Durban

Leaving Johannesburg today to head to Durban. We've enjoyed our time in Joburg much more than expected, but we've brought a few local craft beers with us in the hire car to remember the city by.

It's a long, fairly boring ride to Durban. There have been scare stories that criminals sometimes throw rocks at the cars, forcing them to pull over before car-jacking them, so I have my eyes peeled for falling rocks that don't materialise. The only thing we see is a man running in the middle of the road, and I have to swerve slightly to avoid him. Apparently this is another common problem in South Africa.

We arrive in Durban around 5pm, and we've got just enough time to get changed before heading out to the cricket. It's the second T20 between South Africa and England, with South Africa winning the first. The ground is a short walk from the hostel, and when we get there, the atmosphere is crackling. Chris gives Katie a quick run-down on the rules, and we get the beers in. It's a great game, with England winning on the last ball of the match.

Afterwards, we head down to the bar while we wait for the taxi queue to die down. We ask one of the bar staff if we'd be alright to walk back to the hostel, because it's only a block away, but she begs us not to walk, given how dangerous the neighbourhood is. We get chatting to a British couple who have settled in South Africa, and have some pretty questionable opinions about a certain section of South African society. As we're talking about this, a fight breaks out, and a coloured (this is the acceptable phrase in South Africa!) guy is brought to the ground by a white guy. It turns out that the victim actually pushed a security guard over. It's all a bit confusing, then another security appears, who says that he got the coloured guy in a headlock. The security guard says that he was being called a racist by the guy, but doesn't say why. We suspect there may be more to the story, especially as the security shares some of his less-than-savoury opinions with us. It's all very strange.Leggi altro