Old trees exist, simply stunning to witness then consider their age, what passed before them.
Little mystic stories always emerge to make it possible for townsfolk to sell fridge magnets, after all Western visitors will never carry bottles of water back.
BTW: Our people find sea water medicinal, we took bottles of seawater home for locals who asked over the years.
Container must have some sea sand in the bottom before filling, or it will escape overnight to return to the sea....
But the trade of the water we surf in extends far from KZN’s salty shores. In Jozi, 5 litres of Durban seawater can sell for as much as R500 and 2 litres for R200. For centuries and across many different cultures, the ocean has been a sacred place of spiritual renewal. We all know the sea has mystical powers and religious symbolism, but why are so many paying for something that is almost as abundant as air and dirtier than a bellybutton?
In many South African cultures, the sea is a place of the ancestors, carrying the knowledge of the past. In traditional Zulu culture, seawater has many uses – the most well- known being the drinking of the water as a purgative, to cleanse body and soul from evil. In other words to puke and shit your innards out. “You are reborn after you drink it,” explains a more poetic Sabelo Mlaba, a saltwater seller from Hammarsdale.
For years, Durban’s seawater has been rumoured as being “the most polluted in the world,” with recorded high levels of cholera-causing E.coli and Enterococcus bacteria, not to mention micro-plastics and the recent medical-waste scare. Nonetheless, the water is still drunk by hundreds for cleansing.