Steel and glass in Frankfurt

I recently had to go to Frankfurt for two days on work and I think that much time was enough for me to explore the city:). Frankfurt is the commercial capital of Germany and therefore its name crops up all the time but somehow I had never been there previously. Actually, thats not true, the first place I had been to outside India was Frankfurt itself (I had to change plans in Frankfurt) but I don't think that counts:). So when I finally got to go there, I was happy that I could tick off the place (even though there wasn't much history or culture to explore there!).

Opera building: remnant of the past

Frankfurt, as most of the cities in Germany was completely destroyed by bombings during the war. Therefore, even though its an old European city, it has none of the typical European city feel about it. All the buildings are relatively new and modern. Apparently, its a great place to stay since its well planned, open and comfortable but it is still a very modern, steel and glass place and not somewhere I would like to stay in.

City center

I visited Frankfurt in June and as a starter, the weather was perfect. It was 25 degrees while London was 15! Also, as I landed at the airport, I saw that all the cab drivers were South Asian - Indian or Pakistani. It reminded me so much of New York! The cab driver was pretty chatty and mentioned that there are lot of South Asians settled around Frankfurt, which I found very surprising. He also went on about how it was better to stay in Frankfurt than London, which I did not agree with as much:).

Inside the cathedral

In Frankfurt, I stayed in the central area and had an hour to explore the city (town?). I just walked down the Zeil street which is the main shopping street of Frankfurt. There were malls and shops on both sides and a couple of cafes to time looking at the passersby. It was nice looking street, and surprisingly very busy for a weekday morning.

Last supper at the cathedral

While walking around, I walked into a cathedral nearby which was made of red stone. The interior was cold and felt mystic. As usual I am fascinated by churches and love to take pictures of their sculptures and paintings. And here is one version of the last supper which I found in the cathedral.

City center

On the other end of the Zeil street was the Frankfurt city center, a small square with some traditional old buildings. There were a couple of outside eating places there but very few vegetarian options. I still braved eating there and honestly was disappointed with the food. Moreover, I am convinced even more that the germans don't really believe in serving with a smile:).

Frankfurt view

As part of the official conference, we also took a short "heritage" tour of the business district. As part of the walk, we went up one of the office towers to get a view of the city. Frankfurt looks beautiful, not too big and with many open green spaces all around. And of course the obvious river flowing through the city. We also saw one of the very few old buildings which survived the war, the opera building. It was beautiful, but felt too out of place in the city!

Panoramic view of Frankfurt

There are a couple of museums in town also if you are keen. I wasn't very interested though. This was all there was to see in Frankfurt though, a small business city, efficient and made of glass but lacking the architecture and narrow cobbled streets of other European towns. It might be a nice city to live in but definitely not a city for tourists!

Tourism in Johannesburg

Soweto

The second weekend I spent in Joburg, I was a lot more comfortable traveling around and so visited a couple of touristy places nearby. The first was the township of Soweto. It stands for SOuth WEst TOwnship and is one of the remnants of the Apartheid era. Soweto is spread over 100+ km square and houses more than 2 million people.This is a huge township by any standards, and was created for the African people to stay in. It started out as a place where the gold and diamond miners used to stay close to the mines but then it was forcibly converted into a African area only. Its location was also strategic, away from the city of Joburg, behind a hill so that it wasn't visible from the city!

A visit to Soweto is recommended if you want to get an idea about what Apartheid was about and what it meant for the local people. The basic aim of Apartheid was to segregate society based on colour but it led to much more than that; very congested and low quality living conditions for the local Africans.

Soweto

Today, its visited by tourists and over the years has changed a lot; still there is a long way to go to get it to par with the other areas of the town. As you drive there, you can see all levels of housing. From the barely there shacks to better constructed houses of people who could afford loans. Nowadays, there is government housing provided to the people based on how much they can afford: simple one-bedroom houses to slightly bigger ones. The new immigrants to South Africa stay in the shacks and as they go up in status, get bigger and better houses to stay.

Mandela House

We drove around the general Soweto area and stopped at three places on the way.  One was Mandela House where Nelson Mandela stayed before he was jailed for 27 years.

Pieterson Museum

The second was the Pieterson museum where Hector Pieterson, a 12 year old was shot dead by the police along with 600 other students who were peacefully demonstrating against introduction of Afrikaans as the means of teaching in schools in Soweto. It is said that it was this incident which brought world attention to Apartheid which had been going on quietly in the country for many years. It was this brutal act by the South African government which made governments across the world take notice, protest and put sanctions on South Africa.

And the the third place we stopped at was where the freedom declaration was made. Reading about what was included in the declaration makes you wonder how such basic rights also needed to be fought for!

Freedom declaration

Other than that, Soweto felt like a bustling area with lot of people; small and big businesses springing up everywhere. People from all over Africa come here to make a living. Some while away their time, while some try to make ends meet and go up in life. My guide related closely to Apartheid times and gave me a lot of his personal views.  He had been a part of the fight against Apartheid and reminisced of those times. He thought his people have moved on from those times and want to go up in life.  He realised education is most important for them now and and hence his community now wants to focus on that. He also felt that even though they were badly treated earlier, even now the whites did not consider them as part of the same country. He had also been part of the uprising and was proud of where his people had reached. But still thought there was a long way to go.

Another thing I realised when there was that in the different rungs of society, the Indians in South Africa had fared a lot better. Even though they were also segregated, they still got education and were able to get decent jobs. That is one of the reason, they did not protest as much against Apartheid, and that is why even today, they are doing better than the local Africans.

After the trip to Soweto, I spent a couple of hours at the Apartheid Museum. I had heard a lot about the Museum, but honestly was not impressed. Its a huge museum There is a lot of information in the Museum, it is just not presented in a great manner to create maximum impact. There is a lot of text written everywhere, but not as many exhibits to take the message forward.

Apartheid times

I liked the photo exhibition they had on what life was under the Apartheid Rule which I liked. And of course the entrance, where there is a separate entrance for you depending on the colour you belong to. It kind of gives you a sense of how it might have felt during those times, everything in life separated on colour and of course, quality of those things too!

I also got a chance to look at diamonds and tanzanites which are a speciality of South Africa and Tanzania respectively. The diamonds were the same as they usually are, but the tanzanites were something else. They are blue coloured rare stones found only in a mine near Kilimanjaro, and once exhausted, the stone itself will finish. I checked a couple of those in the Sandton City mall and other wholesalers there, and was impressed. An interesting buy, especially if its going to be extinct soon!

The next day, I visited a historical site, the Cradle of Humankind about an hour away from Joburg. Its the site where fossils of the oldest humanoid have been found. We did a tour of the Sterkfontein Caves, and the guide took us through the archeologists finds over the century and seemed proud of the fact than humanity had originated out of Africa. The cave he took us through was a usual one, with stalactites and stalagmites and some fossil remains still inside. However, what I found interesting was the underground lake that we saw inside the cave, apparently its depth is unknown and after 40 meters, divers had stopped searching for its end. I for one have never before seen an underground lake, so found that most interesting in the tour.

After the caves, I visited the Lion Park nearby. Its almost like a zoo with a couple of animals like cheetah, lions, meerkats, hyaenas, leopards and black leopards kept in cages. It also has a game drive where you can see white lions, plus activities like walk with the cheetah and feed the giraffes. So I would say a pretty commercialised zoo. However what drew me to the park was that they have lion cubs there with whom you can play and get photographed with!

I stood in a queue for half an hour to do just that. We got two minutes in an enclosed area where there were three cubs to play with. They were soooo cute and even more lazy, so not at all enthusiastically posing for photos. And surprisingly, their coat is not as soft as it appears to be. I feel for the cubs though, how irritated would anyone be if all day, people come and play with you. But I still loved it:).

That was mostly what touristic stuff there is to do in Johannesburg. Wasn't something out of this world, but was good anyways for a nice hectic weekend. The high for me was playing with the cubs and shopping for tanzanites though:) rather than the historical stuff.

Stay in Johannesburg, South Africa: Experiences and thoughts

I spent a month in Johannesburg recently and even though it was not a very touristic stay, I still felt like putting my thoughts on paper about this experience: about the city, the people and the country. I saw and felt so much during the stay, absolutely fell in love with the country...

I was initially very excited about being in a different country and a different continent but before I had reached Joburg, my excitement had died down after everyone who I talked to, told me how unsafe the city was! It had scared me a lot. My first impression of the city turned out very different though, it seemed like a very open and green 'normal' western city. Quite well spaced out with lots of greenery everywhere, wide well planned roads, decent traffic and huge palacious houses. Maybe it was just because of the areas I was driving in and I would soon see a different side to the city.. But I did wonder what was so unsafe about it?

To be frank, after staying there for a month, I have improved my view about the city. If people say its unsafe, then maybe it is. But if you just stay careful, you should be fine. All you need to do is avoid walking alone at night on the streets in the 'not-so-good' parts of town, locking your cars when you are driving and you should be fine.

Anyways, I spent two weekends in the city. The first was quite average though, because I still thought it was unsafe to go out anywhere! I spent the first weekend in and around Sandton, the hep-cool-rich-safe(-white) suburb of Joburg. It felt like I was caged up and not being able to get out at all, not able to walk around in the open either. It was a very weird feeling, but thankfully it went away when I realised you CAN go around in Joburg, just need to be more careful and know your way around.

Nelson Mandela square

During the first weekend, I walked around Sandton City, supposedly the biggest mall in South Africa. It is huge and you can walk for hours within. But since I am not a fan of malls, that did not excite me much. I also spent some time at Nelson Mandela square which was just an open European type square with multiple eating options. We tried Ghiraldi's there which offered good Italian and steak at the same place. There is also a nice Indian restaurant called Taj which I would recommend. And elsewhere in Sandton, the Grill House is a must-go too, for tasty non-vegetarian food. Actually, I must say, South Africa had amazing food. Everywhere I ate, it was very well made food. And it was so cheap. Even the fries everywhere were worth licking your fingers for!

Sandton

Otherwise in Sandton, there is not much to do. Just a couple of malls, huge car showrooms, eating options, hotels, spas and thats about it I think. There is a park there too, called the Sky Park. I think thats the only option for walking around in the open:). They have security cameras installed everywhere in the park, for safety when people come and exercise there!

Other than Sandton, I visited Melrose Arch, again a supposedly European-feel place with open spaces to walk and eat. We tried JBs and Moyo. Both had very tasty food. Moyo has a very African feel to it, with local music and a local decor. There is also a person there who does face painting for all who visit, just in case you want to try:).

I also visited the CBD a couple of times, the 'Central Business District'. It is supposed to be the worst area of Joburg, the central area where all whites used to stay but after the dismantling of Apartheid, all local Africans moved in and that was the start of its downfall. When you drive around this area, you can see what it would have been earlier, a good looking place with beautiful buildings but now its all in disarray. And its supposedly unsafe here now, you can see guards standing on building corners all day for safety. Most of the companies have moved away from this area now, mostly to Sandton but some still remain.

Other than these couple of areas, I did not see much of Joburg otherwise. There is a 'Neighbourgoods' market on the weekends which is supposedly good. Its an open area where young people hang out partying all day, eating good food and listening to music. Other than that, the city tour is also supposedly good. For those of you looking for Hindi movies, the Killarney mall plays Hindi movies. It was a relief though I did not get a chance to see it!

The rest of my impressions of the city are mostly from driving from Sandton to work and back. I used to take the highway which cuts right in the middle of the city, North to South. Driving on this highway, for a long time I did not realise it was right through the middle of the city! It was so open and green on both sides, with a hilly landscape, it felt like being in suburbs! What beautiful views there were from the highway. And it was much later on that I figured out, that I was driving THROUGH Joburg city!! The traffic was great, people drive by the rules and the roads are good. I loved driving there...

The names of the areas we drove by were very English - Hyde Park, Kensington etc. Even the houses in the 'good' parts of Joburg looked huge and English. They were built in similar style: huge bungalows (with even huger fences:)). It was evident that the people who had money in SA, had lots of it.

The people of Joburg (and South Africa) were very very friendly. It felt very different and nice, everyone eager to help and felt so much more genuine than the Western World. But I must say, I found it one of the most inefficient places I have visited. All processes take so long, people just dont work fast and efficiently. At the hotel, in restaurants, cafeterias.. everywhere people just take their own sweet time to do anything. Maybe it is a good thing to take time, but I had a tough time getting used to it! We would be at dinner with 5-6 waiters, 3-4 guests and still it would take them 30 minutes to take an order. I just could not get over this one thing at all!

Also you can see people of all types everywhere, whites, Africans and Indians. The city and the country did sometime feel like two worlds though and apparently it is. I will write about it more in the next article on my Apartheid day - visit to Soweto and Apartheid museum. But you could still see poverty and economic differences everywhere. Another thing I noticed was that the African middle class is trying to rise and improve their state but you can also see, there is so much farther to go. Now, it is more of the economic divide rather than race divide which affects the country. But given its history, both these divides are quite inseparable still, and the divide will remain for some time to come.

I visited a couple of touristy places, like Lion Park, Cradle of Humankind etc about which I will write later. But the impression I left with when I left was that lifestyle in Joburg (and South Africa) seemed very good: live in a huge house, drive on low traffic roads and enjoy a good weather throughout the year. Summers are about 20-30 degrees and winters are 10-20 degrees, with sun all through the year. People in Joburg complain about the cold but I think they are just pampered:). Their winters are like London summers! Loved my stay there and would love to return for more...

Cape Town

Everyone I mentioned to, that I was going to South Africa asked me not to miss Cape Town. It is supposedly an amazing and unique city. And even though I have found people's reccomendations wrong at times, I felt I had to visit Cape Town to see it for myself. So I decided to go there alone and I am so glad I did. (And I would agree it is one of the most beautiful cities I have seen!). The vibe from the city is very different, it makes you feel very fresh and alive!

I went to Cape Town in winter when the locals said '...don't go to Cape Town now, it has terrible weather..' and 'its freezing there right now!' but to be honest, after staying in London, a temp of 12-17 degrees Celcius during the day is not terrible or freezing! It turned out to be pleasant weather to travel; and even though it did rain a bit on one day, the other was completely sunny and warm. I stayed at the Taj hotel while in the city because I felt closer to the Indian brand. And while staying there I realised what people meant when they said that service in Taj is always a notch better than other hotel chains. It really is, even in a different country. The staff are well trained, friendly and honestly try to help their customers.

Cape Town from Signal Hill

Initially I had planned to take the city tour but later changed to a rental car and it was the best decision I could have made! Cape Town has a lot to offer in terms of a city, it takes a hold on you with the view it offers: surrounded by three huge mountains on one side (table mountain, devils head and lions head); the busy metropolis in between and the sea on the other. Its shaped like a bowl and the main city is enclosed within the bowl. And it has a very European feel to it. People say once in Cape Town, you don't feel its Africa, and I would agree. It feels different, very open, very fresh and close to nature.

Zorgvliet wineyard

But what Cape Town has to offer outside the city is a lot more than within the city. Green lush hills, wineyards, capes, sea drives, penguins, mountain tops and so on.. Its worth driving out of the city to experience all this..

Asara hotel and wineyard

The first day when I started off to drive towards Stellenbosch, (a small town in the Cape Town wine country), the weather was cloudy but still felt so green and fresh, it was the perfect day for driving in the hills. And I loved driving through the area, winding country roads through hills laced with wineyards on both sides.

Asara wineyards

It took 40 mins (about 50 kms) to drive to Stellenbosch and once there, I just drove towards Franschhoek and whenever I saw a wineyard which looked interesting, took a detour in to admire the view. The wineries I stopped at were Asara, Zorgvliet and La motte. All the wineyards offered restaurants, wine tours, wine tasting and some had hotels and lodges to stay in. They all also had chapels! Most of these wineries had European roots (and flags) and had been there since the 1600s. Some were German, some Italian and so on.

La Motte wineyard

The view (and feel) at each of these wineyards and the area was worth many a picture, I don't have words to describe it. It was just heavenly driving there. Plus Cape Town has an Indian radio channel. That proved to be a boon, driving in such pleasant weather with Hindi music playing; can there be anything better than this?

Vierneef restaurant at La Motte

I had lunch at Vierneef a la motte which had Italian musicians and a restaurant with views to die for. The food was tasty, though expensive by South African standards. Don't know much about the wines though, but anything from such an amazing place has to be good;-).

Every photo I took there felt like a picture. The people were very friendly and I loved the experience. And it was the best wineyard experience I have ever had, the most beautiful wineyards I have ever seen (not been to France yet!). I think it had a lot more to do with the weather than just the place. A slight cool cloudy day makes travel so much more pleasant!

Cape Town at night from Signal Hill

In the evening I drove up one of the hills around the city bowl, called Signal Hill. The drive winds up the mountain offering great panoramic views of the city, with the ocean on one side and the mountain tops on the other. At night with the twinkling lights, it looks even better:). And you realise how small the city is, with a central CBD of high rises and then smaller houses all along up the mountains.

Somewhere near Simons Town

The next day I covered a couple of places in the Cape area: the Boulders Beach which is the nesting place for African penguins; Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope which are the southernmost points on the Cape and the Chapman's drive while coming back to Cape Town. The drive in this area was mesmerizing, along hills next to the sea, offering glorious views at every turn. Mountains, forests, wildlife, ocean, sea-side resorts, water sports.. it was all there!

Boulders Beach

The first stop for me was the Boulders Beach which is located near Simons Town. The actual location where the penguins were was Foxy beach next to Boulders. There are hundreds of penguins there, sometimes on the beach but otherwise hiding under the foliage on the beach. While going towards the beach, I did not spot any but while coming back I realised they were all around!

Adult African penguin

Its a beautiful location to stay in:). There were adult - white and black penguins and the children - with the furry brown coat. They looked cute while waddling around, almost like soldiers! It was fun trying to spot them among the foliage too. Some were hiding under trees, some in the man-made covers for them and some just in the shade. They make loud donkey braying sounds too, and hence were called jackass penguins earlier. And they are so smelly, the whole area stinks!

Baby African penguins

Baboons running along the shore

I also ran into a baboon herd while driving along the coast. Apparently they abound in the Cape region and are a menace. There were boards all along the coast road saying ' Baboons are dangerous animals. Please lock your cars and windows at all times' because apparently they are very smart and can even open cars and wreck havoc inside. The herd was just running southwards along the coast and there was an army of rangers following and tracking them. Apparently they do that everyday from 7am - 3pm, following the baboons to make sure they don't harm people. It did look funny though, the baboons running across the coast and a couple of people with walkie talkies and handguns following them along!

Trek to Cape of Good Hope

After that, I drove into the Cape Point national reserve which includes a wide expanse at the tip of the cape. The landscape was hilly with small-shrubs kind of vegetation. I drove till the end of the cape, where is located the Cape Point with the famous lighthouse which has been used by ships sailing between West and East. Cape of Good Hope is also located nearby, again a symbol of when sailors sailed between East and West. This whole area is very rocky, bare and very very windy. Sometimes its difficult to even stand here.

At the Cape Point area, there is a restaurant called 'Two oceans' which offers beautiful views of both the oceans, and a tasty and warm meal for the tired tourist. Though the name of the restaurant is wrong, the Cape is not the meeting point of the two oceans, Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean as everyone likes to think but its still a fabulous setting for a nice meal!

Cape of Good Hope

I went halfway on the trek from Cape Point to Cape of Good Hope and had to give in mid-way because of fear of flying off. It was just easier to drive around to the Cape anyways:). Even when I drove there and parked my car, it felt like my car would blow off. Felt like the most windy place I had ever been to!

Chapmans Peak drive

After leaving the Cape, I drove along the Eastern coast towards Cape Town. Along the way, I drove through the Chapman's Peak drive, a dangerous hilly drive along the coast with views abound. The drive was scenic and so was the sunset.

Views along the coast drive

Once back from Chapman's I tried taking the cable car up the Table Mountain but it was closed due to bad weather. I even tried driving to the Waterfront but did not manage to reach the right waterfront even! Have heard its got eating places and shops there, but missed it! I even got lost in the city as I was not able to stop to change the destination in my GPS. And realised how critical GPS is in a new city. Dread to thing how people managed travel when GPS did not exist!

My whole weekend in Cape Town felt almost like a dream, a beautiful green close-to-nature dream. The town was small and felt open. The places nearby all pretty. Just the perfect weekend away from the city. But along with the beauty, I did notice aspects of a darker and hidden truth. Just outside the city while driving towards the wineyards and the Cape, I noticed densely populated run-down looking townships. These are from the Apartheid times, but now people stay there only because of economic reasons. This is the side of the city and the country that we all try to hide, but is so tough to not notice it when in South Africa.

Views along the coast drive

The demographics of the city also surprise you. Its pre-dominantly white with very few local Africans seen anywhere. There are not that many Indians either, and apparently most of the population is 'Coloured' (which I don't understand). People were very very friendly there which was helpful. And people seemed so much more relaxed than in Joburg. Guess that's because its a sea-side city and such cities are always more relaxed.

Urban Durban

In the coming few weeks, I would hopefully be writing a lot more about South Africa. There are just countless places to visit in the country, each more exotic and unique than the other, that I feel spoilt for choice (and lacking in time). Hopefully I will be able to write about a lot of places I visit in the country and the continent. Also, even though most of the posts will be about the places, I expect there to be a lot about what I feel about the country of South Africa as its sometimes so different from anything I have seen before. There are aspects about the country which hit you everywhere you go and I would be looking forward to penning down my experiences and thoughts as I go along.

Ushaka beach

Anyways, I recently spent a weekend away in Durban. Honestly, I had not expected much out of the trip; Durban is supposed to be just another harbour-based modern South African city. But I was pleasantly surprised! It offered all that and much more. Durban is located on the East coast of SA on the Indian Ocean and hence has warm waters for most of the time in the year. Its also has mountainous terrain which provides it a beauty of its own.

Durban offers both lush green remote hills and relaxed beaches and happening spots in town to spend time. And the highlight for me was this itself; the relaxed aspect of the city, offering multiple activities to have a totally fun and relaxed weekend.

The first view I remember of Durban is the view from the flight, a sea of lights spread till where the eye could see. And just based on the lights, you can make out that the city is very openly spread out, with green pockets in between; a mountainous landscape across the city;  and one end of the city limited by the waters of the Indian Ocean. I had tried to click a picture of this view from the flight to be able to explain better what I saw but the picture did not come out well at all:(.

Umhlanga B&B

While in Durban, we stayed in the Umhlanga area, which is located in the north side of the city. It is supposedly an up-market beach area with lesser tourists than the city. We stayed at a backpackers bed and breakfast located right on the beach at the Promenade and it was amazing. Run by the locals, the B&B was completely relaxed and full of people on backpacking trips. And it was so cheap, it was almost unbelievable!

We stayed in Durban for two days. One of the days we drove around the Valley of 1000 hills and in the evening checked out the restaurants on Florida Road. And the second day was spent just relaxing on the beach, first at the B&B and then in Durban city at the Ushaka Promenade.

The Valley of 1000 hills was a surprising find, as no one had mentioned it before when I had asked some local friends for ideas on stuff to do near Durban. The Valley is about 30-45 mins drive from Durban and takes you through a scenic route. We started our exploration from the village of Kloof (where the librarian took out 15 mins of her work to guide us through all there is to see and visit in the area) and then drove through this very serene and green area.

Kloof waterfall

We did a short half an hour trail around the Kloof waterfall and canyon which felt nice as it was all fresh and green around (and there were not many tourists!). The waterfall was actually a series of cascades, some big and some small. They were not much to talk about though but the trail was refreshing. The trail takes you to the bottom of the cascades which might give you a better view. We however did not complete the trail.

Kloof gorge

And then while driving on, we saw this view of the canyon from one of the viewpoints: Who could say this is Africa? This is one of the two Africas that we witnessed throughout our trip; and this was the rich part: Huge holiday homes located on a mountain with a beautiful view.

Christine's eatery

We drove around for a couple of hours in this area, which had many valleys and beautiful views all across. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful eatery, called Christine's eatery somewhere in the middle of the route. This was the view from the Eatery, with its own personal Bird Park below. It was run by a woman, Christine along with her daughter. Her life seemed like such a different life from the one we all live; living a slow relaxed life in the middle of nowhere, running your own wildlife park and restaurant.

Baby crocodiles

After that, we stopped at the Phezulu village on the route. It was another tourist spot offering a game drive, a walk through their crocodile and snake park and a visit to the Zulu visit to see the Zulu dance. (Zulu is the biggest local tribe in this region). The Zulu dance sounded interesting and we decide to see it. And since we had some extra time with us, we walked through the crocodile and snake park too. There were some 400-500 crocodiles bred in this park, all of them kept in separate enclosures based on their age.

50 year old crocodile

Upto 5 years, all kept together; 5-15 years together and so on. It was actually nice to learn a little bit more about crocodiles, especially that they can live for 110 years (I did not know that earlier)! I still find them yucky creatures though!. The photo on the right shows a crocodile who was just sitting there with his mouth open for the whole time and not moving at all. For a long time we wondered if it was a fake one! But it wasn't.

Green Mamba

The snake park was yucky too (as I hate snakes!) but I liked this photograph of the green Mamba. There are many such private wildlife parks in SA, all have their own animals and their own tourist activities. Private individuals just maintain their own parks which serves as a source of income. I wonder how regulated these are?

Zulu village

After the crocodile and snake walk, we were shown around a sample Zulu village, ending with a half an hour Zulu dance performance. The Zulu dancers showed how a courtship happens in Zulu villages; the man proposes to the girl, tries to convince her to marry him, gets a necklace from her as agreement, visits a fortune teller who tells him his future with the girl, and then gets married accompanied by a 3 day long celebration including a lot of dancing.

Zulu man proposing

I enjoyed the whole performance and the acting of all the performers and was impressed with their level of energy during the whole show. But as much as I enjoyed seeing it, I felt weird and sad too, realising how commercialised even cultures have become now. The performers were Zulu but were now living the usual Western lives. They were connecting with their own culture only when performing in front of tourists. Why is the world becoming all the same; the Western American culture. Though I should say, even though I felt sad about it, I was playing a part in the commercialisation. I was paying to see it, how can I complain?

Marriage celebrations

Marriage celebrations

After the trip to the hills, we spent the evening in Florida road, the hip part of town. The whole road was full of restaurants and night clubs and the trip there made me feel again, why is the whole world tending towards the same culture? We had dinner at a Mexican place, called Cubana. Surprisingly, the waitress was from Portugal and she had come to South Africa to work! Reverse brain drain? Food in South Africa is tasty and very cheap. Most places, one person can have a lunch with starter and a drink for only $10-15! Taxis and shopping and tourism is expensive but food is definitely very cheap.

It is very difficult to be in South Africa and not notice the remnants of Apartheid all around you. At times it feels like you are in the Western world, with only whites around you. And even though its not because the local South Africans are not allowed at these place, they just don't have the money to be in the same places as the whites, given the years of segregation and exploitation. The Cubana restaurant  where we had dinner was completely local South Africans and when we stopped at another place called the TacoZulu,  it was completely white! So even though there is no segregation by law anymore, it still exists! We also visited the Umhlanga area at night and went into 'Cotton Fields' on the beach; it felt almost like an Australian club with the live band playing Australian music and only whites in the club.

Durban from Umhlanga

The second day, we just sat in the balcony of our B&B, staring at the sea, hearing its roar and taking in the sun. Finally when I was getting in the vacation mode, it was almost time to head back home! How sad is that?! The beach was completely empty except for the fisherman sitting there and fishing. The water was surprisingly warm and good enough to go for a swim. And you could even see Durban and the football stadium from there.

Ushaka Promenade

The rest of the day, we spent at the Promenande at Ushaka beach which extends for many kms within the city. It did not feel at all that we were in the middle of the city, the beach seemed such a vacation kind of place. The Promenade was lined with cafes playing live music, performers on the street and people surfing and swimming in the water. The whole vibe of this area felt very Carribbean (another word for 'lively and relaxing'). The whole atmosphere was so relaxed, I loved it even though we did not do much that day.

Caribbean music

Durban seemed like a relatively safe city to be in though we still avoided going to deserted places. The houses in many areas were posh and spread out but there were areas you could see were poor. The harbourfront had huge buildings right on the beach. The people were all very friendly and helpful. I enjoyed listening to the South African accent too, it is almost a sing-song accent and sounds good even though sometimes you cant understand it. Driving was quite easy in the city as there were many highways and well marked roads. People drive mostly by the rules which made the transition easier.

There is a reason why SA is called the Rainbow Nation: there people of different backgrounds everywhere. Durban supposedly has a huge Indian community too, and the Indian quarters are supposed to be quite popular with tourists. We did not visit it but am sure would have been fun.

So all in all, I had a relaxing weekend in Durban, almost like a short Caribbean vacation. but what I went back with, was the feeling of being in a place with a very unfair history. I noticed two different worlds at the same place and reading about Aparthied made me feel even worse, questioning how something like that could have existed in the world till 1990s! I think at some point I need to move beyond it, but for now this is something which keeps coming up as I explore more of this country.