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Hugeaux aka Hugo R. Miller is an artist/photographer living in the USA

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Hugeaux aka Hugo R. Miller

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www.hugeaux.com

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1:00pm Traveling to Durban
This is a picturesque journey, from the buttes to the mountains to the valleys. The journey is a total of 8 hours. It is so funny how things so different looks the same. All of this African countryside looks like parts of west America. The red clay is everywhere. There are cement huts, with grass roofs villages along the way. The air and sky looks so clean and clear. A lot of the area we traveled is domesticated, however I know the night brings out the other animals. You see villagers along the side of the road having joyful counseling. There are few or no commercial stores to be found. This is truly Zulu territory. At this point I do not care if I exhaust this day and arrive back in Johannesburg early in the morning. As we travel closer to the east of the Kwa-Zulu Natal coast of South Africa you can see the sky getting bluer. You can tell that the Indian Ocean is ahead. I am doing all of my photographing from the SA RoadLink Motel Coach. The clouds are so tropical white. With the many cattle in the Zulu territory, there must not be many major predators. It appears that a lot of the huts are used as silos (for supply) because you will see houses and these huts. Everything I see and hear is African. I must keep telling myself that “This is Africa, Beautiful and Dangerous”. It appears that the rain that left Johannesburg, yesterday, , we have caught up with. We are 160K/90 miles away from Durban and it looks dark & cloudy. It has begun to rain. The rain looks so beautiful over the African plains. This Zulu paradise is beautiful. The closer we get to Durban, you can see small wooden bridges over creeks, but the huts are hidden in the thick bush. The valleys are rich and green. A lot of pine/cedar trees. You see a lot of African country men and women walking along the highway.

5:15pm
Durban, South Africa
North Beach
Well we finally reached Durban. Durban is pronounced “De - ban” to the natives. I am writing this entry while sitting in a restaurant on North Beach Durban, while listening and viewing on television to a South African soccer game and looking out over the Indian Ocean. I ordered my dinner for the night and I am waiting on the waiter to serve it. This must be a local hangout for the locals, because there is a huge group looking at the television and speaking in their Zulu tribal tongue. Yes, Durban Beach is located in the heart of Zulu territory (Kwa-Zulu Natal). You can feel here the Zulu heritage here and they gaze at me with a welcome. The rain is coming down on the beach and I had a time to photograph a little. This is King Shaka of The Zulus heritage. The place is full of East Indian and Zulu young lovers, very Family Reunion.
Well let’s get started. When we got off the bus one of the East Indian passengers was furious. He had form a crowd and was demanding his money back in a very irritating way. I think he called that manager every curse word, until the manager (a man) yelled back, that “You do not speak to me like a child”. Well the highly irritable hungry and angry passenger demanded the manager to step from behind the counter and he was going to “Beat his Ass!!!”. Well the manager did and they began pushing each other, until security came. Everyone, including I, turned around to see the MAIN EVENT. The security immediately arrived and stopped it all. The passenger along with the other passengers who wanted their money back after 27 hours of stress, cursed the bus company and told them they shall never use them again. Okay, it was my turn. After the manager cooled down for a minute I demanded that I catch a later bus back to Johannesburg and he complied. I think by my way of handling my situation, I believed that the passenger could have gotten his refund. However, knowing our ordeal, I just have to let a person shine the best way he can, and he did. The manager was so shaken I could have gotten me a new bus ticket and a refund, but I did not want to push the issue. It was about 20 passengers who was ready to crucify this poor manager…A REVOLT….MUTINY. Well I got my bearings and decided to head for the Indian Ocean. What a jewel. This is what the Zulu Nation call paradise. Durban Beach is so picturesque. This heavy blend of African and East Indian spices give the atmosphere of an Indian Ocean Tropical Paradise. A very clean beach with mountain backdrops. The sand is a combination of black sand and red sand. While I look at it in the rain it definitely is tropical. You do not hear much about this African Tropics motif except the islands. But Durban is truly an African-Indian paradise. I only have two hours here before night comes. I truly regret for the bus’s problems because I could have spent the entire day in Durban, South Africa. I did not get a chance to see the town of Durban, but the beach. Something I have in common, has made this visit well worth it for me. As I eat my dinner and look out at the Zulu Nation and East Indian Nation, I cab not help but feel the ancestral pull which has gathered me here. I took a small back of Indian Ocean sand to return back to America. Well I must make my way back to the Durban bus station. I hope I can write another entry before the 8 hour ride back to Johannesburg.