The Kruger International Airport was small but very nice. After clearing security, we went to our gate where the attendant made announcements to us directly. We also learned that we would be flying in a prop-jet, the smallest airplane used at that airport, so everyone would have either a window or an aisle seat or both. While we were waiting, Brent started a conversation with a man who worked for a sugar cane company headquartered in Durban. He told us about the effects of the aftermath of apartheid, which were not all good. According to him, some people had been put into positions of power that were not qualified. In addition, the new president was being investigated. Any similarities between South Africa of today and the United States after the Civil War and now are purely coincidental. The man seemed to be doing very well in South Africa as were his grown children.
On the airplane, we spoke with a couple who were originally from Johannesburg, were flying to Durban and then driving six hours south to meet friends to take a bicycle trip to East London over the next week. The modern airport at Durban had been opened on May 1, 2010, for the World Cup. Our guide Jeff told us that Durban is famous for sugar cane, which is grown year-round with sugar being its biggest export. Much of the greeness of the area was due to the sugar cane crops. Zulus harvest the sugar cane by hand because of the hilly terrain. Hand harvesting also benefits employment in a country with 35 percent unemployment. The sugar is burnt before it is harvested for three reasons: (1) the sugar cane's hard crust is crystallized by the heat; (2) the flames and smoke ward off the snakes, including the black mamba, which is extremely poisonous; and (3) burning makes the sugar cane easier to cut.
Durban is the second largest city in South Africa with the first being Johannesburg and the third being Cape Town. With the average temperature being 25 degrees C in the summer and 16 degrees C in the winter, the area never experiences any frost or ice. The warm currents of the Indian Ocean account for swimming being a year-round activity. The summers are very humid, making many days seem like standing in front of an oven. However, the year-round tourist industry makes the city vulnerable to the economic tides of the world. The city reminded us of Miami, especially with its North Beach where the trees were cut down for the World Cup creating complaints about the lack of shade, and the Zulu women who set up shop near the beach and slept there only leaving when they needed to go home for more products; and its South Beach where Zulus pull people in rickshaws.
Twenty percent of the population is white, 20 percent is Zulu and 55 percent is Indians, whose ancestors came there to work in the sugar fields in the 1800s and then started businesses. Durban has another connection to India because this was where Mahatma Gandhi was thrown off a train because only whites could ride in the first car.
Jeff pointed out the casinos, which have been allowed in the country only since the end of apartheid in 1994. The downside of the casinos was that poor people spend their last bit of money in them hoping for a big win.
The day we visited was gray, dull and rainy, which seemed what our tour of the city would be. The first two attractions we saw were the Vasco De Gama Clock erected in 1897 on which each of the four clocks had stopped at a different time and a statue of Sampson graced the center; and the statue of Dick King, who collected British reinforcements during the siege of the Boers in 1842, which resulted in a victory for the British. We then drove along part of the 15-mile harbor, the ninth largest in the world, and watched people clamming during the low tide. Jeff told us that the cruise ship in the harbor was unable to depart yesterday because of the bad weather so the passengers had slept on the ship. He also had heard that the Pacific Princess did not stop at Richard's Bay the day before because of rough seas. We pretended to admire the Sugar Terminal, which hold 50,000 tons of sugar and was built in the round because sugar gives off so much gas that a square building would crack.
He then took us to the Indian Market, where the women on our trip rejoiced in shopping while the men complained. It was difficult to get in the market because Friday was a praying day on which Islamic people prayed from noon to 2 p.m. and the Jumma Mosque, the largest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere, was near the market. Jeff told us that while we were very safe in the market, the area around it was not safe. The Indian business owners all pitched in to tackle would-be robbers. While we were in the market, the rain poured down outside.
Our next stop was the Durban Botanical Gardens, where we all wished we could have spent more time. Highlights of these gardens, which were established in 1849, were the Ernest Thorp Orchid House, the Sunken Gardens, the Garden of the Senses and the Oriental Garden. Then Jeff drove us to an overlook where we could see the entire city, which was very impressive. We also viewed the Soccer Arch for the World Games, similar to the Arch in St. Louis, which people could walk or ride up and down; and the race track with a golf course in the center. Fortunately, horse races and golf matches were not scheduled at the same time. Suddenly, Durban was suddenly looking like a very attractive city to us. The stop at a bottle store with very reasonably priced South African wine was a perfect finish for an African Safari!
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