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www.thevillagenews.co.za
30 September 2020
FROM THE EDITOR
We are on the right track The next edition of The Village NEWS will be available on 7 October 2020. The NEWS can be found at over 300 distribution points in the Overberg.
De Waal Steyn
PUBLISHING EDITOR E: dewaal@thevillagenews.co.za T: 083 700 3319
Hedda Mittner
CONTENT EDITOR E: hedda@thevillagenews.co.za T: 083 645 3928
Raphael da Silva
It is heartening to hear the stories from business owners across the region that trade is slowly but surely picking up and there is some light at the end of the long Covid-19 tunnel. Most tourism-related businesses have indicated that the past long weekend was just what the doctor ordered to get the ball rolling again. The fact that we saw so many visitors in our towns is a testament to the popularity of the area. In tourism, as in real estate, position, position, position are the three most important words. The Cape Whale Coast has the enviable advantage that we are located centrally
En route to Algoa Bay, while sailing past the sugar-cane fields carpeting the Zululand coast, Vasco sent Marco up to the crow’s nest, and there, through a telescope, he caught his first glimpse of Indians. They were happily harvesting the cane, but he was disappointed to see they looked physically similar to him. He was searching for the people from Xanadu, where Pa was, those with sallow complexions, narrow eyes and high cheekbones, who drank tea and ate with sticks.
Elaine Davie JOURNALIST E: elaine@thevillagenews.co.za T: 084 343 7500
E: taylum@thevillagenews.co.za T: 084 564 0779
Charé van der Walt MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE E: chare@thevillagenews.co.za T: 082 430 1974
Nickey Jackson
And while this all plays in our favour, we as a community need to thank all those business owners and staff who are doing everything possible
trading in the Far East for centuries, and had been rounding the Cape of Storms long before there was a cape, let alone storms.
E: raphael@thevillagenews.co.za T: 074 125 5854
PRODUCTION MANAGER, PHOTOGRAPHY & DESIGN
Every rand that is spent locally at tourism businesses is a rand that will find its way into our local economy and assist all businesses across the board.
to keep our economy going. By all accounts, the Overberg can be proud of its achievements under very trying circumstances. While spending time in Hermanus over the weekend it was noticeable that businesses were going out of their way to make visitors feel welcome and safe. Social distancing, sanitising and mask-wearing were the order of the day. This will further enhance our position as a preferred and safe destination to visit, even with the sword of Covid-19 still hanging over our heads. Apart from the first signs of returning to a new normal in terms of tourism,
the Overstand is also now becoming a hotspot destination for those who want to change from working in an office to working from home. All over our towns there are new faces as more people move here for work from home. Many holiday homes have now been transformed into office homes and the installation of highspeed fibre networks are an extra drawcard. The Overstrand might just be in the perfect position to claim first prize in restoring its economy after the lockdown. This is the good NEWS – Ed
Marco Polo's Travels: The Zulu Encounter
ONLINE EDITOR
Taylum Meyer
enough for tourists to easily pop over the mountain for a visit. In addition, we have no shortage of activities and wine and food destinations, and tourists are bound to find something for every family member’s taste.
By Murray Stewart murray.stewart49@gmail.com
M
arco was perplexed. Although he hadn’t seen a single Indian, he was informed by Vasco Diaz, captain of the east-bound Santa Flatulata, that they were sailing in the Indian Ocean, east of Africa. He knew this coastline well, and told Marco he’d soon reveal why it was called the Indian Ocean.
Now, Vasco had a rather multinational upbringing. Born in Portugal, he worked mainly out of Venice for a firm of Hollanders called The Dutch East India Company. These guys had been
Somewhat crestfallen, he wondered how long it would be till he found Kubla Cohen and Pa, and would the ship, overladen with Stinkwood, even stay afloat long enough? Waves were washing over the gunwales. Before long, the warm Agulhas current flattened the sea to a breathless calm, and the captain hove to in a sheltered bay, and despatched a fourman dinghy ashore to explore. Being too drunk himself, he put his first mate, Ricardo, in charge of the expedition. Handing him a Portuguese flag, he told him to claim the area as
a Portuguese protectorate, and name the bay after whoever he liked. Marco was one of the lucky four to land at Richard’s Bay. Alphonso van Tonder, the ship’s cook (who’d learnt Afrikaans from his father in Italy), and a bloke called Lenny da Vinci (notes and sketches), were the other two. After planting the flag, they nervously surveyed the dense foliage lining the beach. They were ill-equipped to tackle this green wall of unimaginable horrors. Luckily, they didn’t need to because out of the forest strode a line of polished-ebony warriors carrying spears and knobkerries and sporting designer animal-print outfits. With shoddy documentation of this encounter, details are somewhat sketchy, but the warriors soon realised that these terrified sailors were no threat. This enabled their King, Shaka, to emerge regal and imposing from the forest to confront the strangers. As you can imagine, communication was challenging. Marco only spoke Italian and knew some rude phrases in French which received no reaction. Ricardo could only speak a dialect of Mediterranean dock-yard slang, and Lenny conjugated a few verbs in Latin, which didn’t work either.
Fortunately, a thread of understanding was spun between King Shaka and the cook Alphonso, who, as we mentioned before, understood Afrikaans. Luckily, over the years, King Shaka had picked up a dialect from his many subjects working on the gold mines further inland. It was called Fanagalo, and was a mix of Zulu, English, Sotho and Afrikaans, so all was not lost. Information was relayed by Shaka to Alf in Fanagalo, then translated into Italian to Lenny, who then transcribed it in Latin shorthand. The Zulus were apparently at war on two fronts. One bunch wore khaki and veldskoene and the other crowd wore bright red jackets, easier to spot from miles away. The King claimed they were all fighting over gold – wagon-loads of it. Then, claiming the flag in exchange, Shaka handed Marco a sacred Zulu wind instrument as a talisman, and suggested they sail up the coast to the next big bay where these wagon-loads of gold were headed – via Nelspruit. Were these the Kruger millions? Will all that glitters be gold in Algoa Bay, and will Marco ever learn how to play that sacred vuvuzela?
HERMANUS: SEVEN-DAY WEATHER AND TIDE TABLE Wed | 30 Sep
Thurs | 1 Oct
Fri | 2 Oct
Sat | 3 Oct
Sun | 4 Oct
Mon | 5 Oct
Tues | 6 Oct
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10°/14° Some Rain
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11°/19° Partly Cloudy
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