The picturesque Swan
LAST Friday's picture of the Swan, a pleasure boat on Blue Lagoon that was shaped like a giant swan, brought back memories to several readers. But nobody seems to remember exactly when it operated or what caused its demise.
Cynthia Kelly says it was the most striking thing she noticed when she first arrived in Durban, having grown up in the Cape.
"It was beautiful, it looked alive. It was so picturesque."
She thinks it was designed by a Sylvie Langeman, whose husband had an engineering works. She also thinks it was either washed out to sea during floods or sank at its moorings in a storm – more probably the former.
Dave Nicholls remembers it well during the mid to late 60s. "It would be nice to see something like that operating again."
Mary Ann Grafetsberger, doughty defender of the interests of vervet monkeys, also remembers the Swan. She doesn't say so but I seem to recall that the deckhands were vervets and the bosun was a baboon. I think it was a samango monkey who took the tickets. But it was a long time ago and my memory could be faulty.
Does anyone out there know more about the Swan?
Rhino war
IT'S FOUR decades and more since Ian Player and the dedicated band of rangers around him rescued the white rhino from the edge of extinction. They had to overcome the hostility of ranchers and ignorant politicians. They prevailed.
Today the white rhino - and this time its black cousin also - is again on the edge. The new enemy is poaching, fuelled by the ignorance of wealthy Chinese businessmen who believe – quite erroneously – that rhino horn is a boost to male sexual potency.
Who will prevail this time? One senses a stirring, another girding of the loins. And a little bird tells me that Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife – successor to the old Natal Parks Board – is about to launch a multi-pronged, long-term campaign against rhino poaching that sounds most encouraging.
Meanwhile, former Zululand ranger Gordon Bailey – one of that band from long ago – sends in a poem by Hugh Mathie. It's called Cry From The Bush.
They roamed the earth with Dinosaur rex
Proof way back then - they were the best.
The ice-age came and left its scar,
Most monsters died from near and far.
The Rhino lived and made its mark
To grow the herd right from the Ark.
They lived in peace until the day
The scourge would have its deadly way.
Great beasts were felled-without remorse
Their horn removed-with brutal force,
A value placed on manly gain
Attracted vermin to cause their pain.
As numbers dropped deep in the red
The world sat up and counted dead;
The culprits caught should rot in hell
Each one removed, no time to dwell.
That's where it is - let's all unite
Together as one-we must win this fight!
To arms, to arms!
High-wire stroll
DAREDEVIL Nik Wallenda has successfully made a high-wire walk across the Grand Canyon without a safety harness. He did the quarter-mile crossing on a two-inch thick steel cable, 1 500ft above the Little Colorado River Gorge in Arizona.
It took the 34-year-old 22 minutes. The stunt comes after he traversed the Niagara Falls - the first to cross since 1896. Next he wants to walk a wire strung between the Chrysler and Empire State buildings in New York City. But the city authorities are jibbing, saying it would be dangerous to pedestrians below.
How about from the signal station on the Bluff to Moses Mabhida? Not much below but ocean.
Plumtree
EVERYWHERE they're talking about the manner of John Plumtree's departure. Ian Gibson, poet laureate of Hillcrest, puts it in verse.
The dismissal of a coach called Plumtree
Rocked Natal and the rest of the country;
The way it was done
Was an insult to Plum,
And someone should be nailed to a gumtree!
Tailpiece
Last word
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
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