A first trip ‘round the world, part 18

After being stuck two entire weeks on the boat, with bad weather and very rough seas to boot, we were delighted to see the sun again, as we cruised by Cape Town and its marvelous surroundings. 

The next day, a Wednesday that fell smack at the end of June, saw us reach our Durban stopover in South Africa. We all were antsy to finally set foot on land. 

Seen from the boat, the city was as modern as it was impressive. In 1971, it had a population of around 850,000, and the port of Durban was the largest in South Africa and the 4th largest in the entire southern hemisphere. This time, despite the return of the sun, the cooler air was marking the start of the southern winter. 

The population seemed quite diverse with many Indians who at the time counted for about one third, the other third being made up of blacks, while whites (mostly Brits) and other people of "color", who came from all over the Indian Ocean, accounted for the remaining third. 

Of course, we were still in the middle of apartheid with signs clearly differentiating "White Only" areas and those indicating the opposite "Colored Only". 

The second day, after receiving our per-diem payments in local Rands, we went out to explore the city and its market where both merchants and smells were overwhelmingly of Indian origin; we had bought hash of rather marginal quality which was offered to us all over the market, and that we eventually tried it on the boat. 

JP had previously smoked some in the United States while this was the first time for me, and since I wasn’t a smoker, the stuff only bothered my eyes and I dropped it on the spot. Hey, before I forget, Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, capital of South Africa, on June 28 1971, and was just on day old when we set foot in Durban. I could have flown to visit him and bring him a stuffed animal, it was only a one hour flight from there...

Although skiing, by now, was a very remote notion inside our heads, we were still great skiers at heart, and knew that it was possible to ski near where we were, in a mountainous ridge called the "Great Escarpment" with mountains reaching over 10,000 feet. 

The highest part was known as the Drakensberg range, with Peak Mafadi reaching 11,320 feet above sea level, next to the Lesotho border. This was long before the Tiffindell ski resort, located 310 miles or 7 hour drive from Durban, was established in 1993.