Category: Photos

  • This photo was taken with my cell phone from the plane just before landing. In this photo you can see the sprawling township of Soweto to the bottom left (probably less than 5% of the actual township which houses over 3 million people), three huge mine dumps in the front centre and left, and the national soccer stadium that is famed for being shaped like an African pot (or calabash) just off centre to the right. The CBD of Johannesburg is in the distance with one last notable land mark being the mine dump that is currently being demolished to the centre left. The removal of numerous mine dumps around the city in recent years has resulted in a massively changing landscape.

    Urban legend has it that the mine dumps, being a remnant of the very early mining days in and around Johannesburg, are still rich in gold dust because of the less than efficient mining practises of days gone by. After a Japanese firm offered to purchase the seemingly worthless land for a pretty penny, it sparked renewed interest in the dumps resulting in the sand being reprocessed and reasonable quantities of gold once again being extracted from these mine dumps. Whether or not there is any truth to this, I may never know. But it does make for an interesting tale to tell my grandchildren some day.

  • Water lily in my fish pond.

    (c) Cynically Jaded

  • Me

  • Masjid-un-Nabawi, Madinah, Arabia.

    I scanned these photos from postcards that I bought in Madinah on my first trip for Umrah in 1999. It was a spiritually grounding experience. But it was also on this same trip that a taxi driver, whilst parked directly in front of the Haram, robbed me of almost all the cash I had on me by way of extortion. He withheld my camera after returning from a trip to Badr, and refused to hand it back to me until I paid him at least 3 or more times the agreed amount for the trip. He didn’t flinch, and I was overwhelmed to the point of tears as I walked back to my hotel room trying to make sense of what had just happened.

    This was my first trip abroad, which was always my dream; to travel to Makkah and Madinah on my first trip out of my country. Unfortunately, in Madinah, the experience was horribly tainted by this incident, and another incident in Raudul Jannah. I was performing salaatul-tasbeeh according to the Hanafi madhab at the time. After performing the second rakaah, I stood up to continue with the third when I was grabbed by my arms in the middle of my salaah and forced out of the masjid by the guards because they wanted to start cleaning that area, as was scheduled for 22h00 every evening. Such arrogance and crudeness eventually became the hallmark by which I recognised the authorities in Arabia for the duration of my stay, and my subsequent residence for a year a few years later. 

    While I was working on contract in 2002/3 in the Eastern Province of Arabia, I recall being pulled over on my way into Jubail city one day. At first I was greeted politely with a smile, which changed very quickly when the police officer realised that I wasn’t Arab. I was subjected to a full search inside and outside the vehicle, and was reprimanded for wearing the traditional Arab dress for men. It was after Jumu’ah, and I was on my way to get lunch like I did every Friday. I was harassed for a while at the check point into the city simply because I was a non-Arab and I was dressed in a manner that the police officer felt was reserved for Arabs. I enjoyed annoying him with my dismissive responses because of his ignorance and arrogance. Always a dangerous combination in someone with authority. 

  • An alternate view of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa.

    (c) Cynically Jaded

  • Sunset from a natural rock pool in Cape Town, South Africa.

    (c) Cynically Jaded

  • Twelve Apostles, Cape Town

    Twelve Apostles mountain range in Cape Town, South Africa taken during my trip this week.

    (c) Cynically Jaded

  • Blyde River Canyon, Mpumalanga, South Africa

    Scenes from Blyde River Canyon in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Water carved out the beautiful rock formations in Bourke’s Luck Potholes through the centuries while the view from God’s Window allows one to see the ocean over a 1000km (621 miles) away on a clear day, where the air is so thin that you run out of breath just walking to the lookout point. 

    (c) Cynically Jaded