The White Lions of Inkwenkwezi

A sleepy white male lion at Inkwenkwezi

Affection....

The Resting Place

If you listen you will hear

White Lion At The Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve close to East London

The Scars Of The Years

The Orient Hotel - A Tale Of Colonial Architecture In The Eastern Cape

Once the Orient Hotel  in Quigney, now the Thuthuka Student Residence of the Fort Hare University in East London.

The many student residences in Quigney have caused controversy amongst the residents of this old suburb where many still live in the colonial houses built by settlers who came to South Africa.

 

It seems as if there is a clash in lifestyle and culture. Although most of the student residences are there since  a couple years, this problem still exists up to today. The students with their more outgoing and fun-loving life style are blamed by the " old Quigney residents " for bringing, crime, noise, prostitution, littering, booze and loud music to the suburb, while the newcomers say racial prejudice prevails.

The Thuthuka residence is an example that old and young can work it out together. The Fort Hare Univesity has taken the initiave to create a supervising student committee that has set up rules for the students who live in the residence. It is the commitee's task to oversee the coming and going in the house. 

The committee seems to work

But littering has become a problem all over South Africa.

Welcome To Slummies

East London has lately been called Slummies.
The inventor of this name was an un-known graffiti artist who had left his mark in form of a welcome greeting " Welcome To Slummies " on a wall at the entry to East London. This comparison with a slum has upset many residents who love their town dearly. 

The welcome greeting has been removed meanwhile but one can still see where the artist had received his inspiration from.

On a Tuesday at one o' clock in the suburb of Quigney the waste is still out on the streets waiting for the collection trucks to come.

It's not only out but it's all over. Waste removal management poses a big challenge to Buffalo City Municipality. And all suburbs face the same problem that the waste is either too much, collected to late or sometimes not collected at all.

It's business as usual for the hair saloon up the street

Trash piles up on the streets everywhere. Attempts to keep it in plastic bags are scarce. And it does not help much either because dogs ravage through the bags and tear them open in search for something edible before the trucks come.

The residents of Quigney have meanwhile a rat problem. I have seen three of them in half an hour in broad daylight while taking these pictures.
What to do ?

The municipality has problems in solving this situation alone. Residents attempts to do their part are rather scarce as well. Once the trash is out of the house, it's definitely out - it is not an individual responsibility anymore.  But without personal commitment to a waste removal and waste separation system it's going to be a " Warm Welcome to Slummies ".

The Grand House - Home Affairs

When you come to what is generally called  " the circle ' at the end of Oxford Street in East London you will find the GRAND HOUSE to your right hand side.

 

The GRAND HOUSE can indeed determine your fate when you are in South Africa as a person of foreign nationality. It hosts the Department of Home Affairs. And Home Affaris issues visas, permanent residences and a whole lot of other useful documents for which one has to apply in this beautiful old building.

The whole area, beeing part of the city center, is like a humming bee hive.

And of course, depending on the matter you have to pursue, you have to be early at the GRAND HOUSE to be the first or one of the first people in queue. A good breakfast comes in handy. But being early does not mean you will finish early

David is one of the car guards taking care of the parking lot in front of the entrance of Home Affairs.

In case that more time will have to be spent in the parking lot it is advisable to take a chair out and may be have something to drink

Medical and Dental services, as well as wholesalers are available close by

and more or less discouraged street vendors with a variety of things that nobody needs.

And if lunch times has arrived and you still do not have what you came for KFC is prepared. Always !

OUTSPAN

Outspan

Outspan is a word used in South African language and it is a partial translation from the Afrikaans " uitspan" which has been formed from the words uit (out) and spannen ( to stretch).  According to the dictionary it means:

1. an area on a farm kept available for travelers to rest and refresh animals

2. the act of unharnessing or unyoking

3.to unharness or unyoke (animals)

I have found these old photographs a while ago and they date back to the late 1800's and the beginning of the early 1900's and were taken in East London. They show not the actual OUTSPAN but a place where the ox-wagons that came to town, came to a halt, and were a market was.

Some of these ox-wagons had 12 oxen spanned in. Remember this was a time in Africa when automobiles had only appeared in very scarce numbers on the continent. Fresh vegetables grown on the farms and other products were sold in town. 
Although not of the best quality I find these pictures amazing.They show us a vague glimpse of a time when the first settlers had come to the Eastern Cape, when life was equal to hardship, and when cars and Landrovers did not exist to ease.
They show the lives of the ones who had left their continents in search of whatever it was to come and live somewhere else. 

CARNIVAL DREAM AT THE BEACHFRONT

Every year 

the same old beautiful Carnival Christmas Dream

with the big wheels and carousels of yesteryear