South Africa - Dangerous Animal Day
Sunday turned out to be Dangerous Animal day! With my 2 o’clock Sharks Board dissection on the plate, Sandy suggested we continue the theme, so she took me to a Crocodile farm and reptile museum. It was about 30 minutes out of Durban, near Umlali (pronounced Uhm-shlali). They apparently farm crocodiles, which means they had quite a lot of these fellas, around 50 or so that were 2-3 years old and thus ready to sell out to breeders themselves, and quite a few mature (large) ones that were laying around all over the place. They also had lots of baby crocs, and tons of incubating eggs in different areas.
We started off by walking …
… through the various glass cages full of all kinds of poisonous African snakes, most were quite active when we walked by. One of the Cobras even tried “attacking” the glass, and after seeing the lightning quick darts and bites on the glass, I could not imagine running into one of these in the wild. They had the Black Mamba, which is one of the deadliest snakes in the world, with powerful neurotoxin venom that will actually paralyze you before you die from respiratory failure. Owch. They also had several python that were enormous, and lots of tree snakes that were colorful, but again, very deadly. They also had several cages of injured owls and raptors (eagles, hawks, etc.) that had been hurt or sick — they were still quite magnificent. They also had a cage full of monkeys (very cute, social animals), and some ostriches.
After spending the morning there, we drove back just in time for the Sharks Board show. It started off with the dissection, unfortunately, the movie introduction on Sharks was down (technical difficulties related to the sound — I offered to try and help take a look at the setup, and they almost took me up on it, but instead apologized to everyone and let it remain broken). The dissection was fascinating. It was a bull-nose shark, not too big, but enough to make you scared to swim. I have lots of pictures (in the gallery), if you’re feeling brave!
After the show, Sandy dropped me off at the beach with some snacks, where I laid out for a while, and talked to some locals (they were probably trying to hustle me, but it was well enough and enjoyable chatting for a little while). I walked up and down the beach, and didn’t ever go swimming because I didn’t want to leave my digital camera sitting by itself on my towel (not because I was thinking of all those sharks, eh).
After that, Sandy and I went to dinner at the Cargo hold, a restaurant in the downtown Durban Shaka Marine World, and it was incredible. They had taken a large titanic-like vessel and turned the inside (the Cargo Hold) to a restaurant complete with an enormous tank with what must have been 30 foot glass walls surrounding hundreds of Pompano (silvery fish) and 4 large bull sharks. While our table was one away from the glass, the sharks and fish were literally swimming around us (perhaps watching us eat their friends). The food was excellent: I had some languostines (like prawns/shrimp but similar to crawfish) that were fabulous and a King Club fish and vegetables. After a nice cappuccino, it was back to lodge.
I keep forgetting I’m here to work, since it seems like one big vacation — what an incredible opportunity and a gracious host (Sandy) helping me seize the opportunity to completely enjoy everything to the fullest! I don’t think the days could get better, but apparently they keep doing so!
