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 186
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