28 JULY – 2 AUGUST 2011

SOUTH AFRICA – Country number 14/3rd TIME – SOUTH AFRICA

DURBAN

What a palaver trying to travel back to Durban from snowy Lesotho. The taxis are only travelling in convoys  and we all leave at 8am to travel from Mokhotlong on very cold and icy roads. The first taxi has chains on its back tyres and when it starts to skid on the black ice we all stop, shovels appear and the ice is removed from the road for the rest of us to follow. So with many stops and starts we travel through Oxbow to Buthe-butha in Lesotho, to arrive at the border, Caledonspoort around 1pm. Through immigration there without a problem then a taxi to Fouriesburg, then change for Bethlehem to change again for Qua Qua. Arriving after 6pm there are no taxis now but there is one bus at 7.30pm to Harrismith where I will have to stay the night because I am exhausted and not close enough to Durban to continue. As I wait for the bus, I chat to the other women waiting who are so curious as to how I have turned up there – they tell me “you shouldn’t be here”. I ask them where ‘here is’? They tell me it’s a homeland, which I guess means it’s a very poor area where blacks were forcibly removed, meaning nowadays its full of the poor and unemployed. I tell them that I think that as long as I stick with them, I’ll be ok.

I was so bored waiting for transport

With that they start organising where I am going to stay and how to get there. They suggest one place but on telephoning the price is way too high. But they suggest another hotel, Harry’s Lodge whose price is reasonable. The women are more than happy after speaking to the receptionist on my phone, sorting out where I should get off the bus. And on the bus ride each of the women, before getting off the bus say good bye to me and then check with the driver that he knows where he is going to drop me!  So I get to Harrismith and the hotel is right across the road from where I get off, and the staff were a real hoot.

And I thought you might like to see

They were honestly bowled over to see a tourist turn up and the receptionist had taken it upon herself to confirm with her manager that I could have a room upgrade – and the room was lovely. It was so nice to relax in warmth (heating underfloor) in comfort after my enforced stay in rural Mokhotlong.  Next morning after a full breakfast I got a lift to the taxi rank because ‘the taxi comes at 10.30am’. After waiting a while I realise I still have the hotel’s  room key in my pocket but just as I consider hiking back there the receptionist walks out of the supermarket and I can give her the key - what luck!

After 11am I’m told the taxi will come at noon and as that time passes I ask again and am told 2pm! I always find myself wondering how people know these things and I know nothing.

Sign seen at a curry restaurant

some local advertising

Anyhow after waiting 6 ½ hours for the taxi it arrives and I get on board heading to Durban. A few hours later we arrive in Pinetown, a township just outside of Durban to board another taxi, arriving in the city centre just on dark to get one more taxi out to Florida Rd to arrive by 6pm, have a beer and RELAX. I find I have the dorm all to myself for the next few days while I revel in the mildness of Durban’s weather, to shop, cook and enjoy the city for a couple of days. I have finally worked out the city taxis’ routes to work in with the buses so getting around is even easier this second time around. The beachfront is lovely to walk along on a sunny day with all the durbanites out enjoying the weekend and sunshine so it does seem a sacrilege to go to the movies on such a day – BUT Durban is hosting the 32^nd International Film Festival. I book for Man without a Cell Phone (Fr/Belg/Israel) and Taka Takata (Sth Africa), both amusing and well made. I’m missing out on Melbourne’s MIFF at this time of year so on the other hand it did seem appropriate to see a couple of movies.

It's good to be back in warm weather again

Next day I made another trip out to KZNSA to check out a photography exhibition centred on the many women living permanently in hostel accommodation in town and then enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the sun. I also made to the Durban Art Gallery in City Hall to check out another great photography exhibition on the local Trolley Boys – great photos of very hardworking young men who push, pull and trundle all manner of goods loaded up as mobile shops.

I still love Durban

Yes, you can skate even wearing hijab

Durban's beautiful mosque again

Durbans fancy new stadium

FACT: Statistics show that there have been 230 Initiate deaths over the past four years here in the Eastern Cape due to botched circumcisions. In addition 150 young men have had to have their penises amputated because of complications after the procedure. Proposals now include mobile clinics to specialise in circumcision-related health care in a culturally sensitive manner and police operations to identify illegal initiation schools. Ahh the problems with culture, tradition and customs in a modern world!