A weekend in

So Ellie and I have spent the last couple of weekends away and decided that we should stick around Durban this past weekend to enjoy some of the great things going on here. We were also invited out to a colleague's place for Friday night. Willene is an attorney at LRC and is the person I do the majority of my work with. She has some super interesting cases and has very much taken me along since I arrived a month and a half ago. Willene and her husband Dave live in Kloof, a town on the edge of the eThekwini municipiality. It is technically in the Valley of 1000 Hills and is a pretty spectacular part of the region.

Their home is just beautiful and in particular takes great advantage of a spectacular view over one of the gorgeous valleys with a beautiful deck. It truly is a little escape from the busy side of Durban. The primary hazards of living out in Kloof are (1) never wanting to come back into Durban and (2) the monkeys. Apparently sometimes they get inside the house and cause some havoc.

Unfortunately Dave was sick on Friday, but that left us to have an impromptu girls nights - wine, food and lots of chatting. Willene introduced us to some of the wonderful foods of South Africa. We helped make Bobotie, a meat dish with lots of lovely spices, and milk tart for dessert (yum yum). It was a lovely evening and I was very thankful to Willene for inviting us out.

The other real treat of heading out to Kloof was getting to head for a little walk in one of the many little nature reserves in the Valley of 1000 Hills. The area is spectacular, with rolling hills and dramatic gorges. I didn't have my camera with me - sorry. But, really, the very best part of our morning walk was the zebras, particularly the little baby zebra. She was clearly still not super stable on her legs. At one point she was trying to scratch, and lifted one foot off the ground (Robin - picture Peggy trying to scratch), that did bad things for balance and she tipped right over. It was just too cute. And you all know how much I love baby animals (side note - for those of you that I have not introduced to zooborns...go check out zooborns.com, it will make your day better no matter what is going on in your life).

(Picture courtesy of Dave).

After our walk, Dave and Willene took us back into Durban where Emma (one of our candidate attorneys or in Canadian "articling students") and her dad picked us up to go to the Natal Sharks game. It was Currie Cup semi-finals against the Bloemfontein Cheetahs. Now, if you don't know, this is rugby. I was pretty excited to get to the game and I have to say, they did not disappoint.

At first things didn't look good. The Sharks kicking was terrible, but everything ended great and the Sharks are on to the Currie Cup final this coming weekend. Unfortunately, the final will not be here in Durban, so that is the end of the season until Super League starts in the new year. This would be a Sharks try...

By the way - this is Sharkey.

And, one of Ellie's favourite parts of the game (ok, maybe mine too), was the little truck that brings the kicking tee or sand out to the kicker.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet and involved a lot of reading and watching more rugby (yeah All Blacks!!!!). But it was a good weekend and I definitely am quite lucky work with some fabulous people who have helped me and Ellie to take advantage of some of the great parts of Durban.

And by the way - happy Diwali!!!

A visiting donor and cow heads

On Monday, LRC hosted two board members from one of our UK donor agencies. Organizations like the LRC face a difficult reality - their work is extremely important to a large number of people and often impacts the everyday lives of people beyond just our clients. However, in order to do this great work, there needs to be financing in place and often those doing the on-the-ground work, are either too busy, or just not as good at the fundraising as others may be. This is where people like Jill come in. Jill is a board member with one of our major donor organizations. She believes in the work of the LRC and works along with other organizations to ensure that the LRC can continue the great work done behalf of the most marginalized and vulnerable members of South African society. One of the things that the LRC likes to do with visiting donors is to show them, in real terms, what the work of the LRC does for our clients. One of our clients that we have worked with on a number of problems is the informal traders of Warwick Market in downtown Durban. This is an area that I have wanted to see since coming to Durban, bu because of certain realities in society here, it has so far been off-limits. But Monday was different. In order to show Jill and her husband the work of the LRC, we were hosted by one of our contacts at the market and given a tour. The Warwick area has been host to a market since the 1880s and it has only grown bigger since. The market area as a whole employs approximately 100,000 people and everyday, more than 400,000 people make their way through the area. It is hectic to say the least. A tour guide is essential both for safety and to ensure you don't get lost. First stop - the Bovine Head Market. Yep, cow and sheep heads. I think Emma (one of our candidate attorneys) and Celeste (an attorney at LRC) are both going vegetarian for awhile. The head market is basically like a food-court, serving one type of food. Apparently if you are there over lunch, it is crazy hectic. The Zulu men will stay and sit at one of the many small tables; the women have their meals take-away. The women who have their stalls in the Bovine Head Market faced eviction a number of years ago and being informal traders had very little bargaining power. But with the help of organizations like the LRC, they were able to lobby the municipal government to provide a more protected area only a short distance from the previous informal market, as well as rectifying some of the issues with the previous location including ventilation and drainage problems. The women were able to keep their businesses open, continue serving the many many people who make their way by everyday, and most importantly, continue to be able to produce an income in order to provide for their families. The women now pay rent on a monthly basis in order to keep their little table/stall open, and with this have gained a security that was lacking under the previous structure. After recovering a bit from the site of an axe and a cow head, we were on to the fruit and veg market - The Early Morning Market (that was still buzzing well into the afternoon). It is in this market that the LRC has its most recent case. The Early Morning Market is made up of more informal traders who are primarily Hindu. I only note this to point out a previous disagreement between traders from different areas within the market, as opposed to a disagreement with the municipality. In this case it was between the Bovine Head Market traders and the Early Morning Market traders - vegetarians versus meat eaters (everything was eventually resolved). The Early Morning Market, a permanent structure, celebrated its 100 year anniversary last year but are still having to battle on a number of fronts, from the provision of certain services, to the upkeep of the market floors, to just keeping the market open. The current problem is potholes. Now, I know that doesn't sound like a huge problem, but you should see these potholes (Dad, they make the Paradise Canyon Road look like it is in perfect condition). The issue is that the potholes are so big that the carts taking the fruit and veg to the stalls can't actually get past, making it virtually impossible for the traders to trade. Also, people are falling into the potholes and getting seriously injured (including some serious head wounds). So, the current project is advocating alongside the informal traders organization to force the municipality to maintain the property, including filling in the potholes properly in order to ensure that the market can continue. After wandering through the Early Morning Market, we passed through the music market (sooooo loud) and onto the Herbalists' Bridge. The bridge is actually two abandoned freeway portions that are linked to the surrounding markets by footbridges. At the stalls there are all kinds of herbs, roots, plants and animal parts. You can find sangomas (traditional doctors) who will identify whatever ails you and then onto the inyangas who will get everything you need for the concoction to fix your ailment. It is an amazing, wonderful, overwhelming place. My only moment of panic was when I saw the snake skins, but I kept trying to tell myself, at least they are dead - one less snake in the world is always a good thing in my opinion. We also stopped at the clay market where you can buy red clay from sunscreen, white lime for various rituals and ceremonies and impepho, a dried plant that is burned in order to communicate with your ancestors. Unfortunately the Brook Street Bead Market is only open on Fridays, but MK (our intern from the University of KZN) promised he would take me back one Friday to go there. So a wonderful experience getting to see what the work of the LRC does on the ground for some people. I think I also better understand the role the LRC plays in situations like this. It is not that we are championing the case for the affected people, rather we are helping them champion their own case. Helping them to access certain avenues and helping formulate arguments where need be. Empowering those affected to champion their own positions and needs. I should just note - I didn't have my camera with me, but hopefully when I go back to the Bead Market with MK, I will bring my camera along and you too will be able to enjoy he sights of the Bovine Head Market (and maybe some of the other great things to see at Warwick). But...I did get some pictures from our rugby tournament from Ellie, and thought I would throw them on here now... Sabrina was learning to play. It's not a particularly intuitive game. I scored a try!!!!!And celebrated. Mat seemed to be getting the hang of it. Intense action... Part of the LRC Levellers - Rufus, me, Richard, Mathieu and Tim.

23 hours on the bus and totally worth it

Last weekend with everybody in Hluhluwe was a lot of fun. In fact, Ellie and I had so much fun that we were convinced by the Grahamstown crew to take the very very very long bus ride to Grahamstown this past weekend. We got on the bus at 5:00pm in Durban. And, eventually, 12 hours later we arrived in Grahamstown where Sabrina met us at the bus 'station' (a spot on one of Grahamstown's two main roads). She took us back to their place and Ellie and I both crashed for a couple of hours.

Once we were awake again, we were taken on a little tour of Grahamstown. I emphasize little only because that is what Grahamstown is, little. According to the Lonely Planet, there are 120,000 people. That is a lie. I mean, Lethbridge is definitely bigger. No question. Anyways, Grahamstown is little and I loved it. It's in the Eastern Cape, a beautiful part of SA. The town centers around Rhodes University and I get the impression that living in Grahamstown is a bit like living in Antigonish or Sackville. Very much a uni town where students come from all over the place. So, the real draw for me for the weekend in Grahamstown was an invitation to come out of retirement. About ten and a half years ago, I played my last game of rugby. I love the game, but a few concussions in my rather short career seemed to suggest that I might not be cut out for the game. However, when I was invited to play on the Legal Resource Centre Levelers in a co-ed ouch rugby tourney, I thought it would be great. Our expectations weren't high though, as our team was full of people who at one time in their lives played rugby (with my career being the most recent) and others who had never even touched a rugby ball before. So, low expectations. Mathieu's goal was one win. My goal was one try for the team, and once that had been reached re-evaluate the goal.

We arrived at the field on the Rhodes campus and went over to the sign-in table. The guy looked at Sabrina and I and was like "oh, you have girls on your team". Apparently the co-ed part had been lost on most teams and only one other team had any girls on it - and because of the pool divisions, we never got to play them. Well, after a bit of a warm up and watching two matches (only 7 minute halves), we were up. The boys we were playing against were clearly a bunch of 19 year old res kids. It was pretty amusing. We lost. However, I met my goal when I scored out team's first and one of only two tries for the day. Yahoo me! Haha. I think it may have had something to do with the other team really not knowing what to do with a girl playing and you could have suggested that the ref was generous in his call, but I will take it. I re-evaluated the goal for the day and decided that a win was too ambitious and stick with a try for the day. Goal met.

So we played two more games, and were given beer in between (bad decision). We lost all of our game, but I had a wonderful time. It was a beautiful day. Lots of sunshine and the perfect day to spend at the rugby pitch. I am now back in retirement and my body seems to be happy with that decision.

We had a great rest of the afternoon with team beers on a patio and dinner out with Ellie, Mathieu, Sabrina and Tim.

Sunday's mission was elephants. Although we had seen them in the distance last week, we were determined to see them up close at Addo Elephant National Park. It looked to be a great day when from the highway we saw giraffes, zebras and hartebeests (for those of you who don't know what a hartebeest is, take a look at this...www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlPszRbVqVA). So, good start.

When we arrived at the park, we were given a map, which also included a checklist of animals that can be seen in the park (I like checklists a lot, so was quite happy). Addo is the only park in the world where you can see the Big 7 - elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard, southern right whale and great white shark. We were in the land part not the marine part, so no chance with the last two, but we were looking for a big day of sightings. Sabrina's first request was to see a kudu. Now, did the park ever deliver. We rounded our first corner on the game drive and there was a kudu. And another and another and another. So, we decided everybody needed to make their requests. Ellie wanted elephants, Mat picked some random hare, I picked warthogs, and Tim picked the flightless dung beetle (one of the only places in the world you can find them). So we were on the lookout. It was an amazing day, and we were slowly checking off the wish list...my warthogs...

Shocked to actually see the hare Mat decided on. And luckily saw a few flightless dung beetles that Mat was able to avoid on the road. We had t be out of the park by four to make it back to town for Ellie and I to catch our bus. At about 3:15, I was directing us back towards the entrance when we came around a corner to a watering hole. Well, did Ellie ever get her wish - elephants galore! There was a family of females and at least 4 males, one definitely more senior and 3 adolescent boys. It was great.

As we were taking pictures, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a tortoise. I really like him too. I just felt bad for him and all the elephant poop he had to get around. He wandered off into the grass and it was back to watching elephants.

So great day. We ended up checking off 12 of the animals on the list. Only one of the Big 7, but it was a great day. So thanks to our wonderful hosts (Mathieu, Sabrina and Tim) for a wonderful weekend in a great little town. Tim, we will miss having more adventures with you as you take off to Ghana, but have a wonderful time!

11 hour bus ride back to Durban and back to work.

Thanksgiving - South Africa style

In order to celebrate Thanksgiving a bunch of CBA interns (and an Aussie) decided we should have a little get together and what better place to have a Thanksgiving get together than a game park in South Africa? Ellie and I had it pretty easy as Hluhluwe Game Reserve is only about 3 hours up the coast from Durban. Our Jo'berg friends (Joseph, Sarah and Sean) showed a bit more dedication with a 7 hour drive to Durban first, arriving late Friday night at our place. And the Grahamstown crew (Mathieu, Sabrina and Tim) took the win for dedication with a 12 hour, overnight bus ride arriving in Durban Saturday morning. Once everybody had arrived in Durban, we set off on our drive up the coast. Our first, and really only major bump, occurred when we stopped for gas part way to Hluhluwe. After Chico (the Jo'berg car) had been filled up, she decided that she was done with driving and refused to start. As the try-this and try-that theories came out, we also realised that our car had a little issue as the grill was no longer actually attached to the car, just kinda wedged in. Now, we are quite sure this was not our fault and decided to put the grill in the trunk and leave it to be sorted later. Finally, Chico also decided that she wanted to go to the game reserve and we were on our way again. Once we entered the park, we had a bit of a drive to the Hilltop Camp where we would be staying. We were only a few minutes into the park when we had our first animal sighting - zebra and giraffes! Just a little ways down the road, I was even more excited when we saw a bunch of rhino. In the safaris I have been on in the part, the rhino has proved to be one of the more elusive animals (it was the only one of the Big 5 that Mom didn't see on our adventures 4 years ago), but this proved very wrong at Hluhluwe. The park has been the centre of rhino conservation and now boasts the largest population of white rhino in the world. So, rhino sightings became routine (Mom - you will have to come visit).

Once we arrived at Hilltop camp and started to settle into our rondevals (and after a little issue that involved a slithery-being and tears on my part), we all grabbed a beer and snacks.

Sabrina, Joseph, Sarah, Ellie, Ali, Sean, Mathieu and Tim

On our way back to the main building we had a monkey spotting, which made me a little concerned about leaving anything in the rondeval. Those animals are just way too smart for their own good. And mischievous on top of that. But everything was fine, and we had no monkey break-ins.

Deiter and Johann were excited to be at game park (the first time for both). And they really enjoyed the views from the Hilltop patio. I agree, it was spectacular.

As the evening game drives were fully booked, we decided to just venture out on our own little game drive. Pretty much as soon as we left the camp gates, we came around the corner to this little guy - what I now know to be a white rhino. I was a little nervous, ridiculously excited and maybe a little stupid (see my facebook profile picture). Pretty sure Chico would have lost if the rhino decided to fight. But instead, the rhino just calmly walked by us. Amazing!!!! (I think Sarah's face suggests that she was experiencing similar emotional reactions as me).

After a wonderful evening of playing games and sharing stories, we had a very early morning game drive. Luckily, being 8 of us, we had a truck all to ourselves. We started at 5, just in time to see a beautiful African sunrise. We again had a rhino spotting immediately outside the camp gate, and as we drove along, I spotted a rhino in the bushes. You couldn't see it very well, but when I pointed it out, our guide was excited because I had spotted a black rhino. Now, difference between the black and white rhino. Black rhinos have little pointed lips, are smaller and usually live in more hidden areas. The white rhino has a wide mouth (where it's name actually comes from the wide-mouthed rhino), which kinda looks like a vacuum when it eats, is bigger and usually is found on the more open savannah. The black rhino is critically endangered, numbering under 5000 in the entire world. I am pretty sure all the other rhinos I have seen in the wild are white rhinos. Anyways, not a great picture, but this is our black rhino sighting...

I really liked this stork. It reminds me of Robin Hood in the Disney version when he dresses up to win a kiss from Maid Marrion

Also saw some cape buffalo. We had a good discussion later on why the cape buffalo is included in the Big 5, nobody seemed to know. We also discussed the fact that water buffalo are Asian. Cape buffalo are African.

I think zebra are very photogenic creatures. In fact, I think generally black and white animals are more photogenic.

And Tim got the prize for the best animal sighting of the day - this lovely lion popped out of the grass and walked across the road behind us. Then he wandered up the hill and along a ridge. He was quite beautiful. Although this picture, I have to laugh because Boots (my old cat) used to always walk around with her mouth slightly open like this. It must be a cat thing.

Photogenic.

After our lovely game drive we went back to camp and hung out for a bit. We also caught the end of the SA v. Australia rugby match. Everybody (except Tim) was pretty disappointed with the result. So now I am trying to get everybody to cheer on Wales. These were our little rondevals. They each slept two. Very cute.

We took a longer route to leave the park on the way back to Durban. Right before we left the park, there were a ton of cars parked on the side of the road, sure sign of an animal sighting. Well, not only was it an animal sighting, it was a very cool one - a lioness having a little snooze in a tree. It was quite far away, but awesome.

Made it back to Durban just in time to send the Grahamstown crew on their way (another 12 hour bus ride) and say goodbye to the Jo'berg gang. It was a really great weekend. The only thing that could have made it better was if there had been turkey and pumpkin pie.