Lesedi Cultural Villiage

If you visit South Africa, make sure you check out Lesedi Cultural Village. When we arrived at this location we were greeted with a warm welcome that included song and dance. The overall event started within the hour of arrival. This village shares knowledge of various tribes of South Africa, their customs, traditions, dances, dwellings, and more.

While waiting for the village tour to begin, we were able to check out their souvenir shops and get some tribal tattoos. It was about $5 USD to get a temporary tattoo on your hand or face. Each tattoo depicts a story. 

Music and dance are important aspects within the tribes. We participated in the music by playing alongside the tribal members with our own set of bongos.

We learned about the dwellings, greeting customs, and tribal wear from our tour guide. The dwellings are a representation of how everything was built in the past.

The doors are so low that if the enemy wanted to attack, they would have to bend down to enter. Imagine what would greet you when you came through the door with your head looking down!

This red hat that a married woman would wear for this tribe is like a wedding ring. They are not allowed to take it off during the day or during the night.  A long time ago, they would embed the hat into your head. If you take it off it is like a divorce. Can you imagine?!! And if you needed to take it off to wash your hair you needed to get permission from the elders. 

Have you ever heard of Chaka Zulu? I did but I never really grasped who he was and how much of a warrior he was and even that the Zulu tribe was named after him. Yes, I was a little slow on that one.

One story we learned was that Chaka realized that the spears his father was using were too long, so the warriors would throw them at the enemy and then run. In turn, the enemy would pick up those spears and retaliate back. Chaka decided they needed smaller spears, like daggers in order to attack the empty up close and not miss the target. 

Ever heard a Zulu tribe member speak in their own language? It’s amazing to hear and it’s not just words but a specific sound that is not easy to replicate.

As our tour was coming to a close, the “finale” was all the members coming together for about a 30-minute show. The flexibility is uncanny. I saw them kick their legs up to their heads, and do jumps, and splits all to the sounds of the beat and their voices. But as fate would have it, the lights went out for about 3 minutes but then returned. The tribal members still continued on with their dance without “missing a beat”. This was a true cultural experience.

Mall of Africa

As someone who has spent the last 3-5 years doing mainly online shopping, I was not super excited to go to yet another mall. However, my experience was better than I expected. This mall is the largest mall in Africa. 

In typical mall fashion, it has everything you need from restaurants, shops, banks, and more. Even though it is the largest mall in Africa, I didn’t feel cramped with the number of people that can come through there.  I also noticed the prices were less expensive than the mall that was connected to the Davinci (where we stayed). 

The outdoor area was probably my favorite because you had the opportunity to dine outside but also people watch and soak in that South African sun. From here you can see various other corporations. Imagine having an office view from one of those buildings during the work week. 

The restaurants in this mall are top-tier.  We ended up meeting our friends at Kreme on one of the last days. The food and atmosphere were amazing and during that night, live music was playing downstairs. 

This mall had a great location for drop-off and pick-ups for Ubers and Taxi’s. That made it very convenient to meet your driver once you were done with your shopping. We just told him the time and he came back to meet us at that same location. There are several entrances into the mall, so make a note of that entrance number if you ever visit the Mall of Africa.

Spa day

What better way to wind down a 10-day trip to South Africa, than with a couple’s spa day? I can probably account for maybe five or fewer times that I’ve actually been to a spa. Most of those were probably outside of the United States. I am working on self-care, which is why I didn’t decline this as part of our travel package.

The staff at Spas of Distinction Fourways were amazing, as I expected them to be. We were greeted with champagne while we waited for the steam and sauna room. After that, we had an hour full body massage and concluded with a bubble bath. During that time we enjoyed additional snacks and beverages before going up to the sunroom and relaxing outside. 

One thing I regretted was keeping my cell phone in the locker room. I didn’t realize you could bring it with you through the various rooms. I thought it would get wet or damaged by water or humidity. 

In the sauna room, there was an area right outside reserved for us where we could place our robes. It was a little uncomfortable not knowing what time it was and when our ride was supposed to come for us. But that was the only reason I needed my phone during that period of relaxation.

The whole experience was around 4 hours so you never felt rushed. That’s a great way to reflect on the whole trip experience before getting thrust back into the reality of returning home.

Heading home

After almost two weeks of being in South Africa, it was time to come home. We flew back with Ethiopian Airlines Business Class. The service was as expected and for the first flight, we had single seats. Until next time South Africa!

Key takeaways

• The Lesedi Cultural Village tour includes a lot of walking so wear comfortable shoes and bring water.
• The Mall of Africa has a trolley so you can hop on for a small fee if you get tired.
• The message therapists at the spa accept tips and you can pay at the end of your stay.
• If you can swing it, go for Business Class. Your legs will thank you.

The post Indulging in Culture, Luxury & Retail Therapy: My Epic Time first appeared on Angela P. Banks.

After about 6 months of anticipation, our first South Africa trip day finally came. Being local to the DMV region I booked our flight out of Dulles (IAD) and booked a round trip to Johannesburg on Ethiopian Airlines. This also includes a short layover in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

Being that this was our first time using Ethiopian Airlines and Business Class, I was ready for all that it had to offer. Of course, I did my due diligence and looked up every Youtube, TikTok, and blog post that I could find about this experience. And from what I previously read and saw out there on the web, it was as I expected.

There were a few questions that I had but never could get a direct answer to online. This may help others with similar questions.

Early Check-in

If flying from the US to ADD (or Addis Ababa), the information on the ET website said you need to be checked in 4 hours before your flight. Now I understand for International Flights, it’s recommended to check in 3 hours, but I didn’t know why we needed to be there 4 hours earlier.

So for a 10 am flight, that meant that we needed to be there around 6 am. So because I am a “rule follower”, we were at the airport around 6 am, but by the time we parked and went to ticketing, it was around 6:30. After all the security checks we were sitting next to our gate at 7 am. Boarding didn’t start till 9 am so we sat for about 2 hours. I think next time we will heed the 3-hour timeframe instead of the 4-hour mark. 

Since it was earlier in the morning, we were pretty much the only ones at the check-in counter. There were 2 lines, one for Online Checkin and the other if you didn’t check in Online. But as I said, since we were basically the only ones checking in at that time, it didn’t seem like it mattered.

Vaccination requirement?

Another point that I don’t recall seeing in any of my travel research was the vaccination requirement. When we got up to the check-in counter, the agent asked for proof of vaccination. I thought since pandemic procedures were pretty much over, that this was no longer needed. Luckily we had our information online and could quickly bring it up, but I’m not sure what would have happened if we didn’t produce that information or if we were being singled out.

In the last email from Ethiopian Airlines about the flight, there was information towards the bottom of the page regarding having a photocopy of the original certificate and only if you are traveling to China, U.A.E, U.S.A, and France (which we were not traveling “to” those places).

However, within that same section, there was a face mask mandatory section, but in reality, face masks were not required. So to me, there was some conflicting information.

Lounge Access

Since we were Cloud 9 Business Class, we were allowed to use the Turkish Lounge right outside Gate B42. When we arrived it was not open for some reason. It did open about an hour later, but we had already found a seat and ate and didn’t feel like relocating. Plus, from the looks of it, the lounge was filling up quickly because it services multiple airlines and we felt it was less crowded where we were.

Priority Boarding / Cloud 9

A little after 9 am they called for Cloud 9 members and all those associated with Priority Boarding. It felt nice to be like the 5th person on the plane. As soon as we found our seats and got settled in, we were greeted with some champagne. 

As mentioned in some other blogs and videos, this plane is a little older so some of the features are not as updated as you would probably find on Qatar or even Delta’s Business Class. But the ability to lay my seat all the way back, recline, and get free beverages can’t be beaten. I was nice and warm with the blanket that was provided. 

This plane had a 2-3-2 configuration and we had one of the two-seaters. Even with being in the window seat, I was able to easily move around to get to the aisle to use the restroom. 

The restrooms are typical, but I never had to wait which never happens when I fly economy. If you have the opportunity and have never flown Business or First Class, I highly recommend it at least once or especially if you have a long flight. 

ET provided us with a travel kit even though I didn’t use many of the items in it. But it was a nice touch. I’m sure this will make a nice travel bag in the future for something else.

Meals

Shortly after take-off, we were served dinner which was like a 3-course meal. I sometimes forget they really give full meals on flights longer than 3 hours and not your typical cookies and juice. 

Layover

The layover in Addis Ababa was relatively short. It gave us enough time to have our checked luggage transferred and to go thru customs again. Because technically you are going from International to International. It took about 20 minutes and we had to do the typical actions such as removing shoes, electronic equipment, coats, etc. Once we completed that part we were off to our next gate to wait for our flight to be called.

From Add to JNB

The second flight was similar to the first, except it was under 5 hours. The meals were about the same. I was still full from the first flight so I didn’t eat as much on the second flight.

After arriving at JNB airport, we went through customs again which didn’t seem to take too long as we were the only flight at the time and we were off the plane first due to being Business Class. However, waiting for luggage took about 20 minutes or so and then we were off to meet our driver to take us to our luxury accommodations.

overall

The flight was rather uneventful, which for any flight is what you want right? The aircraft was older than some of the others I’ve seen online. The food was pretty good and it was a rather comfortable flight. It’s not direct so if you are looking for a direct flight from the states, I would suggest going out of ATL or JFK. We just happen to live in the DMV area and the cost was less expensive than Delta and United. Either way we would have had to take a connecting flight unless we drove 3-4 hours to JFK.

Would I travel with Ethiopian Airlines again? Probably. However, if there is a better alternative, I would consider it.

The post Epic Adventure: Flying Ethiopian Business Class from IAD to Johannesburg first appeared on Angela P. Banks.