March 31 (day of visit)

As we prepare to depart from Durban, the Captain announced “the Stowaway Search,” something that occurs in every port in this area. We’re not aware of any “extra’ passengers”, but we wouldn’t know. 

Like several South African ports, East London appears to be desirable as an entre to see wildlife in the interior. Google revealed a couple impressions:

   -“Hotels seem geared to conferences, although why any right minded company would ever hold their conference in this area and in hotels with appalling WiFi is beyond me.”

   -“Hotels with faded charms and well passed their best.” 

   -“Fossil fish and Dodo egg pretty well sum up East London. Old fashioned and waiting for better days to hatch.”

The city was founded in 1836. It now has a quarter million people, with the greater urban area having three times that number. It became a city in 1914. In 1870, the port began operating and it was boosted by the completion of a rail line in 1876. In the 50’s, like the rest of the country, it struggled with relocations related to placement of Blacks and Coloreds. It seems to take a long time to get over the past.

The economy has a strong motor industry, significant fishing, and production of clothing, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and food processing. Doesn’t sound too exciting, but we’ll see. While I’m waiting, I checked in with Truth Social to catch up with the US. This was trump’s entry:

“All these complaints! This is the GREATEST START of any administration…EVER! Why can’t people be happy? Now were hearing squeal from veterans. LOSERS. If I didn’t have these darn bone spurs, I would have been one of America’s GREATEST WARFIGHTERS. Upon return, I wouldn’t expect welfare from my country. Even here, I had to live on a small allowance from my GREAT DAD. So, I say to veterans, “Buck up, little Buckaroos.” Speaking of veterans, Pete Hegseth may be the greatest SEC DEF ever. Have you seen him on Fox? He really does TV. Now LAME STREAM MEDIA and that SNAKE Goldberg are slithering after him. He NEVER disclosed War Plans or Battle Plans..or something like that. That’s what they tell me; I wasn’t involved. Elon should be knighted. Why do naysayers and detractors complain about Teslas on White House grounds? We need to support a GREAT PATRIOT. I’m thinking of turning White House grounds into a used car opportunity. If you buy one, I’m offering special Trump license plates for only $1000 additional dollars. Remember, new car prices will be going up and used cars will be a great deal. There will be an extra discount if you purchase with Trump crypto currency. Guess what Baron’s summer job will be. Elon doesn’t like it, but we’ll reserve a special corner for Teslas. (Same deal on license plates and crypto.) Has anyone seen Melania?”

We weren’t expecting much from our excursion and we weren’t disappointed. It was billed as a visit to a museum and a visit to a beach. We did both. Actually, the museum and beach were both nice. But, we got little from our guide and the bus driver got lost. The drive took us through some nice residential neighborhoods (one by mistake)…and by a Black township, which was predictably pretty run down. It was a relaxing way to spend the day. Incidentally, the museum’s collection is known for a dodo bird egg found in the late 1800s and early hominid footprints that were found at the beach we visited (Nahoon Point Nature Reserve), encased in rock in the calcified dunes.

East London is probably a good base to go see wildlife. We’re doing that tomorrow.