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.

East London, South Africa

We drove from Port Elizabeth to East London one afternoon and I took a walk that evening. Unfortunately it was a bad day for a walk on the beach. One side of the sky was sunny while the other was covered with clouds. Maybe its that time of the year, but all the beaches i've been to in South Africa so far were extremely windy. Imagine walking on a beach with layers of clothing, being pushed around by strong wind, feeling cold and depressed. Cant really imagine a beach like that right?

Yeah well, all thanks to the winter kicking in.

Missing Cape Town

I envy the people living in Cape Town. Its very very scenic. The kind of landscapes you see here are fantastic. Fortunately for me, I was packed off and sent to South Africa on work.

Im here for the Indian Premier League. I get to sit in a box. I get to pig out of free drinks and free food. More often than not, Im always watching the match with a glass of beer in my hand. I get to travel with two teams. The Deccan Chargers and the Rajasthan Royals. I get to rub shoulders with Gilly. I even get to have lunches with Scott Styris. 

On certain days, i take the time off to visit tourist spots armed with my SLR, a jacket and sometimes with a flimsy tripod. But that was in Cape Town. I've heard nasty stories about gun point experiences at Jo'burg, Port Elizabeth and East London. Which is why I've not even bothered to take a stroll with my camera. 

However, I've been here since the 16th of April and intend to stay till the 26th  of May. And I'm starting to feel lonely. I miss my wife. I miss the guys from Puma India. I miss Mum and Dad. and I miss chilling with Aditi, Niyu and Ravi.

May started with Reva's bday. I missed her. I wish she was here with me. We could drive to Camps Bay together. Maybe down a bottle of white wine and look at the sunset.

Today's the third of May. I made a few desktop calendars from pictures taken at Cape Point and at Camps Bay. I normally send them out to a whole lot of people month after month. I thought I'll put the MAY ones up here. All these were taken at Cape Town. I wana go back to Cape Town. Reva, get here fast. We've got to go to Cape Point, Camps Bay, Table Mountain and to the Wine yards.

Camps Bay - We got a fantastic view at 6.45 pm. The sun had set. Clouds were below us and cars were zipping by with their headlights on. 

 

The setting sun at Camps Bay
Standing on firm ground and yet above the clouds...

On top of Cape Point. I wish I had a polorising filter.

The sun setting behind table mountain. I caught this through the window in my room. 

Table mountain again. This time, caught from the table top. 
On the way to Cape Point, we made a few stops.

Camps bay again. Im so glad i had my flimsy tripod.

 

Table Mountain

When I arrived at Cape Town, all I wanted to do was to go shoot the much talked about Table Mountain. I wanted to shoot it from a distance, with the sea in the foreground and the sun setting in the background. I havent got a chance to do that yet. But I did manage to go up Table mountain and shoot the city from top. I went there yesterday at about 12 noon. Came back a bit disappointed. Obviously I knew the light wasn't right. So I made a note to come back one evening during 5 and 6 to catch the light of the setting sun. 

At 5 pm I decided to leave the hotel to find a vantage point to shoot Table Mountain from a distance. I did a quick google and found that Blouberg strand would be a good place to start. I sat in the Audi, fed in Blouberg and zoomed away. Forty minuted later I was completely lost. Blouberg didnt look anything like the place I saw on the net. The sun was setting fast and I knew just had 50 minutes to get a few good shots in. Not wasting any time, I put the car on Sports mode and sprinted towards table mountain. Climbed up finally at 6.15 and managed to get a couple of decent shots. It was way too windy though. I even had trouble getting my tripod to stay still.