March 10, 2023
Howdy, when I woke up this morning,we were already docked in the port of Durban. Durban is the largest port in the African Continent. It is home to nearly 3.1 million people and is the second largest City in South Africa after Cape Town. Languages spoken are English, Zulu and Afrikaans. With an unemployment of 35%, the City is going through hard times. This definitely is an enormous port City with cranes and container ships all around.I also noticed a lot of new construction equipment and agriculture equipment sitting on the dock waiting for pick up. Apparently the ships pilot was dropped on our cruise ship overnight by Heli. This is the modern way getting pilots onto the boat, a lot safer then transferring boats in high sea. This AM we had booked a City tour with visits to inner city markets. Before we got to the market we drove through several City streets, a little bit chaotic, because they have rotating power blackouts, You got it, this means no traffic lights. Eventually,we did arrive at the market. What an enormous hustle and bustle people everywhere and literally selling everything you can imagine. The market is located under several highway overpasses to keep it protected from the rain. In my opinion a good use of space. For example inside the market somebody was selling tv’s and radio’s and he had the volume cranked up as high as it will go and all of them on different stations.(crazy)then we got to the medicine market where they were selling every herb you can imagine. There were also quite a variety of spices for sale. I thought it was quite the experience to see all that. One noticable thing was , that we didn’t have to deal with all those nasty street vendors like we encountered in Maputo. After we found our way back to the bus they drove us to something called the African Art Institute. This is a place where young Artist are trained in a variety of art skills and there work is offered for sale in an onsite store. Unfortunately my visa card didn’t work here, and they didn’t accept US dollars. I am sure we find similar art in other places. after our gallery visit, we slowly made our way back to the pier. After having a late lunch , it was to late to take the shuttle bus to town for another outing. We left the harbour around 5PM on our way to the next stop tomorrow. The heli showed up to lift the pilot of the back deck when we reached the open ocean. Tonight we also say goodbye to the rock band who are leaving us in Capetown. They had been with us since the start of the cruise and we have enjoyed their music on many nights in the Rolling Stone Lounge.
“Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere.” By – Isabelle Eberhardt
Cheers
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