Christmas at the Beach

For a few days distant memories have been crowding my mind of when I was in South Africa, in Pietermaritzburg. The wonderful region of Natal, at least in the period when I lived there, did not offer much – only the natural beauty of the land which is very rich in God’s gifts like fruits, flowers, birds and animals.

Us boys used to spend most of our time outdoors. We went to the beach, to the sand dunes or just walked around the green bush with its many wild animals, among which there are the typical springbok, leaping buck with its long horns and white patches with dark and light brown along its strong body.

Springbok - photo by Naddel

One of our favorite games was to tie a strong rope to a high tree that bent over the Duzi River. In turn we caught the rope in our hands and like Tarzan with a great leap and swing try to reach the other bank of the river. If the leaping Tarzan managed to get to the other side successfully, he would shout at the top of his voice “The Tarzan war cry”. If he did not succeed, he would end up dangling in the middle of the river and with a weak cry he would let himself fall in the water and shamefully swim to the bank only to try again later.

I like rowing in a canoe. As soon as we reached the river, I would climb into the first canoe available and pretending I was an explorer I would go up and down the river in all sorts of dangers and adventures.

I have no idea why I told you all these because I really meant to tell you something else, that is the hottest period in South Africa which falls in the Christmas holidays, so we organize a great picnic near to the sand dunes of Warner Beach. We Italians chose this occasion as a gathering to celebrate Christmas so all of us went to Warner Beach, which is situated south-east of Pietermaritzburg in the region of Natal.

Early in the morning about twenty families got ready for the big adventure. In each car was loaded with at least four people and all that was necessary for a luxurious picnic, all that was needed to make a huge barbecue (bonfire).

Furthermore some of us brought steaks, sausages, “boerewors” and all kinds of things to drink like orange juice and coke for the kids. For the adults there were beers, wines and mineral water to drink. To end up with cakes and other sweet things, on the ground were spread with big canvas sheets to avoid been pricked by the sharp thorns that covered the ground.

Warner Beach - photo by Robert Wallace

After having decided which of the cars was to lead the group when we got on the way, we decided to take the old South Coast road, because it was a lot shorter than the highway road which is much faster but longer.

The old road although shorter, had one big danger which consisted in the big sugarcane lorries most of the time were overloaded with sugarcane and went uphill very slowly only to gather speed on the downhill on the other side and went at an incredible speed down the hill only to slow down to walking pace on the next uphill.

The tricky bit was to follow the big trucks close up behind almost on the exhaust pipe on the way down the hill, then as soon as the uphill started and therefore the truck slowed down; you now got your one and only chance to overtake the monster. You put your car in a lower gear and put your foot flat on the accelerator, as you shot forward and the rest of the group followed on the overtake, one had to be very careful and look ahead to see there were no oncoming trucks which were going back to the sugarcane fields.

If there was too much traffic and the oncoming lorries did not give you a chance to overtake the truck in front of you it was safer to postpone the over take till the next uphill. It was far too dangerous to do otherwise. If the overtake had already begun and you saw an oncoming truck ahead, the only thing that could be done was to pray and put your trust in Saint Christopher’s help (Saint Christopher is the protector of the travelers worldwide) that the space left between the two trucks in the middle of the road was enough for your car to get through to the other side and hope that the others could look after themselves.

All in all we were a happy community if you did not consider the occasional arguing in a loud voice, but nothing to worry about really.

On our arrival at Warner Beach we always found our usual camping spot free, so we set about laying down the canvas sheets and the picnic would get on the way. Us kids would immediately run as fast as our legs could carry us to the dunes, the beach with its white sand. The bravest of us used to dive in the cold water of the Indian Ocean and its high waves. We spent hours and hours riding the waves on our body-boards. The canvas sheets were put down on the ground in a semicircle and in the middle the barbecue was lit. The adults prepared all the good things to eat that each family brought from their home, we just had to cook and roast the meat and sausages and boerewors on the fire.

It was sometimes dangerous to go into the water because the cold Benguela current from the north brought with it banks of sardines. The problem was that bigger fish followed like sharks and other dangerous fish came to eat their part of the feast.

Sardine Run - photo by Angela Huxham

A lifesaver would stand on top of a tall tower, built on the beach and used to look with binoculars out at sea for the dangerous sharks, because their fins showed on the surface of the water. There were evidently big sharks nearby, he would immediately turn the handle of an anti airplane siren that screamed at a high pitch note that everybody heard, that was a signal to warn all that sharks were nearby, so that everybody ran to safety out of the water. A few minutes later we were all back in the water again as if nothing had happened. The hours passed quickly and before you knew it, it was time to leave.

We loaded the cars again and made our way back home, the journey was very boring and we were all sleepy. Although we had covered our bodies with suntan lotion, we were burned red and even the clothes hurt our skin and sleeping was impossible. Nobody use to talk because of too much food and wine. So everyone drove slowly back to their homes.

Although it took double the time to get back, we all arrived at our destination safe and sound, so Saint Christopher also could finally go and take rest because after he had performed a big task well, to escort every car home safely.

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