Bertie's Travelogue Part 7 - Kasulu to Durban

After Kasulu I looked forward to the excitement of a destination which actually had some life. Now, I don't want to cause offence to the vast numbers of Kasuluans reading this blog but the place was deader than a fish finger in a Chernobyl aquarium so I wasn't too unhappy to wave farewell. Air traffic control were quite excited as it's a busy time for them because another aircraft is due within a few months.

It was a nice simple flight south, following the shore of Lake Tanganyika and I eventually entered Zambia and landed at Mbala, the largest town in the north of the country. "Largest" is relative, of course, and suffice to say there is only one road to the border with Tanzania and this is only passable in the dry season. The area shows evidence of human activity going back some 300,000 years although the first European to reach there was Livingstone in the 1860's. In colonial times, the British Consul was based there and the town prospered as well as being re-named Abercorn. Its heyday was in the '50s and '60s although the area has declined since Zambia achieved independence in 1964 and the name Mbala was once more adopted.

There is one hotel and it was to this that I took my weary body before my next flight to Blantyre in Malawi.

Nice gentle take-off into a beautiful dawn and yet another lake to follow - this time it's Lake Nyasa. Considering the proximity of water, the software doesn't really do this justice insofar as the ground below is of a uniformly light sandy colour Maybe that's how the real thing is? Hang on, GoogleEarth time! ........................................ Hmmm, it's actually very green around there but I suppose realism can only go so far. I've even put in extra software which purports to enhance African terrain and scenery; oh well.

Now Blantyre is named after the birthplace of..........yes, you've guessed it...........Dr Livingstone. He certainly got around, didn't he? By all accounts, it's rather nice there and it boasts an influential expat community of some 25,000 souls from Britain and Europe. It houses the Supreme Court as well as Malawi's one channel television station. If you are reading this in Burton-on-Trent, did you know your town is twinned with Blantyre? Malawi itself used to be called Nyasaland before independence in 1964. It's among the world's least developed and most densely populated countries with its economy based mostly on agriculture and a largely rural population. Sadly there is low-life expectancy and high infant mortality along with an above average incidence of HIV/Aids although signs are that progress is being made.

Football is their national sport and, whilst there is not much evidence to support them as contenders at the 2010 World Cup, they did beat Djibouti 8-1 last May. Mind you, the Penge Women's Institute 2nd XI allegedly beat Djibouti so don't get too excited.

Finally, I am on my most southerly leg as I fly off to Durban in the Republic of South Africa. I've done all of my flying during daylight until now but I've decided that I want to do a predominantly instrument-based flight and a night landing. It's quite weird if one does this with all the lights off and the headphones on so all you can see is the occasional light far below and hear the occasional radio voice. I made sure I was at a reasonable altitude just in case some pillock stuck a mountain in the way but I finally got confirmation from Durban that I was 64 miles out and vectoring me in to my final pattern. Seeing the myriad lights stretched out below me as I started descending over the the outskirts of Durban was truly a relief but nothing compared to seeing the runway lights more or less where they should be.

It's a totally different ballgame trying to land without the ground to orientate one - especially when one realises in the nick of time that the altimeter needs to be reset. In the end though, It all came together and I touched down with real adrenalin pumping - great fun!

The history of South Africa is a fiery and interesting one. Stopover on voyages to the Orient, and originally dominated by the Dutch East India Company and their Boer offspring, it all kicked off when gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand reef and a certain Erasmus Jacobs found a pebble which turned out to be a 21 carat diamond. Strangely enough (and I'm sure it's coincidence), Britain started to take a lot more interest in the area at this point which culminated in the Boer Wars. South Africa became a Republic in 1961 and after a long and difficult birth is now one of the world's more stable countries. The sad part is that many other African countries have mineral wealth but politics, tribalism and the greed and expansionism of the West have all contributed to their present predicament.

Right, sermon over - back to Durban. The busiest port in Africa with beaches to die for, it's the third biggest city in the Republic. Little is known of the history of the first residents, as there is no written history of the area before it was first mentioned by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who came to the KwaZulu-Natal coast while searching for a route from Europe to India. He landed at Christmas 1497, and thus named the area "Natal", or Christmas in Portuguese.

After the journey south, it's so nice to feel the vibrance of a modern city, committed to sport, fun and life. I think I might stay here for a bit of R & R; diving, cricket, football, surfing. Yep, think I can fit them into my busy schedule before I head off to Madagascar. Waiter, a bottle of Tusker if you please! I'll pay for it with this.