Durban - Sharks and Sheeps Brain.

12 & 13 August

We spent 2 nights in Durban in total. To be honest we didn't see much apart from the Waterfront/beach, which was right in front of our hotel, the Natal Sharks Board and the Gateway Mall. It would be unfair to give a verdict on the place having seen so little of it, but the little we did see we enjoyed.

There does seem to be far more street kids here however, and it was a little unsettling at times to see so many of them, and adults too off their faces on glue. Our campervan was too high to fit into the hotel underground carpark so we had the worry of having to leave it outside on the street. There was a little security box which I found around the corner and I was able to park right outside it. I befriended Ali and his brother who were the night watchmen for something and they promised to keep an eye on it for us. They were of course generously rewarded! Ali, after being given the guided tour of the Official Smelly Boys Road Trip tour bus went off, and bought back some friends who also wanted a look. At one time there was about 4 of them crammed in the back including Tandy, a collosssal woman with the most enormous behind I have ever had the pleasure of being crushed by as she pushed her way past me to inspect the fridge!

Tandy was obviously a business woman and we struck up a bargain. She did our entire weeks laundry, including sheets and duvets which she stripped off the beds herself for 50Rand. Bargain!

The sharks board was a very interesting visit. We now know everything there is to know about sharks. Next time an animal rights activist harassases you whilst you are enjoying your bacon butties, ask them (her) is she wears lipstick! 90% of lipsticks are manufactures using oil made from sharks liver. We got to watch a shark disection. This was a shark that had been caught in one of the nets used to protect bathers/surfers from the big dangerous sharks. Surfers are often mistaken for turtles, (not seals as some believe) and divers mistaken for dolphins. Yeah, cos all the dolphins I have seen carry big tanks on their backs!

Since the nets have been put in place, serious shark attacks have decreased from about 10 a year to 1 in ten years. Although about 300 sharks die a year after being caught in the nets, 1000's of others are tagged and released and the research that has been done has been invaluable to the conservation of this species. Tourism has also been boosted, during the height of the shark attacks in the 50's and 60's people stayed away, and South Africa was the first country to put the Great White Shark on it's protected species list. Well done guys!

After the Great White, the next 2 most dnagerous sharks in SA are the Tiger and the Bull, or Zambezi as it is know to some. I have already dived with Tiger's and we are looking forward to the prospect of diving with Bull Sharks up in Sodwana Bay where there are no nets and plenty of Bull Sharks. (just for the sake of bragging I have also dived with the Oceanic White Tip, which is the 3rd most dangerous in the world).

The disection was really quite a messy affair and when the stomach was cut open, the stench made us retch. Then when the guy pulled out the remains of it's last meal which included some fish, still whole, we were almost heaving. The icing on the cake was when the intestines were turned inside out. According to the lady who was explaining which bit was what during the diesction, the Great White has 2 penises. Or 'thingamagigs' as she so scientifically put it. We are not convinved and will google this on our return.

The Gateway mall was really Kieran's treat, and he spent the day skateboarding in one of the worlds largest skateparks. He met some dude who gave him a new deck and he helped do something to his wheels so he spent the day grinning from ear to ear. My thanks goes to said dude who has saved me bundles as Kieran no longer requires a new skateboard. Made lugging it all this way worth it now!

Kieran also went on the D-Rex, which is like a huge wave machine. He did pretty good too, but once you come off your board you are sent shooting down this little tunnel where you are spat out the other end and I think perhaps he banged his head, and various other parts of his body too many times and he had had enough after about 45mins. Dan had a quiet day as he had a bit of a headache, perhaps all the partying in Coffee Shack was catching up with him, and he took himself off to watch an underwater documentry on the IMAX. Both boys did climb the worlds highest artifical climbing wall though.

We let ourselves down badly in Durban and had a sneaky MacDonalds for tea on the first night, however more than made up for it on the second when we dined in a Pakistani resteraunt and feasted on dishes whose names I can't remember or pronounce. The highlight was definitely the sheeps brain which, tasted OK but we all agreed the texture was a little spongy!