So we will start with South Africa and then Mozambique and Madagascar followed by Tanzania and Kenya.
After leaving Cape Town, we spent a day at sea before our first port, New London, South Africa, which was to be followed by Durban and Richard's Bay. As I mentioned we eschewed doing anything safari oriented. Well, in New London, the only tours offered were safari or nature oriented and the independent ones all had to do with safaris, the beach, birding, hiking or some other outdoor activity. Being intrepid travelers, we were undeterred and thought we'd just hire a cab and put together our own tour. Unfortunately no taxi's were to be found at the terminal and we were left to take the ship's free shuttle to the one major attraction in town: Hemingway's Casino and shopping mall. The shuttle did drive through the town, which was unremarkable, on it's way to Hemingway's, which was even more unremarkable. That night we got to overhear excited conversations about the animals or birds people saw. We just kept to ourselves secure in our knowledge that we had gone on a real safari. That being said, clearly our first attempt at Africa without the animals did not end well.
By the way, you'll have to take our word that we really were there, we took no pictures.
On the other hand, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise as we entered into the harbor at Durban. South Africa's third largest city with a population of 3.5 million, it is the country's busiest port along with being a major tourist destination because of it's many miles of pristine beaches, warm water, great waves and extensive string of shark nets protecting swimmers and surfers alike. It also has all of the other outdoor activities that New London has, but this is a real city with a skyline and a major soccer stadium that looks like a shark's jaw from the water.
Durban is also a very diverse city and home to one of Africa's largest Indian populations. They were originally brought here to work in the sugar cane fields and stayed even though they were horribly exploited. It was here that Gandhi began his career as a lawyer and became an activist because of the exploitation and discrimination by the British.
Durban is also home to the Victoria Street Indian Market. It and the area surrounding it bustles with life, but with nary a white face to be seen except for the tourists in our group.
The street outside the market was home to the clothes vendors and people selling everything imaginable. Inside were the spice vendors, curio sellers, hair salons and restaurants. Pretty typical stuff and not unlike we've photographed in many other markets around the world. What they didn't do, was take us to,the meat market and when I had a few minutes to get away, I went in.
It was closing up, but there were a few still stalls open selling fish, chicken, beef and other assorted meats. While there was no discernible refrigeration, it was very clean and had no smell. I wandered around shooting until I turned a corner and saw something I had never seen before in a market: goat's head and burnt goat's head.
It seems these are quite the delicacy.
We then headed out for the Botanical Gardens which were established in 1849. They are an urban oasis surrounded by the city and provide a measure of relief from the concrete. One of the most interesting things we saw there was the bark of a eucalyptus tree. I thought the patterns would make an interesting print.
One other prominent thing stood out in Durban as it does in all the other cities we have visited in South Africa and that's the amount of electricfied barbed wire protecting the houses of higher income individuals. As the value of the neighborhood goes up, the layers of defense increases and it not just the typical "Armed Response" signs one sees in LA. The stuff here is pretty serious.
A good picture was hard to get from a moving vehicle, but some neighborhoods looked like armed camps. Our guide played down the need for such protection, but her words rang hollow in the face of what we were seeing here and in all the South African cuties we have visited.
After the Gardens, a drive-by of the soccer stadium, from which you can bungee jump and take a funicular type car to the top, we drove down the Golden Mile of beach front which was full of people and pretty spectacular. The outdoors and the water play a huge part in the life of South Africans who live along the Indian Ocean.
Durban proved more interesting than New London and gave us some cultural insight. Yet one saw very few white faces in town and when we asked our guide about it, she said except for business, most whites stayed in their suburbs. South Africa clearly has come a long way since apartheid fell, but it has a very long road to travel especially for the native black population.
Next it was off to Richard's Bay and our visit to Zululand. We were really pumped about going to the Shakaland Zulu Villlage given our great experience with the Maasai.
The drive to the village was about sixty miles and we went though one town that could have been anywhere in the USA complete with strip malls and McDonald's. The countryside was pretty, but nothing special and then we turned down a dirt road to the Village. Ah, authenticity at last. A chance to learn about the mighty Zulu and their legendary uniter King Shaka.
Well, the sign was the first indication that this might be all that we thought it would be. Then as we were lead through the entrance to the reception we knew it was not going to be the Masaai experience redux.
Shaka Zululand was actually a movie set for the 1986 mini-series, Shaka Zulu. It was about as dispirited an explanation of a proud culture as one could imagine. We learned little and everything was clearly staged and the people were just going through the motions. After a pretty good lunch, we got on the bus for the ride back with a few good shots and little else. Well we did buy four Zulu Shields that we hope will clear Customs.
The South African Indian Ocean Coast is long, diverse and beautiful. It's a place for the warm waters, beach and outdoors. We went against the grain and it didn't work as well as we would have liked. Even if you've been here before, Africa is really about the animals. There have been few experiences in our travels that have compared to being face to face with one in the wild. Anyone on this ship would tell you that as they have been doing to any and all who will listen.
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Wow, looks like you guys are having fun. I couldn't imagine having some goat heads for dinner. I'll be fine with pizza. I can't wait till you guys come back so we can here even more and see all the pictures. -Alex
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