A Durban Snapshot – by Gary

 

Durban is a big, bustling modern city.  First and foremost it is a sea, rail and road port, handling astonishing amounts of traffic, with a monster container terminal, bulk loading facilities and a car export/import terminal.

The ship traffic is continuous – 24 hours a day

Just part of the huge container terminal.

But what was this???  We think maybe it was some new cranes being delivered.

Durban is also a very popular summer holiday destination, with long white sand beaches, promenades, restaurants and swimming pools.  The locals are also into sand sculpturing!

Could be any Sydney beach, but for the skin colour.  The surf is often large and dangerous.

A busy promenade connects all the city beaches, which have a wide
array of restaurants and safe, free pools for the kids

the locals are in to sand sculpture!

The city has some fine examples of colonial architecture.  A real gem is the richly ornate Victorian era town hall, which I was very pleased to see undergoing extensive renovation.

The town hall – its interior is somewhat disappointing.  

But the richly decorous exterior is a ripper!

There are a number of visitor attractions, including a small but very fine maritime museum, a natural history museum with a beautifully presented bird collection, and the kids’ favorite, a theme park called Ushaka Marine World.

Ushaka is a combination attraction with performing seal, dolphin and penguin shows, a marine aquarium and an aquatic fun park.  I didn’t much care for the seal or the dolphin shows – they included lots of loud music and, in the case of the dolphins, a thoroughly romanticized misrepresentation of these ‘pack wolves of the sea’.  However their speed, agility and intelligence makes for an exuberant spectacle.

 Our kids in rapt attention at the seal show

Their speed, agility and intelligence makes them stunning animals to observe despite the them doing it to blaring disco music.

They had some monster sharks!

Apart from the obligatory sharks and rays the aquarium had some very impressive exhibits including live corals from a wide range of habitats, some exotic crustaceans and a range of exquisitely presented jellyfish.

Of course the kids favourite was the aquatic fun park, including the slide on the far left which is advertised as 6-storeys high and taking 2 seconds to descend – both Zeke and I did it!

On the dark side, Durban has large populations of the homeless, destitute, drug addicted and AIDs infected and is reckoned to be a thoroughly dangerous, violent city.  It is said murder can be committed just to steal 10 rands (one dollar) while a mobile phone is gold. Judging from the attention to security paid by those with assets worth stealing, this perception can’t be too wrong.  However we have found it a most interesting place to visit and never felt threatened – thank goodness.

_ _ _

Traditional Zulu Dancing – by Zeke

We arrived ashore at 8 o'clock where we met Sandy from North Sails who had offered to take us to a Zulu cultural centre.  Mum and Dad talked with Sandy about local politics as we made our way out of the city of Durban and into the Valley of a Thousand Hills.  Ignoring the houses that are scattered around the place the Thousand Hills area is extremely beautiful.  As we rolled into the gates we came in view of the cultural centre.  

the cultural centre was set in the beautiful Valley of a Thousand Hills

We saw scattered around a central grassed roofed building several smaller grass roofed domes.  We firstly entered a reception area where we got our tickets then past a craft area.  Back in the open (jumpers on again) we were led around the smaller grass domes that we had seen earlier.  Each grass dome, or rather hut, was furnished differently.  There was a hut for cooking, meeting and sleeping.

there were huts for cooking, meeting and sleeping

this was the chief sitting in the meeting hut

As we came around the other side of the big central building we noticed that one half of the building had been chopped off and taken away.  The inside of the building was like an amphitheatre.  All of a sudden a drum started beating and on to the area in front of the amphitheatrepoured a troupe of very athletic young men.  Wow can they kick.  They were doing the splits standing on one foot.  With whoops that would scare boy scouts they pranced on around the amphitheatre

the big central hut was cut in half to make an amphitheatre for dancing

The next performance was about the courtship rituals of the local Zulus.  The first step was to bargain with the girl’s father using cattle.  Then the now future wife places a necklace round her new husband’s neck.  The wedding now starts and there is more wild dancing.  The men held these feathered sticks as they danced.  The husband consulted the witch doctor who told the fortunes of the new family.

the wedding dance was very wild and athletic

They were doing the splits standing on one foot

the witch doctor told the fortunes of the new family

All in all it is something I will never forget.

_ _ _

The Lion Park – by Nina

Today we went and hired a car and drove to a lion park with some friends.

this is me with my friend Kyle

When we got to the park entrance we saw this huge rhino just eating the grass in the car park. It was pretty creepy, and when we went in to the office they said it was a wild rhino.

there was a rhino eating grass in the carpark

When we entered the park we saw some impala and my friend said he saw a baby impala.  We amused ourselves by trying to pick flowers out of the window.  Then we saw two female impala and four tiny little babies.

the female impala and her babies

Eventually we got to the lion enclosure.  The lion enclosure was a small area about 200m across and 400m long with a high fence all the way around it.  To get in you have to drive through two huge gates that a man has to open and close for you.

this is what the enclosure looked like

the huge gate

The lions were awesome.  There were about five male lions and 7 females.  The two closest to the road were in love and they were cuddling each other and playing.  All the males had numerous scars on their noses after clashes for territory.  In the group one of the females was distinctly white.

some of the lions in the group – you can see the white one in the bottom right photo

the two closest to the road were in love

they were cuddling and playing

_ _ _

St Lucia Game Reserve – by Nina

In the morning we got up at 4:30am, put our tents down, got in the car and drove away.

Along the way we saw a dead horse.  The thing about the horse was that its legs and neck was mauled and its stomach was ripped open.  It didn’t look like road kill, it looked like cat kill.

Once we were in the park we were all eyes.  Just a little way along the road we found a pond full of hippos.  They are amazing.  Their heads are huge.  We saw one yawn, it was a huge yawn.  Then two had a play fight, they opened their mouths and tried to bite each others necks, but their heads got in the way.  The hippos look a bit funny because their eyes, ears and nostrils are perched on the top of their heads.  Their ears, eyes and nostrils are on the top because then they can still hear, see and smell even when their bodies are completely submerged.

the pond full of hippos

we saw one yawn (but I borrowed this picture)

Most of St Lucia is made up of swamp and there’s even a big lake in the middle, so you can imagine that it is teeming with life.  In a patch of swamp we saw some buffalo.  The buffalo look weird.

buffalo look weird

In St Lucia there were lots of Red Duiker.  A Red Duiker is a small type of antelope that’s about 50cm long.  It has a red-brown coat.

Then we saw zebra.  I like the way the stripes on their necks go all the way up through their mane.

I like the way the stripes go through their mane

Then when we were going to the exit we saw a rhino on the side of the road and stopped to look at it.  Then we realized it had a big sore on its side and then it walked out onto the road and we saw it had a tracking device on a foot.  Along the road we saw some park rangers and they sped off to do something about it.

Here is a list of all the animals we saw at St Lucia:

Birds
Martial eagle
Verreaux’s eagle
Long-crested eagle
African crowned eagle
Yellow-billed kite
Goliath heron
Gray heron
Hadedah ibis
African Spoonbill
Whitebreasted cormorant
Black stork
Yellow-billed stork
Woolly-necked stork
Egyptian goose
White-faced duck
African jacana
Brown-hooded kingfisher
Blue-cheeked bee-eater
Little bee-eater
Burchells coucal
African hoppoe
Cape turtle-dove
Red-eyed dove
Speckled mousebird
Trumpeter hornbill
Magpie shrike
Pin-tailed Whydah
Cape glossy starling
Scarlet-chested sunbird
Blue waxbill
Green twinspot
Red-billed Oxpecker
Village weaver
Spectacled weaver
Southern red bishop


Mammals
Burchells zebra
buffalo
Chacma baboon
Vevet monkeys
Hippopotamus
White rhinoceros
Banded mongoose
Red Duiker
Steenbok
Suni
Waterbuck
Blue Wildebeest
Kudu

Reptiles
Nile crocodile
goanas
terapins
Leopard Tortoise

Bugs and Other
flies
dung beetles
millipedes
centipedes

_ _ _

The Crocodile Park – by Nina

After we went to the cat park we drove to St Lucia, but we got there early so we decided to have a look around.  We found a crocodile park and the lady at reception told us that it was feeding time in a couple of hours.  So we went off to our camp-site and put up our tents.  We returned to the crocodile park at feeding time.

First they fed the big old crocs.  The men went into the enclosure and threw whole, unplucked chickens at them, then the crocs ate the chickens whole.  It was quite amazing.

In the water they are almost invisible!

... but then a big one lunges out of the pool to grab a chook!

Then they fed the juveniles.  They went to the wall and threw plucked chickens and large cubes of beef into their pool and the crocs went wild over it.  They climbed over each other in their haste to get at it.   It was amazing.

juvenile feeding frenzy

... its mine. its mine!

_ _ _

The Cat Park - by Nina

Today we went to the Cat Rehabilitation Centre at Emdoneni Lodge.  First we saw the African wildcats.  The African wildcat looks a lot like a normal house cat but it has a shorter tail and its front legs are longer.

the African wildcat looks a lot like a normal house cat

Then we saw the caracals.  Caracals are gold with muscley legs and long ears with tufts f fur on the end to increase hearing.  They are vicious.  My favourite caracal was called Peaches.

Peaches prowling

After that we saw the cheetahs.  We walked through a gate and across a huge enclosure.  Most of the enclosure is covered in long grass but at the back is a clump of canopy trees just like the plains of Africa.  In the canopy trees are two cheetahs just laying there in the shade cooling down.  They were beautiful.  Then the guide told us we could pat them.  He said to come up behind one and pat it.  I wasn’t really very afraid of them because they just looked like big pussy-cats and the guide assured us they were.

a cheetah laying in the shade

it was beautiful!

our guide said we could pat it

last we saw the servals.  When we went into the enclosure our guide pointed 15m up into the trees, and sure enough it was up there.  Then he led us to a cat on the ground.  To go there we had to go under a tree and we had to walk under a serval 10m above us.  The serval on the ground was laying down and it looked very calm.  Our guide said we could pat it.  It was so soft.  He said it was called Jane.

a serval 10m above us

patting Jane

_ _ _

Hluhluwe (Shoosh-looey) Game Reserve - by Nina

One day we got up at 4:45am and went to the hire car we had hired for three days.  The first day in the car we would go to Hluhluwe.  On the second day we would go to a cat park. On the third day we would go to another game reserve called St Lucia.  Today we were going to Hluhluwe.

A little while in the park we saw some zebra.  They’re beautiful animals.  In Imfolozi Game Reserve Anne told us that zebras used to be all black but they adapted white stripes to balance their body temperature.

Anne told us zebras used to be all black!

Then we saw a troupe of baboons.  The old males look very wise and royal.

I was looking out for animals and I saw a smooth rock in the ground with a trail round it.  Later we found out it was a warthog rubbing post.  A warthog would find a large rock in the ground and would run around it until the rock was smooth or he had no fleas.

Along the road there was a small patch of swamp.  On a dead bush was a tall beautiful crane.  Its throat was brown and it had a white splash under its eye.  We looked in the bird book and saw it was called a darter.

the darter

At the swamp there was also a Malachite kingfisher.  It was beautiful.  Next we saw a Mouse bird.  The name suits it.

We also saw a mummy elephant and a baby.  The baby was very small compared to the mum.

Mummy and baby crossing the track in front of us.

Today was a day for seeing mums and babies.  We saw mums and baby:

• elephants
• giraffes
• impala
• nyala
• zebra
• rhinos
• warthogs and
• baboons.

Two more mums and babies

All you could see of the baby warthog was its back and its little tail poking out of the long grass.

The baby giraffe was standing at a distance and at first we thought it was an adult.  Then we saw the body of a giraffe in the trees and realised the first giraffe must be a baby.  Then mum went over and stood just next to the baby.

Giraffes are so graceful.

Here’s a full list of the things we saw:

Birds
Martial eagle
African crowned eagle
Yellow-billed kite
Gray heron
Darter
Yellow-billed stork
Water thick-knee
Crested guineafowl
Egyptian goose
Malachite kingfisher
Blue-cheeked bee-eater
Little bee-eater
Burchells coucal
African hoppoe
Cape turtle-dove
Speckled mousebird
Trumpeter hornbill
Magpie shrike
Scarlet-chested sunbird
Blue waxbill
Green twinspot
Village weaver
Spectacled weaver
Southern red bishop
Cape glossy starling

Mammals
Burchells zebra
giraffe
buffaloe
White rhinoceros
warthog
Chacma baboon
Steenbok
Blue Wildebeest
Nyala

Bugs and Other
flies
dung beetles
millipedes
centipedes

_ _ _

An Exciting Night – by Gary

After visiting Hluhluwe (Shoosh-looey) Game Reserve we navigate our hire car across the veld to our accommodation for the night; a little backpackers hostel and camping ground at the northern end of the reserve.  Being tired, we quickly up our two tents and install sleeping bags.  Vicki and I in one tent, Zeke and Nina the other.  We slouch off to the kitchen area to scruff some dinner.

The weather is looking sus. Grey clouds heap-up bringing on an early dusk, but being roughty-toughty types we ignore it as best we can.  Refueled we quickly seek haven amidst the feathers.  Soon we are pleasantly beached upon the Land of Nod.  But some hours later our slumbers are brought to a rude end.

The distant roll of thunder warns of an approaching storm – ah, likely it will miss us.  The tent lights up like day and a sharp clap, just seconds later, underscores my wishful thinking.  An instantaneous blinding arc of light and explosion of thunder scares the living daylight out of us all.  ‘You ok next door’,  I yell.  ‘Yep, fine!’  Zeke returns.  Thunder; a great rolling backdrop of noise interleaved with staccato blasts, now makes normal conversation impossible.  The lightening is so continuous I could read a book.  Our tent begins a wild dance as the wind arrives, followed seconds later by rain, light at first but building rapidly to a torrent.  It doesn’t take long before a young voice ‘Dad.... Dad!’ reaches us between thunder blasts. ‘Our tent is starting to drip’.

The minutes slowly tick by, then ‘Dad.... Dad, we are starting to get really wet!’  Action required, but what?  I instruct the kids to get dressed, roll up their sleeping bags and mats, open the tent door and prepare to leap out, running as quickly as possible to the adjacent backpackers bunkhouse. ‘Ready?.... one, two, three...GO!’  Like startled rabbits caught in headlights, or perhaps waterfall disco dancers under a strobe, the three of us streak through the drenching storm.  I fall, skidding wildly on my back in the now ankle deep red mud.  Up again, running madly.  We make it!

In the backpackers, its kind of creepy.  A poorly illuminated hallway.  Wild animals thrusting heads through walls, caught in the act amidst the lightening flashes.  One room has a door ajar and light pours out.  ‘Hello... anybody there?’ I yell.  A young woman answers... warily.  Kids have failed to follow me from the foyer.  So it’s just me, drenched, agitated, standing in her doorway in a rapidly growing puddle.  Gloops of red mud are falling off my body. ‘Are you alone?’ I demand between rasping breaths.  The young woman’s looking ever more scared!  Hmm... wrong question.  I retreat, find kids, herd them in front of me.  Returning I attempt a better explanation.  Could she have my kids for the rest of the night?  Just floor space!  Well behaved!  I’ll come back for them in the morning, promise!  As the explanation slowly grows in plausibility the woman relaxes, even smiles.  ‘Yes no problem’ she finally laughs and I beat a hasty retreat before she changes her mind.

Back out in the storm, another hour or so later it’s all over, but its close, damp and muddy inside the tent.  Everything drips.  Vicki and I finally get to sleep.

Morning time, not the best nights sleep.  Vicki trudges off in search of Zeke and Nina to see how they fared.  Finding our children, they are bizarrely enervated!  They’ve sat up half the rest of the night with this young woman swapping yarns of their lives and travels, punctuated with howls of laughter.  The young woman and the flood refugees have become good friends!  They’ve had a fabulous time!

I took a few photos of the bunkhouse the next morning:

Wild animals...

... thrusting heads through walls, ...

... caught in the act...

... amidst the lightening flashes.

The bar!  We had dripped our way through it... wide open and deserted.

Yep... it’s a genuine elephant’s foot stool.

_ _ _

Umfolozi Game Reserve – by Nina

One day we got up at 3:30 in the morning and went to the guide we had hired yesterday to go to the Umfolozi Game Reserve.  Our guides name was Anne.

Before we even got in to the park we saw our first bit of wildlife; a hyena.  We were really excited. We had a book with pictures and names of some birds and mammals.  We decided to tick the animals off as we saw them.

Along the road there were loads of Yellow-billed Kites.  They were magnificent. As well as kites there were Helmeted Guinea Fowl.

 a Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Just a little bit from the park entrance we saw two enormous elephants.  We had to wait for them to get past.  A little bit further on we saw a Black Rhino.  This was amazing as Black Rhinos are far more endangered than the White Rhinos and we hadn’t even seen a White Rhino yet.

Then we saw a Hoopoe.  This was a very weird bird.

the very weird Hoopoe bird

We saw some buffalo and Anne told us that they were the most dangerous animals in Africa not even the leopards are more dangerous.

There were loads of zebra and impala everywhere. We saw some wildebeest and impala together and Anne told us that wildebeest, zebra and impala often stay together.

Next we saw giraffe.  They are extremely beautiful and graceful.

giraffes are graceful

We turned down a trail to a river to maybe see some crocodiles, and on the way a Black Rhino charged at us.  It was really creepy.  On the track we saw some Leopard Tortoise.  At the river we saw nothing except a vulture in the distance.

The dung beetles are really cool.  The male dung beetle stands on his front legs and rolls the dung ball with his back legs.  Meanwhile the female sits on the ball and lays her eggs.

male dung beetles do the rolling

We were going down the road and suddenly I saw a Spring Hare.  The Spring Hare is funny because it has a long bushy tail instead of a bobbin tail.

When we were leaving we saw a vulture in a nest with its babies.

Here is a list of what we saw:

Birds
Lappet-faced Vulture
White-backed Vulture
Tawny Eagle
Secretary Bird
Egyptian goose
Helmeted Guinea Fowl
Natal Francolin
Hoopoe
Cape Turtle Dove
Red-billed Hornbill
Crowned Hornbill
Long-tailed Shrike
Red-billed Oxpecker
Paradise Flycatcher
Pin-tailed Whydah
Cape Glossy Starling
Plum-coloured Starling
Spotted-backed Weaver
masked Weaver
Red Bishop

Mammals
African Elephant
Giraffe
White Rhinoceros
Black Rhinoceros
Warthog
Baboon
Hyenas
Buffalo
Black Wildebeest
Nyala
Zebra
Impala
Spring Hare
Slender Mongoose

Reptiles
Leopard Turtle
Terrapin
Iguana

Insects and Others
Flies
Butterflies
Millipedes
Centipedes