Richards Bay

I have been trying to think of a tag line for Richards Bay, something that the holiday companies might use to entice visitors from across the globe. I could only really think of “Richards Bay – the Milton Keynes of the Southern hemisphere”, or “Richards Bay hot as hell, industrial as Middlesbrough”. Not catchy enough I know. In fact despite being very hot, surrounded by heavy industry, and designed in that classic ‘60s new town style (all the areas are named things like Arboretum, where all the streets are named after trees, or Meerensee (lake and sea), everything has a fishy theme) Richards Bay is actually quite a beautiful town. The roads from the suburbs (or vorstaads – literally before town) are lined by canals and little pans (seasonal lakes not pots, although, there is a lady who sells plant pots on the road to the airport) where you can see fish eagles, palmnut vultures, and pairs of trumpeter hornbills who leave you in no doubt about how they got their name. There is rumour of crocodile, and I spoke to someone the other day who had bumped in to a hippo late one evening. Bear in mind that drinking and driving is still socially acceptable here in South Africa. The sailing boat harbour provides regular sightings of rare humpbacked dolphins and daily sightings of the most amazing sunsets. Estuaries, lakes and mangroves providing habitat for a large number of rare birds surround the area. The coastal dune forest provides further for birds and small mammals. The residents include my favourite, the Natal robin, who is such an amazing mimic, but often gets a bit big for his boots by mimicking eagles. The Natal robins’ impression of a fish eagle is so good it has you searching the sky in vain. Richards Bays charm is its mix of industrial and natural. Through the smoke stacks, the yellow-billed kites play tag, taking turns to fly upside down and touch talons with their mate. If you look past the smelter, you will see puffbacks, males with what appears to be a cotton pad stuck to their back advertising their wares to passing females.
What ever Richards Bay is, to me it is now home, for a while at least….