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| Meet Microchaetus papillatus, the fat and friendly giant green earthworm that often surprise residents in low-lying areas of Pietermaritsburg after good rains. |
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 friendly giant green 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 on the Couch Surfing site for their best memories of “Maritz Burra”. And 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.
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| Free firework shows happen three times a year over Pietermaritzburg |
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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| Behind these humble doors, escape awaits, waiting in many books of your choice. |
Best-priced used books
The Msunduzi Hospice has the cheapest and arguably the largest used-bookstore in all of KwaZulu-Natal. The stock is certainly the freshest, as new old books are constantly arriving.
My bibliophile tourists rate this bookstore on par with the famous Bikini Beach Books in Gordons Bay and are always surprised at the prices charged.
The Msunduzi Hospice bookstore is on Zwartkops Roads but don't go there in a hurry.
Just browsing the cheap shelves can take a good chunk of your day.
Franziska Macho from Germany enjoys a slice of crocodile tongue.
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.
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| The dry planks from Delville Woods that have 'weeped' resin for the past 100 years around Rememberance Day in July. |
Our very own miracle
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!
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| Local world champion Greg Minnaar Looking Fast on His New Norco on the MTB track in Pietermaritzburg. Photo: SWAPPING LINES |
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.
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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.)
