The exotic Victoria Market

A visit to Downtown Durban

Peter was anxious to get out to the places frequented by the locals (Here I mean the African and Indian people) in Durban. So that took us on our next trip to Downtown Durban and the Victoria Market. To be quite honest I was NOT looking forward to this and was a bit hesitant to go to the less frequented parts of town from being warned by so many people that it is not always safe to do so. Then I thought about a quote (that I cannot now remember exactly) by a famous TV personality about the crime situation in South Africa. He said: "For every one person getting involved in crime in South Africa, there are at least 99 friendly, honest, hospitable, caring people". Well we proved this to be true!!

We drove to downtown Durban and found a parking spot right opposite the bustling Victoria Market with a young man immediately coming up to offer his services to watch our car while we go about our business. Then we first roamed the streets that are lined with hawkers displaying their wares and a lot of people browsing around or quickly going on their way.

Apart from the displays of fresh fruit and vegetables - all portioned in small plastic plates according to the quantities desired by the locals - you could find many things specifically used by the African people. I mean anything from "muti" to spare parts for paraffin primuses and frilly clothes for kids and aprons and protective clothing for domestic workers. Then there were also numerous shops selling basic staple foods like maize, beans, and a variety of nuts and other grains. Of course Peter had to dig his hand into the bags to inspect their contents and let it trickle through his fingers and marvel at the variety! He was especially interested in the sorghum grain used by them to make their beer!!

However, Peter was seriously considering buying some prints made from inlaid bamboo or soft wood until the shop owner told us that they were made in Kenya!! This news put him off completely and the shop owner could not understand his sudden disinterest in the prints!!

I was more interested in the hand painted African tablecloths and looked for an interesting one that would fit my huge dining room table. However being able to do fabric printing myself prevented me from paying the exorbitant price in spite of the trader offering it to me at a lower price every few minutes and pulling off more and more tablecloths from his shelves.

The stalls with Eastern foods and spices got most of my attention!! I bought some very nice spices for flavouring rice and some black pepper as well as raw peanuts and we looked out for fresh coconuts. Peter dismissed the "fresh" coconuts we found as "old "and not at all suitable for him to use the milk for the special cocktails that he used to make when living in the Philippines. What a disappointment to me!! At least I bought some raw peanuts in anticipation of tasting his "Garlic peanut snack" that I was told would be just super with Windhoek beer (smile).

Huge trees in the Durban Botanical Gardens

After being out in the sweltering hot sun we then went into the covered Victoria Market. We found ourselves in a colourful and exotic environment! Here the air is aromatic, sharpened by the pungent scents of sandalwood, incense, spice and rose and the humming of many voices that I believe (if we could hear them properly) would have contained the tones of the languages of Bombay and Madras. The alleyways in the market are animated, bright with sari's, noisy with the raucous voices of the traders luring customers into their shops crammed to their low ceilings with silks and satins, silverware, brass, ceramics and a huge inventory of more prosaic goods. Especially inviting to tourists is the vast variety of African curios of which we almost had seen enough already!

PJ's Gifts!

Then we proceeded to the upper level of the market where the locals do most of their clothing and domestic shopping. Less interesting than the lower level geared to lure the tourists, but interesting enough to get an idea of what makes the world of the lesser affluent members of our country?orld go round. There they had the special "designer shops" where the "Big Mama's" buy their fancy dresses as well as the surgeries of local doctors and even more curio shops and stalls selling fresh food.

That evening when I downloaded my photos I got a nice surprise when seeing that I captured a picture of Peter in the street right under a shop sign reading "Pj's Gifts" WOW!! What a co-incidence!! The day at the market was so pleasant that it will always feel as if it was indeed a gift to Peter and maybe also to myself for disregarding the warnings NOT to venture to this side of town! Visiting the market and Grey Street in Downtown Durban was indeed a very good South African cultural experience that I would not have wanted to miss!!

After visiting the market we went to the Durban Botanical Gardens. What a pleasure to wander in the cool shade of huge trees from all over the world!! The myriad of huge tropical and sub-tropical palms all "new" to me. Stopping at an outcrop of bamboo, Peter also entertained me with an interesting explanation of the many ways in which the Filipinos use bamboo to build their houses. The garden also has an orchid house where we saw a variety of orchids in full bloom with more of them ready to burst out in exotic colour.

Our visit to Natal was drawing to a close. The next day we planned to visit the South Coast, the real holiday paradise with sandy beaches, surf and sun as well as the Oribi Gorge, but on our way my car started giving trouble. We turned back to Durban where my brother in law, Manie, helped me to get hold of a garage to se to the problem while Peter and I visited his lovely wife Karolina. A walk through her beautiful garden is almost better than visiting a botanical garden!

We went back to Umhlanga, spent some more time on the beach, sampled some more fresh fish in our "favourite" restaurant and then it was time to pack up and go back to Pretoria. By that time we had discovered that we really like similar things and the prospect of seeing more of South Africa and its natural wonders was something we looked forward to like children awaiting a birthday party!!