Living in Mtunzini is like living in paradise! The sky is clear and very blue, the sea is reflecting this blue and there are wild Zebra roaming free in the streets! They look tame, munching on the grass opposite Spar or on the golf course, but you have to remember that they are WILD. If you are not careful and stand behind them, they will kick!

They are not always easy to see and it takes some searching to find them. They do rather like the golf course and you can see them often from the Clay Oven, a restaurant on the main street, overlooking the golf course, lagoon, dune forest, Port Durnford and the sea where you can see the ships waiting to enter the harbour at Richards Bay.

Port Durnford, in 1879, was actually a port - of sorts. There was a jetty out to sea where ships offloading cargo or troops would berth as the breakers here are not so rough - the offshore coral reef protects the beach! Trouble is that this reef (Glenton Reef) that formed off of the mouth of the Umlalazi River, is a safe breeding ground for sharks. Strange then that even though there are no shark nets here, the only shark attack was 35 years ago. Even then, this surfer was not very bright - se was surfing in the evening, it was raining - just off shore from a flooded river. The shark thought she was a meal washed out to sea!

I have heard that sharks don't like being in the lagoon (salt water right up to where the N2 freeway crosses the Umlalazi River) because the crocodiles scare them off! The crocs live upstream of the road bridge and very seldom venture closer to the actual sea! We live in wildest Africa - if the cars don't get you, the chances are high that you will be kicked by a Zebra, or bitten by a shark - or a crocodile!

This was well before Richards Bay became a port. It amazes me that since majority rule, many names have been changed but not those of Richards Bay (named after a commander of the Anglo Forces in the Anglo/Zulu war of 1879!) or of Port Durnford. Sir Anthony Durnford was in charge of the Anglo armies who fought in the Anglo/Zulu war of 1879.If any names deserve to be changed, surely commemorations of the victors in the war of 1879, should be top of the list!

There is a railway line that runs through Mtunzini. . Sometimes you can hear trains but these are few and far between! If Global Warming were such an imminent danger, would it not make sense to rail products rather than run heavy diesel transport? I am of the opinion that man must not abuse his position, but must also bear in mind that Heavenly Father would not allow man to irreversibly damage the environment! Man has been terrified into thinking that he has - in his ignorance - become powerful enough to damage his home created by God!

You only need to look around you at green trees, blue skies and animals, to realise that a loving Heavenly Father has created a suitable home for us to live in - and ENJOY! Why would He allow his creation (Man) to grow so strong that in his ignorance, he would destroy the world - created by an all knowing, all powerful God. If we had evolved, why have we not evolved gills and webbed feet - to cope with melting ice caps?