Firnagi India - Durban

Durban apparently has a lot of Indians. All kinds. You also have Indian restaurants around. Well, its a pity that the chefs at the Indian restaurants dont make food as well as the chefs back home but its still edible none the less.

As a city, it aint that great but if you ever plan to visit Durban, make sure you stay at one of the beach resorts. Away from the city. Then, its probably worth it. But then again, why would you come to Durban for the beaches. Might as well go to the Maldives. Oh well, I also visited "ushaka" a sort of amusement park which boasts of dolphin shows, penguins, a lazy river, a turtle bay, artificial shark cage diving, and aquarium and the highest water slide in the country. Nothing great really, but if you have half a day and nothing to do, go there.

Taken from the 8th floor of the Southern Sun, Elangeni
Ushaka

Dolphins showing off

Penguins.

Cute little rascals.

A walk through the aquarium

The BIG Hole, Kimberley

Kimberley, The City that Sparkles. The city that sleeps at 10 pm, but sparkles none the less. More than a hundred and twenty years ago, De Beers started a mine in Kimberly now known as the Big Hole. It's the largest man made excavation in the world. It's believed that he managed to extract more than 2000 kilograms of diamonds till date. Thats like 1,00,00,000 carats. I was lucky enough to stay in a guest house known as The Victorian Guest Lodge. A small, charming place run by a local family. Fantastic hospitalty with luxurious rooms, located very close to the Big Hole. You should look it up if you plan to ever visit Kimberley. Kimberley is a small town, at most 10 kms in diametre. Quite and peaceful. A weekend getaway. Stay there more than 2 days and be prepared to get bored. Anyway the two places I happened to visit were The Big Hole and Kamfers Dam. I saw the excavation and was quite amused by its size. To be frank I thought it would be bigger than it is. Apparently, many slaves died when land caved in on them. Hundreds killed for the greed of one man. And yet we treat diamonds as a woman's best friend. Wake up guys. the're just stones at the end of the day. Kamfers dam was the second place I visited during my short stay in Kimberley. The only official breeding place for flimingoes in the world. Unfortunately for us and fortunately for the flamingoes, this is not a tourist spot. There is no access to the damn itself. If you wish to see these birds, you need to climb over a fence, cross a railway track and even then, the view aint good enough. Ah well. I did get to see them eventually. I desperately need a 600 mm lens.

Flamingoes at Kamfers Dam
A sea of birds

Kamfers Dam

The big hole ramp, leading to the viewing point.

Ramp again

The Big Hole

4 Weeks in RSA

I've been here for 4 weeks now. I've seen Cape Town, Durban, Jo'burg, Port Elizabeth, East London and Kimberly, all in the last 4 weeks. None of them worth seeing except for Cape Town. You would think that Jo'burg, being the capital would probably be the best of the lot. Well, its the biggest no doubt. It's the business hub of RSA. Its got better infrastructure, more people and of course more crime. I hate it. Well, there are casinos, night clubs blah blah blah...but you just dont enjoy it anymore. Why should Jo'burg be the city that represents RSA? Why is it the Capital? Beats me. I hate it...I hate the traffic. I hate the fact that people here are so rushed and busy. Its just too noisy a place. If I ever come back to RSA on a personal visit, Im heading straight to Cape Town. To hell with the rest of South Africa.

Thats Jo'burg below. Now do you really want to go there? Think twice.