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Published: April 25th 2016
Our drive this morning was minimally interesting, as the scenery mainly consisted of planted monoculture forests, or pineapple and sugar cane plantations. The visual contrast of several river valleys and hillsides made these undulations in the landscape even more beautiful – shades of green against the blue sky with puffy white clouds.
Duane kept us entertained with the history of the region – full of conflict between the Zulus, the Boers and the British. Prior to that,
Vasco da Gama explored the coast and named the river Natale at present-day Durban. This is the source of the modern province’s name, KwaZulu-Natal. After the wars,
Durban became the hub of the Indian populations, brought over as contract labourers by the British to work in sugar cane fields in the 1860 – 1911. They were treated as virtual slaves for a minimum of five years, except that at the end of their contracts they could stay in the country. Many set up shops and companies that still exist today.
We passed a site where heavy metals are mined just below the topsoil on the vegetated sand dunes. The sand blown in over thousands of years contains the metal. The company rehabilitates the dune’s
Vegetated Dunes being mined
At first, an unlikely sources of mineralsvegetation after the strip-mining.
We were a fairly silent, sleepy bus for the morning, which made us quite excited to get off at
uMhlanga, a beach resort town north of Durban. The beach was down a set of stairs from the main road, filled with lots of restaurants and shops. The beige sand was fine and super hot! I had to put my sandals back on until after passing the large, picturesque sandstone rocks and reaching the wet sand. This water is not for swimming! The waves crashed and dragged continuously. We paddled at the very edge and took photos of each other.
Lunch was back up in town, on an outdoor patio. I had liver pate with a baguette and slivers of caramelized pear. The liver pate was not set firm, and it was served in a nice wine glass. After the hot beach, I guzzled water and a local ginger beer – sharp ginger flavour.
In a short while, we were driving around downtown Durban – not much to see – or at least Duane didn’t point out much (not a fan of cities). There is an old colonial area, lots of modern business buildings,
Phamzile, Phansi Museum
Captivating teller of local history a faded downtown core, attractive residential areas built in the 1950s, and inevitable tin shacks built by newcomers to town. We caught glimpses of the harbour – the largest shipping port in South Africa. I was moved to see that some of the civic features were named for antiapartheid heroes, such as
Ruth First Drive and Inkosi-
Albert-Luthuli Hospital.
We visited a fabulous museum of Zulu beading art in a large old house. Regrettably, the
Phansi Museum was suffering from (electricity) load shedding and was dark. Phamzile, the dynamic guide and Assistant Curator, did her best with available light. Seeing the basement, the original part of the museum, was totally impractical. An upstairs room was almost too dark; Jo dug out a good LED flashlight from her backpack, and we continued. One large room was “populated” by life-sized puppets dangling from strings, which let them move with the slightest touch. They were dressed in fully beaded traditional dress. Every piece of clothing had a role and a message about the wearer. Phamzile acted out little scenarios to help us understand the culture.
The history of the fertility dolls dispelled a myth for us all. In Zulu culture it is not a
United Family
Everything - no details required doll, but a wished-for baby. A mother-in-law (a married woman’s closest relationship) might give it to her daughter-in-law, referring to it as a baby. The “baby” was dressed in wraps and held and treated as a baby. Another kind of “doll” was given to girls at puberty, again treated like a baby. When a girl gave it to a man, she had accepted him in marriage.
Finally we saw a magnificent collection of large straw baskets in a variety of sized and shapes. This collection and preservation of Zulu artifacts will be really important for the future of the culture.
Outside Durban we arrived at the
Makaranga Garden Lodge – a spa resort, featuring a full botanical garden. We had an hour or so to wander. Scattered throughout the garden is the largest collection of
Zimbabwe stone sculptures anywhere, an art form from the 1950s and 1960s. The forms are abstracted, usually people, using the shapes of the stone to enhance expression. Cut into the garden lawn was a full-sized replica of the
Chartres Cathedral labyrinth. I walked it in bare feet, contemplating that travel helps you see how connected are the people of the world.
Dinner: shrimp in salad,
Kingklip fish, fries, glass
Labyrinth
Tactile and meditative of rose
View map of trip to date.
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Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
Cities
I'm not so much a fan of cities myself, but the museum is a good reminder that there are things worth seeing there, too. The baskets are magnificent. I'm always surprised when I see a labyrinth without hedges or walls of any sort - I guess I have it conflated with maze (although wasn't there a Greek myth about a labyrinth?).