Weekend 1: Durban

This past weekend, I traveled to Durban, a city right on the Eastern coast and a popular holiday destination for South Africans. Well, technically I just stayed in Durban after my work travel was finished and two other CHAI volunteers (Pablo and Sunny) came to meet me.

Moses Mabhida Stadium, built for the 2010 World Cup

So many satellite dishes!

We stayed at the Hotel Albany, so I felt right as home as a New Yorker, minus the fact that it could have been the hotel from The Shining (remember what I said about B&Bs vs. seedy hotels? Lesson learned). It was in the center of the city, so a few blocks away from the beachfront hotels, which looked a bit more inviting. Pablo got in around 11PM Friday evening, and we set out for some nightlife. First we tried the beachfront bars, but they were pretty shady – dark, mostly empty, and fairly uninviting. So we got back in the car and made our way to the popular Florida Street a bit farther inland, which is basically Durban’s version of Miami’s Ocean Drive. Block after block of bars and clubs blasting music and lights, with people cramming the sidewalks and traffic inching along. We eventually found a parking spot and decided to check out Boulevard, which was basically a nightclub in a big old house. It turned out we had walked into an ANC (African National Congress, currently the governing party here) fundraiser, so it was plenty crowded inside. We got some cocktails (about $4 for an Absolut and soda, hooray for South African prices), chatted a bit, and called it a night.

Durban beachfront (beach is to the left of this photo)

The next day, Pablo was up early to go scuba diving, and I took the opportunity to sleep in for the first time since I had arrived in this country, which was lovely. The hotel was much less Shining-esque in the daylight, which was also lovely. I met him down on the beach for breakfast at one of the hotels there. The beachfront reminded us both a lot of Tel Aviv – tons of white and sand-colored hotels all in a line, set back off of the beach, with restaurants/shops/street vendors on a boardwalk-type street right along the beach.  Durban is very proud of being the warmest city year-round in South Africa, and it was about 70 degrees on Saturday, which was nice.

I was planning to go shark cage diving (more on that shortly) the next day, but silly me, I did not pack a bathing suit for winter in South Africa. So we headed out to a mall to go get one for me. South Africa is VERY proud of their malls or “shopping centres.” Like suburban America, they’re very popular places to spend a day, especially for teens. And I have to say, Gateway Shopping Centre outside of Durban was damn impressive. It was just as nice, if not newer/nicer, than many of the malls I’ve seen at home. There was even the (alleged) largest indoor rock climbing wall in the world in the “surfing center,” where I picked up a swimsuit at Billabong (for $50 – sadly, American prices at these American-looking malls).

Watching the races at Greyville Racetrack

Post-mall trip, we headed back to Durban for the reason why we had come in the first place – the “Durban July.” This is apparently the highlight of the year for the “entire continent of Africa” (according to the website) and definitely the biggest weekend of the year in Durban. It’s basically South Africa’s version of the Kentucky Derby, but super fancy (like ballgowns and velvet tuxedos) instead of preppy (like bowties and critter shorts). Needless to say I was underdressed in the cotton maxi dress, Toms and scarf I had with me. We managed to find parking, bought a $20 ticket for the infield, and headed inside to explore.

The infield is

Trying to capture some of the crazy fashion

basically a long row of private tents (of which we could peek inside – and it looked like the fanciest wedding you could imagine; crystal chandeliers, candles everywhere, multiple-course meals, etc.) and then some outdoor bar and food areas where the peasants like us could eat and drink. And the fashion is not just a fun bonus to the horse races, it’s an actual event in itself. There’s a fashion show and a young designers competition, which apparently is a huge honor to win.

And when I say fashion, I mean fashion. Women were in full-on ballgowns with trains, silk elbow-length gloves, sky-high rhinestone platform heels, huge hats or fascinators and dramatic makeup. Younger women, like my age, were in more cocktail dresses with some fun flair, like Converse sneakers or little lace gloves. Men were in everything from regular suits to wild patterned velour tuxedos with top hats and bowties. Keep in mind, there is mud everywhere, so you can imagine what some of these shoes and dresses looked like by the end of the evening.

Me & Pablo, underdressed

Exploring the infield, fancy tents on the left

Like what I’ve heard about the Kentucky Derby, there’s not much to do besides hang out, maybe watch some races, and have a few drinks, so we did exactly that. We managed to make our way up to the inside of the track and actually saw a few races – I had never been that close to a horse race before! I didn’t place any bets, but still definitely got caught up in all the cheering and excitement. Sunny, another volunteer working for CHAI Swaziland, met us there as well.

After we had seen enough horses and my Toms were sufficiently muddy, we headed back to the car and got dinner at Mediterranean place about 20 minutes outside of Durban.  The restaurant was in a creepy-looking strip mall that was entirely dark and deserted, save for this one restaurant glowing warmly. I’m starting to realize that most places (that are safe for me to go) are in strip malls or malls themselves. Dinner was delicious, and the restaurant could have been right out of NYC, save for one thing – the bathrooms were about a minute’s walk outside of the restaurant and into the shared courtyard, and they looked like they were straight out of a rural campground. Just when I think I’ve stumbled across something that’s so similar to home, there’s always a funny twist.

We weren’t ready for bed quite yet, so we decided to hit the other Durban hot spot – Suncoast Casino. We got some gelato and I sat at a blackjack table watching Pablo and Sunny play, and they kindly tossed me a chip every few hands to keep me entertained. I don’t think anyone walked out a millionaire (even in Rands), but it was a good time. Then it was back to lovely Hotel Albany for bed, as we had an early start in the morning.

I met Sunny downstairs at 5:20AM to set out for our shark diving adventure on the South coast, about an hour away. Unfortunately about 10 minutes into the drive, we got a flat tire, and spent about an hour at a nearby gas station working to change it. This meant that we missed the 7AM boat, where we had been hoping to see some whales, as apparently they’re more friendly/visible early in the morning. Finally, we got to the beach around 8AM, stopped at a little shack for “breakfast” (chicken samosas heated up in a microwave and a not-so-drinkable cup of instant coffee), and sat down to eat on the beach and watch the tail end of

Fishing in the early morning fog

the sunrise. There were a handful of Indian and Middle Eastern families (Durban has a very large population of both of these groups) who had camped there the night before, and were milling about making their breakfasts as well. I watched warily as multiple fishing boats tried to get out past the break in the huge, crashing waves unsuccessfully, each making three or four nauseatingly whiplash-inducing turns back to the beach to try again. I was starting to dread that part more than the sharks themselves.

Finally, it was go time. No one else showed up for the 9AM boat, so it meant that Sunny and I were getting a private charter with Captain John and his 2 staff. The boat looked like a really large dinghy, so pretty much just a huge inflatable raft with a giant cage strapped to the back. I wiggled into my wetsuit, helped push the boat out into the water, jumped in, and hung on for dear life. We all sat around the edge of the boat, with our feet

Eating breakfast, watching the waves

tucked into straps and holding on to a pitifully small little rope along the outer edge. Sure enough, we couldn’t get out past the waves easily, and had to make a few of those crazy turns ourselves. I managed to keep my breakfast down, and we set off for the 8km ride into the Indian Ocean to find us some sharks. And keep in mind – the waves didn’t end at the beach. We hit the swells full-speed and got some serious air about every 30 seconds.

After about 20 minutes, we met up with 2 other boats that had divers down looking at these popular sharks. Apparently this was the place to be. I was all ready for John to set the cage into the water for me to climb in, but John shuts of the engine and announces, “Okay! So we’re just going to go for a little snorkel, nice and relaxed. Just nice and easy, it will be great.” And I’m thinking, what? Are we seeing some coral out here before the cage dive? And then I see shark fins literally circling the boat, like something straight out of Jaws. And I realize, no, apparently the cage is not an option for me today, and I am being thrown into the water with sharks, with only a wetsuit and a snorkel to protect me. Cool. And that is precisely what happened.

This is not me, but this is what black tips look like, and this is how close they were to me!

James, one of the guys working on the boat, came in with me and Sunny and stayed next to me as I basically floated around for about a half hour, hanging out with some sharks. They were mostly female black-tips, and we had about 20 of them around us for most of the time. 2 of them even bumped into me with their fins, they were that close! John was taking pictures of us as we were swimming around with them, and as soon as I get those, I’ll definitely post them as proof. The other guy on the boat was dropping food into the water around us, so the shark-friends would continue to hang out. Eventually James drifted away and I was just floating around with these guys by myself (while being accidentally featured in about 6 different divers’ photographs who were about 20 feet below me). It was absolutely wild. I quickly realized that the sharks are definitely more scared of us than we are of them, which made me a lot more calm. I was just very keen on keeping my hands close to my chest, as apparently the light-colored palm can “look like food” to them. So obviously I was obsessively aware of my hand position. And it’s very hard to snorkel without using your hands, FYI.  After 45 minutes or so, we got back on the boat and zipped back to shore (more waves, more air), said goodbye to our new friends (sharks and people) and headed back to Durban. Oh - a pod of dolphins also swam next to our boat for a bit on our way back to the beach! They were beautiful. What a crazy experience!

Outdoor Indian market

After we checked out of the hotel, we wanted to explore this famous Indian market on the outskirts of the city. However, the indoor market was already closed, so we decided to check out the outdoor “market” that was essentially under the highway and in an abandoned bus station. This was definitely another out-of-my-comfort-zone experience (the sharks felt normal in comparison). To me, it was very crowded and dirty, with some fairly intense and unpleasant smells. There were piles of trash and homeless people everywhere, and we definitely stuck out in the crowd. I quickly got the sense that it wasn’t really a tourist destination. I saw people selling dead pigeons and rats and fertilizer. Pablo & Sunny were on the lookout for some curry (as I mentioned, large Indian population in Durban), but I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to eat anything we found in this area. We finished walking through, thankfully no curry to be found (although we did buy a little ball of fried dough off one vendor, which was tasty), and got on the road for home.

One more thing I found interesting on the 6 hour drive home – the rest stops seem just like the ones we have in the US. I mentioned this to the guys, and they didn’t seem to think anything of it, but for some reason it struck me as unusual. We pulled into one, got gas, some water at the little gas station market, and some burgers at a fast food joint called Steer. It could have been right off of I-95 at home. I don’t know if I was expecting people selling fried pigeon from a mud hut, but I’m still struck by the little things here that seem so different, and yet so familiar to me.

And thus ends my very lengthy description of our trip to Durban! Cape Town is the plan for this coming weekend, which I’m very excited about (and there’s talk of diving with Great White sharks, actually in cages this time, but we’ll see about that). And things are actually starting to take shape at work as well – more to come on that, too.

Miss and love you all!