Whose Statue is in the Centre of Simon's Town? – by Gary

Captain Cook’s?  Nuh!

Guess whose statue is proudly displayed in Simon’s Town’s central town square? The town has played host to many a famous person throughout its history including Captain Cook, Captain Bligh, Admiral Nelson (even though he was a mere midshipman at the time) Rudyard Kipling, Robert Scott, Earnest Shackleton and Nelson Mandela to name just a few.  Could be any of them huh? But no, none of them; ... the answer is a dog, a great dane by the name of Just Nuisance.

Just Nuisance’s Statue, Jubilee Square, Simon’s Town

Simon’s Town is a navy town, has been since 1814, and the Royal Navy likes its mascots – they’re good for morale.  Just Nuisance is easily the base’s most celebrated mascot, rising to prominence during WWII because of the shared affection between him and many of the base’s sailors.  There are many stories about him and, like many a good old yarn, disentangling legend and fact can be difficult.  The story of Just Nuisance’s naming is one such.  I’ll tell you my preferred version.

Simon’s Town is a navy town, most of what you see below Emily, Zeke and
Nina is the sprawling base

Just Nuisance was apparently a most intelligent and free spirited dog.  He hung around the ships a lot and, being big, tended to get in people’s way. Unsurprisingly he developed the moniker ‘Nuisance’.  He also developed a taste for independent travel, riding the railway running between Cape Town and Simon’s Town, and had many friends along the way.  But when it came to affection the railway authority distinctly lacked any reciprocity – it seems Nuisance was rarely prepared to pay his fare.  They threatened to have the free-loader ‘put down’.  Navy brass got together and came up with the solution – draft him in to His Majesties Navy.  You see navy ‘ratings’ got to ride the railway free!

But like all great plans it was not without hurdles - a dog had never been enlisted before.  A letter was duly sent to the British Parliament requesting their approval. Unbelievably, it was granted.  So on the big day he turned up at the enlistment office led by an able seaman.
         “Name?” barked the enlistment officer
         “Nuisance sir”  the able seaman smartly returned
         “First name?” roared the enlistment officer
         “Er, er ... just... Nuisance sir”

And, so the story goes, Ordinary Seaman Just Nuisance became the first dog enlisted into the Royal Navy.

Just Nuisance,   above left: having a beer with friends         above right:  on shore leave in the train

Just Nuisance’s grave, high up on the mountain above Simon’s Town – note the fresh flowers.

postcript:  A frankly much less interesting account of his naming can be found here

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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!

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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

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