Surfers during the official promenade opening in the Point Beach Amphitheatre on 16 November 2019. Photo: Gallo Images/ Darren Stewart
Whether you and I acknowledge it or not, there is always a fight ensuing somewhere. Last weekend.
I was exploring KwaZulu-Natal’s south coast, which is constantly in fight mode against more popular and commercial tourist destinations in the province like Durban, Ballito and the Central Drakensberg.
The south coast of KZN is home to towns like Port Shepstone, Pennington, Scottburgh, Hibberdene and Port Edward.
At face value, these might seem like sleepy towns, but to those who take the slow lane in life – like me – they are absolute gems.
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Unlike their botoxed opponents such as Umhlanga, Underberg and Hluhluwe, the south coast somehow retains its innocence and purity.
And, just to take the fight to other parts of the province, the Hibiscus coast can easily activate beast mode.
The Wild 5 Adventures at the Oribi Gorge offers heart-stopping activities that include the world’s highest swing and Pure Venom Reptile Park, the largest reptile farm in Africa.
As we all know, South African politics is never in short supply of epic in-fighting.
Take the former ANC secretary-general for example: one moment he is fighting the very same political party he once swore allegiance to then, the next, his ace of spades is turned into the joker card, thanks to his expulsion from the party.
June is also Pride Month in the boxing ring we call South Africa and in the rainbow-coloured shorts we have the LGBTQI+ contender squaring up against the conservatives, in grey shorts.
They are quarrelling about premium retailer Woolworths’ stance to celebrate those who colour outside the lines, in pink and every other shade there is.
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Woolies used to be a fight club where customers bickered about how cold or warm the air-con should be but, now, it has escalated to street fighter levels, where the pink rand is defending itself against monochrome moolah.
Are we at a level where we are fighting about how different we are?
Life is way too short for us to have just two options: fight or flight.
I say you should consult the Tourism KwaZulu-Natal website and book a much more dignified fight on the south coast, where you never know if a hot curry bunny chow will trump a dish of ujeqe (savoury steamed bread). Either way, you win.
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