Out and about in Durban
| 11:41 UK time, Wednesday, 19 September 2007
My hair was in tangles and I could still feel the odd grain of sand crunching between my teeth when I got back from a walk along the seafront. It鈥檚 mighty windy out here!
The beachfront reminds me of Santa Monica in California, which I visited for the first time earlier this year, but the scene in Durban is more colourful and as we headed off for England鈥檚 Super 8s match against New Zealand, several women were already busily setting up their market stalls in the watery early sunlight.
Not long after, the promenade was full of African wares and bright clothing for sale: red and green sarongs, wooden giraffes, miniature drums and much much more. Many items were spread carefully across the pavement in a mosaic of an outdoor shopping mall.
It was strange to finish a cricket match soon after midday on Tuesday. Less strange was the result, as we are unfortunately getting used to .
Normally, a 9.00am arrival for a 50-over one-day international would see us filing the last interviews and reports at about 7.30 or 8.00pm. But after 2.00pm, we had no other commitments, so while Aggers took to the skies to clock up some more hours piloting small planes, Adam Mountford and I strolled along the beach to check out .
My guide book tells me it has 鈥渙ne of the world鈥檚 largest aquariums, the biggest collection of sharks in the southern hemisphere, a seal stadium, and Africa鈥檚 largest dolphinarium.鈥 Unfortunately, we had missed the dolphin display, were too late to see the seals being fed and the shark diving experience was closed. The aquarium, nevertheless, was an educational experience.
Whilst watching a sleepy looking octopus through a thick pane of glass, Adam disclosed to me how he had once drawn an octopus for a school project and mistakenly scrawled an arrow labelling its 鈥渢esticles鈥 instead of tentacles!
Among my favourite fish were the Spotted Grunter, the Cowfish, the Devil Firefish and a giant Stingray which looked just like the Millenium Falcon out of Star Wars (see picture right above). Some fish have brilliant 鈥榝acial鈥 expressions as well. One bore a striking resemblance to South Africa fast bowler Andre Nel when he has been slogged for six鈥.. (see picture below left)
The most thought provoking part of the tour so far though has been a visit to the . District Six is an area of Cape Town which was classified as a white area in 1966 鈥 the year England were happily celebrating the football World Cup.
I snatched a couple hours at the museum when we had a night game, and was moved to read the personal testimonies from some of the 50,000-odd black residents who were displaced from their homes and relocated to desolate townships on the Cape Flats.
The land was bulldozed but it was never redeveloped as a white area and in 2000 President Thabo Mbeki signed a document returning it to its former inhabitants. The area is still largely derelict today, and although there are plans to build new homes in the next few years, it seems District Six will never have the same sense of place or community its residents once enjoyed.
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We could do with that manta ray at first slip ... and to open.
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Poor old Aggers! I am "the listener" am I!
:-)
It's quite fun, actually, listening on 5LSE. It has a wonderfully "amateur" feel to it. You start off by announcing an interview with Paul Collingwood, and...
...cut to the (extremely irritating) 5LSE trailer! And you go to the 5LSE page on digital TV, and it doesn't show the cricket! you have to press the Red Button, and navigate through to "sports interactive."
...and then the power goes out, and you think cynically that "I bet it was actually someone in 大象传媒i pressing the wrong button AGAIN!"
But you're my life-line! Don't give up...
One puzzle: when I first started listening to the Twenty20 World, it showed this nice score-card on my digital TV. And at the bottom, it showed each ball, and how many runs and - crucially - how fast the ball was.
And now, it doesn't. Yes, we get the balls and the runs! - but what happened to the speed gun?
Keep it up, anyway. Your journalism makes the whole commentary worth preferring to the Sky mob!
Guy
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Visited Durban earlier this year whilst following our England rugby team on their tour to a hiding. What a beautiful and cultural experience!
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"The batting was good by and large,
with India always in charge.
And Flintoff found out,
without any doubt,
you dont have harsh words with Yuvraj".
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well, India has a decent team for all forms of game. England, they can be proud of having invented the game.
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I am a South African Indian living in Durban. My family and I supported the Indian team for the T20 and enjoyed all the mind blowing entertainment well done guys we love you.
I would however like to know if the team and everyone out there are aware that many of the supporters were in fact South African Indians if it matters but let me tell you we are being questioned about why we aupport India and not SA team. There are many reasons but personally MS DHONI and his guys are gorgeous and played real professional cricket.
I want the Idian team to know they have many fans in SA.
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