These days South Africa is one of the best places to go to have interesting conversations.  Obviously an English-fluent country does have many people following Trump, Islam in Europe, and so on.  But you can have so many conversations about quite different topics, topics that are hardly covered in other parts of the world.

Like South Africa.  But not only.  The southern part of Africa too.  People who live there are on the whole quite historically aware, since their history remains so influential on a day-to-day basis.  I recall being introduced to one person who is a “Huguenot,” as his ancestors came over with the 100 or so Huguenots who came to South Africa in the 1680s.  He is in fact a Huguenot.

Since the Gini coefficient of South Africa is about the same as the Gini coefficient of the world, South Africans are typically thinking about problems that are pretty close to the problems of the world as a whole.  That is not usually the case for say Americans or Brits.

Few South Africans will underrate the importance of Africa for the world’s future.

It is easy to get into conversations with people from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Congo, and sometimes Nigeria.  There are also readily accessible Jewish and Muslim communities, yet with perspectives different from what you might find elsewhere.

There is plenty of religion, if that is your interest.  Plenty of good music too, sometimes on the street.  An excellent arts scene, and past Kentridge probably you have not heard of any of the creators.  The art too gives you a lot to talk about.

All sorts of tribes and languages, many of which I had never heard of before.

The European parts of the citizenry have some pre-Enlightenment origins and overall do not seem incredibly Woke.   Your mileage there may vary, but again it is different from the educated classes in many other parts of the west.

Again for better or worse, but the “trad wife” phenomenon seems quite normal there, they might just use the word “wife.”

In some parts of the country, you can watch gentrification in reverse.

Most of all, South Africans have a finely-tuned sense of contingency.  Things for them could go pretty well, or they could go pretty badly.  Most people know that, and perhaps that is the greatest wisdom yet?  Many of the rest of us try to deny that.

Visiting South Africa makes so many things transparent, or at least less opaque.  Go!