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| Free fireworks happen often over Pietermaritzburg |
I was quite taken aback when the international website
Unchartered101 recently approached me to tell the world what makes
Pietermaritzburg such a special spot.
I mean, what more reason do you need than our giant, purple
earthworms? Or being able to buy Africa’s oldest newspaper? Not to mention the
fragile beauty of butterflies emerging at Butterflies for Africa, the moving
Madiba Capture Site, or our top craft brewers.
So I checked with a few fellow couch surfers for their best
memories of “Maritz Burra”. A good thing I did too, for the tourists’ answers
created a list of unique delights that shows our Sleepy Hollow has no equal in
the world.
Free fireworks!
On any of the big festival nights celebrated by
our Hindu, Muslim and Christian religions, park off at World’s View — or on any
stoep with a view over the city in Northdale, Clarendon, Edendale or Bisley —
and enjoy spectacular fireworks for several hours.
“Where we come from we have to queue for such a show and it is
always over too soon,” sighed a German visitor.
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| The Brindley & Foster pipe organ in the City Hall. |
Mellifluous organ
Our City Hall is famous for being the biggest
red-brick building in South Africa, but it’s what is inside that brought
emotional catharsis to a Japanese accounting student who had lost her entire
family in Japan’s 2011 tsunami disaster.
Bottling up her grief for years, she also stopped
practising the organ, but the very soothing notes of the city’s massive old
Brindley & Foster organ convinced her to play again, finally getting peace
as tears streamed down her face.
Few organists can pull out all the stops, but
when a recital happens, be sure to attend to understand why, deep down, we are
all made of good vibrations. (Check with www.musicrevival.co.za for next
recitals.)
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| Salted beef hump, the texture of tonque and the taste of beef. |
A foodies’ paradise
On my travels, I have observed that any timid
tourist can become an intrepid explorer simply by sitting down to break bread
with the locals.
Hence my belief that if your journey does not have you eating weird
foods with strange people in a place with a view, you are not really travelling,
but just being herded between airports.
Which is why I make sure my guests taste all the best Maritzburg
has to offer, from ngwenya shisa nyama at Dan’s Crocodile Butchery in Boom
Street; to Kara Nichas’ vegan bunny chow at any of their outlets; to Bollywood
Curries’ tasty rotis on Boshoff; the high teas at Rosehurst on Boom; the sheep
tripe special at Bombay Curries on Victoria; and, finally, some Hindi sweetmeats
from Murchison’s Spice Emporium on Chota Motala.
Our very own miracle
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| The dry planks from Delville Woods that have 'weeped' resin for the past 100 years around Rememberance Day in July. |
Of the three Christian crosses made from splintered
trees and send to South Africa after the Battle of Delville Wood in France in
1916, only one each year weeps resin during July, when the world remembers the
fallen of that war.
Their number includes 2 683 dead from the South Africa Infantry
Brigade’s original 3 433 soldiers who were ordered to hold their section of the
forest at Delville during the Battle of Delville Wood.
They did so for six days and five nights of hellish bombardment
that saw 400 shells a minute, followed by bayonet charges. Only 750 South
Africans came out of the smoke alive on July 18, 1916.
The planks have now “weeped” around Remembrance Day for 100 years
and, to date, neither experts nor mystics can explain how or why.
The cross can be seen by appointment in the Garden of Remembrance
on Leinster Road. People assure us the little park is not haunted!
Taunt gravity
Runners across South Africa know the city for the
Comrades, swimmers for the Midmar Mile and paddlers for the Dusi canoe marathon,
but the craziest bunch of extreme adrenaline junkies you can hope to meet rate
PeeMbee for the world-class downhill mountain biking runs above the Cascades
Shopping Centre.
The giant jumps and tight forest trails were designed to scare
world championship contenders and the pros I hosted confirmed “the rush was
epic”.
But what they liked even more about world champion Wayne Minnaar’s
stomping ground are the after parties. “The dudes are like, legend, but the
girls … phew!” is as good a summary as any I got from a New Zealander.
Cheapest used books
While waiting for the Shosoloza Meyl to arrive in
its own time at the stately old station, go rub the toe of Mahatma Gandhi’s
statue for a bit of wisdom on fighting unfair laws and then settle down to read
the books bought at the Msunduzi Hospice’s large bookstore on Zwartkops Road.
“Is this price right — only 50 South African cents!?” asked a
Spanish/German couple who had cycled down most of the west coast of Africa.
