Small stories from a big world

  It strikes me every time I am in Belgium. I have been in the country for less than 24 hours and there I see it again. I make an effort to run the stiffness of the night flight out of my legs. It is still fairly cool and I enjoy the greenery, the exuberant summer vegetation. There are others out and about: joggers, walkers, cyclists. I greet ‘good morning!’ Sometimes there is a response, a greeting back or a smile. But very often there is surprise on the face of the recipient of the greeting, sometimes the greeting is ignored and sometimes I even notice a hint of fear, ‘help, what does this one want from me?’ It surprises me. In South Africa -and many other countries I have lived in- people greet each other. You greet a casual passer-by or the lady at the cash register. And if you know the person, like a colleague, that greeting is extended with ‘how are you?’. You do the same if you start a conversation with someone, want to make an appointment or ask in a shop where you can fi...

  Soon after arriving in Durban last year, I started looking for a pool to swim laps. From our offices, we can see a pool. It is blue and attractive, but it closes fairly early in the afternoon. Someone referred me to King's Park, an area that has more sports infrastructure like the Moses Mabhida football stadium built for the World Cup in 2010, and the rugby stadium. There is a large swimming pool complex with both an Olympic pool and a 25-metre pool. One is covered, the other open-air, but in winter the water is somewhat heated. Lovely, I thought. Only, more than once I could not swim there. One time I got there at 17:30, just after work, and found it was already closed, another time I couldn't access because the road was closed due to a cycling race, the third time there was a swimming competition and we weren't allowed in either, and the last time there was a ‘closed due to renovation – until further notice’ sign. So off we went in search of another place, and I fou...

  Christmas and New Year in Belgium. It is always a wonderful, busy time. Meeting friends and family, eating good food, laughing, reconnecting in conversations while walking. And telling stories. Stories about monkeys and leopard soft toys, for instance (see Territory 2 ). At many a table, theories were built about nature and nurture, about instinct or learnt behaviour. People shared pictures of leopard decorations, leopard-patterned clothes, leopard shoes and handbags. Then it was New Year’s day, time for the traditional new year’s wishes and exchange of presents. My godchild gave me a fairly impressive box. Not heavy, but bulky. Out came a leopard. A beautiful plush imitation of the real thing. And so I left Belgium, with a leopard - since been named Lazy Lu -in my suitcase. During my first week back it rained all the time. So Lazy Lu stayed inside. He is far too beautiful to get soaked, isn't he? Besides, those monkeys don't show themselves when it rains. They sit on...

In December, I visited St Lucia. A town about 240 km north of Durban. It is sandwiched between sea and lagoon and it is beautiful. A large nature reserve. That nature also just comes into the town. I saw a warthog grazing on a lawn in front of a house. And there are signs everywhere warning you about hippos. They walk in at night to have a taste of that tender grass. So it's better to move around by car after dark. And monkeys, of course! You can see them jumping from branch to branch in the trees, searching rubbish bins, shouting at each other. In short, nothing they don't do back home in Durban either. But one thing was different. On Sunday morning I am having breakfast served on a covered terrace. I sat at a small table between the garden and the breakfast buffet. The other guests had left early. A large troop of monkeys was roaming the neighbourhood, several of them in the garden of this lodge. But, how extraordinary, none made any attempt to take anything from the buff...

  A human being is a territorial animal. You can also see this instinct in how we try to protect our personal space. Just think of all the remedies gardeners in Europe used last year against snails. In the south, it's different pests again. In Vietnam, it was a matter of keeping rats out of the house. And cockroaches! Those really big ones with long antennae. You'd rather not hear them rustling in the dark. Accidentally step on them with your foot. Brrr. No, thanks. There are spiders and ants. In Rwanda, a cupboard was eaten by termites. Once a scorpion wandered in. Over the years, I learnt some techniques to kindly show these little uninvited guests the door or tolerate them, like the geckos whose droppings you find all over the place. Here in Durban, in the fairly tropical province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, you also have cockroaches and ants and things like that. But new to me are the monkeys that just move around in this urban environment. They are vervet monkeys. They are not ...

  Pressing the button on my remote. The garage door rolls up and I walk in quickly. It's raining, hard. That's convenient. The rain will wash away the dust that has accumulated on my car over the past few weeks. It seems symbolic. The rain clatters on the windows and washes away the last remnants of ‘holiday in Belgium’. It is quite a drastic transition. In so many ways. Saturday morning -still in Belgium- I still went jogging on a slippery road, my breath formed little white clouds and my gloves could not prevent my hands from stiffening from the cold. When I stepped off the plane on Sunday evening, it was as if a warm, wet towel was wrapped around my head. Thirty degrees warmer. Twenty-four hours of travel and being in a completely different world. Even before I leave the garage, I press the central locking button. It's safer that way. The steering wheel is on the right side. I reverse and merge into the left-hand lane. The indicators and wipers are also reversed....

  Spring Day is celebrated in South Africa on the first of September. It is not a public holiday, but rather a bit like Valentine's Day. I did look forward to spring after so many months of winter. Spring in the south of the southern hemisphere is completely different from Europe. You get up one day and suddenly discover blossoms on trees everywhere and it seems like it is full summer only a week later. Sometimes. Colleagues in Pretoria and friends in Bloemfontein mentioned very hot days, and then freezing winter temperatures again. Those fluctuations are not abnormal. But here, in the south, where it never gets very cold even in winter, the grey coolness just lingered. Lots of wind, lots of rain. Then, all of a sudden, I saw that splash of colour appear. On the way to work: a tree with bright yellow blossoms and a bit later, the purple shade of the jacarandas as well. What is perhaps even more beautiful is the effect when that purple opulence begins to fall. A road or playground i...

  The east lights up in beautiful pastel shades. It is 6:30am. I have been on the road for an hour and in the meantime I have covered the route that thousands of athletes ran last week, from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. Respect. Meanwhile, it is completely light. I drive through rolling countryside. It is cold. A thick mist hangs in the valleys. The road is busy. Trucks and holidaymakers. This is a long weekend and the winter school holidays have started. Tomorrow is Youth Day. It commemorates the 1976 police massacre of SOWETO schoolchildren protesting against Afrikaans as the language of instruction. On the radio, I hear a report on the first session of parliament after the 29 May elections. For the first time since 1994, the ANC did not have an absolute majority. This caused a lot of unrest: how would a coalition be formed? But there will not be a coalition. The ANC invited all parties to form a government of national unity. The new parliament re-elected the incumbent president R...

I have a day off today as it is election day. I drink a cup of coffee. The table wobbles. The waiter looks for a solution. You don't have card board coasters here as in Belgium. On the fence across the street a banner of the Independent Election Commission. It indicates there is a polling station on the premises. I passed several of them during my walk here. At all of them, people were lining up. Outside I see some party posters, mostly from the Democratic Alliance (DA) ‘save South Africa’ and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) ‘land and jobs now! - stop loadshedding!’ It is unclear what the election result will be. In recent years, the share of the ANC -the majority party since the first democratic elections in 1994- systematically declined. Will that trend continue, and if so, how low will the ANC share fall? Is the new party, MK, with former president Zuma a serious threat? No idea. Among people I talk to about these elections, I feel some resignation (as in Belgium?): not know...

  Durban CBD and harbour at sunrise Basking myself in the warm glow of the sun's rays broken by an orange parasol. In front of me a glass of water. I am waiting for my lasagna. Behind me the buzz of a busy restaurant, half inside, half outside on the terrace and pavement. Across the street, the grass illuminates bright green in the sun. Here and there the dark shade of giant trees. This is Durban. The city I have been traversing for a week now in search of a suitable home. I realise that what I have seen so far is only a slice of this gigantic city, a carefully selected slice, where it is safe for me to move around. But what a place this is. How different from Kigali. Less well organised, less clean, less safe, for sure. But also much less sterile, much more vibrant and diverse. It is nice to be back in a place where people greet enthusiastically on the street or in the shop, where public space is alive and vibrant. Across the street, a family is having a picnic in the park. I ...

 It is not yet four o'clock in the afternoon but it is already dusk. The lights of my small, red rental car pierce through the darkness that soon falls. The windscreen wipers try in vain to wipe away the volume of water that falls. I am driving on Nelson Mandela Avenue, towards Bloemfontein's city centre. I am weary about the potholes I know occur in big quantities and all sizes on this road, but can't see them because of this downpour. The road looks like a river. The white road markings that should indicate the four lanes are no longer visible. They are not even visible in dry weather and bright light. They have faded away years ago. Bloemfontein on a bright day, seen from Naval Hill Bloemfontein is the judicial capital of South Africa but it seems a backward, dilapidated place. I was here a few months ago and again I see that the decay has continued. In the inner city, some streets have so many potholes that you'd better drive an SUV to navigate them safely. The pa...