way into instant riches at the cost of the villagers. Written and set in the apartheid era, the book doesn’t just capture an era now thankfully past, but it also captures the uniqueness of the language it was originally written in. Ngidi’s careful translation means the specific style of speech gives the reader the opportunity to hear the tale as it was meant to be heard, in the words and dialogue of those who live there.
At the risk of my husband banning me from ever visiting another overseas bookshop, my list of souvenir books continues, with Kobie Kruger’s Mahlangeni - Stories of a Game Ranger’s Family also travelling home with us. Kobie’s account of living on one of the most remote ranger stations in Kruger National Park makes for a thrilling read at any time, but when read on your Airbnb veranda just metres away from the start of Kruger itself, with zebra and mongooses both in your line of sight, it really does become more than just words on a page.
Then there’s Sue Nyathi’s A Family Affair, featuring a traditonal family living in Bulawayo, Shaida Kazie Ali’s Not a Fairy Tale, featuring a Cape Town-based Muslim family, and Fred Khumalo’s Talk of the Town, a collection of short stories featuring a wide range of South African characters and places. Not only did these books bring a fresh perspective on our travels, but as they now take their place on our bookshelves at home, they will continue to serve as a colourful, literary doorway back to Africa whenever I need an escape from a cold and wet Stratford day.
The ostrich egg might be lighter, and the wooden hippos take up less shelf space, but I am sure MPI would agree with me - when it comes to souvenirs, books beat animal and plant products every time.