Scene&HeardPage 8THE INDEPENDENT

on Saturday27 April 2013

On the trail of the Sani2C story

DUNCAN GUY

WHETHER one fol-lows the popularSani2C bicycle race,or was once party to

the Sani to the Sea series ofhikes, or one simply drivesfrom Underberg to Scottburgh,the route is all in the name.

My late father, Robin Guy,came up with the Sani to theSea concept in 1991.

My mother, Bella, elabo-rates: “We had just becomegrandparents and we thought itwas about time we startedwalking downhill. So, whatabout walking from the highestpoint to the lowest point? Whatabout Sani to the Sea?

“We did 10km at a time. Ittook two-and-a-half years. Theidea was that you met up withpeople on whose land youpassed and they shared their

knowledge of interestingplaces on their farms, such asrock paintings or where wag-ons had gone through. Peoplecame and went. There were afew who were constant.”

Their route started at Tha-bana Ntlenyana, southernAfrica’s highest peak, andended on Aliwal Shoal, off thecoast.

The Sani2C race, deeply en-trenched on the cycling calen-dar, is from Underberg Schoolto Scottburgh beach.

I set off on my own journeythat is a blend of the two: awander rather than a race anda bike ride rather than a walk.

It’s Sunday and there’s snowon Hodgson’s Peaks.

A pod of cyclists gather inUnderberg village. They’refrom the Drakensberg Moun-tain Bike Club and about toride 50km, towards Sani Pass.

Doug Abbey is looking for-ward to doing the Sani2C nextmonth, especially the bit downinto the Mkomazi Valley.

“You’re in the forest andnext thing you see a sign thatsays, ‘Wow!’ and you just godown,” he recalls from a previ-ous race. Now that he knowswhere to look out for such awe-some views, he hopes to absorbthem more thoroughly.

However, that pleasure endsafter Maritzburg College’s re-freshment point at JosephineBridge, Abbey reckons. “It’s

awful getting out of that val-ley.”

Sunday worshippers arebusy in two churches on eitherside of Underberg School,where Sani2C starts.

CharismaticClapping comes from one

that is new age; there’s dead si-lence from a more traditionalchurch.

I cross the railway line thatconnects Underberg with Don-nybrook.

“Under-buggers” and“Hime-villains” from Hime-ville, 4km away, revel in theirrivalry with a history that isrooted in the railway line.

Amid much controversy, theBritish Colonial Railways de-cided to put the railhead at atrading post, which became Un-derberg, rather than in themore formal settlement ofHimeville.

A man and a woman,dressed for work, walk pastcheerfully. Hilda Sithole is a su-permarket cashier and Regi-nald Mkhize is a petrol atten-dant. Both live in a low-costhousing development aroundthe corner.

“I’m walking because I amon the 10 o’clock shift,” says Sit-hole. “If I had started at 5.30 Iwould have been fetched. Workwill give me a lift home at7pm.”

Sithole is originally fromBulwer, further down the route.

“It’s not as cold there as it isin Underberg,” she says. “It’s‘too cold’ here.”

The jikijola (bramble)bushes that burst into whiteflower and dark berries duringsummer look weak and with-drawn. The cosmos flowerslook past their prime. Black-jacks are in full seed.

Another farmer passes by inhis bakkie. He recalls a biketrip he once did with friendsfrom George to Cape Town.

“I went up those mountainsin ‘granny gear’,” he tells me.

Further on, I meet my firstfellow cyclist, Jabulani Zigote,who tells me he’s been working

with the irrigation pipes on aroadside farm since 2003.

“I enjoy watching the cy-clists race past while I am busyworking,” he says, and pedalson.

I follow the swollen PholelaRiver towards Bulwer on a roadthat becomes progressivelymuddier. Granny gear gets methrough it.

The flowers are more cheer-ful now. Perhaps this provesHilda Sithole’s point, that it’swarmer towards Bulwer.

A cyclist coming up the hilltowards me cuts a lonely figure.

“I am tired,” says LungisaniMapenga who left Bulwernearly three hours ago. “I amgoing to visit my cousin on afarm near Sani Pass. Please,Sir, don’t you have a job forme?”

Leaving the Sani2C route, Ire-cross the Pholela to see Re-

ichenau Mission, built by Trap-pists in 1886 as an outstation ofMariannhill Monastery.

The weather clears, briefly.From across a field there’s thelong, drawn-out, nasal call of acrowned crane.

Local dogs start chasing meand I pedal hard over clumps ofgrass and along muddy foot-paths, wiping out on theground. Luckily, by then, thecanines have lost interest.

Then I have to offer bulls awide berth. This involves cross-ing a flooded rivulet. It takesone of my shoes with it.

Back in Underberg, Dad hadnoted in his research that hedoubted there had ever beencrocodiles in the area. But, I as-sure you, dear Dad, I saw a Crocon my ride!

l Next week, Duncan Guywill cycle further along theSani2C/Sani to Sea route.

Bike route’s colourful origins rooted in community

HEADING OFF: The Independent on Saturday journalistDuncan Guy sets off from Underberg village bound forScottburgh beach on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.

PICTURE: BELLA GUY

WHEEL WARRIORS: Underberg’s Sunday morning cyclists, from left, Lee Pope-Ellis, Doug Abbey, Wendy Pope-Ellis, SuePreston and Liz Alexander. PICTURES: DUNCAN GUY

ON SHOW: Roadside flowers look healthier towards Bulwer.

ENTHUSIAST: Cyclist Jabulani Zigote enjoys watching theSani2C race while he works with irrigation pipes on a farmfield.

HARDY: Lungisani Mapenga tackled the cold and wet inthe other direction -- from Bulwer to Sani Pass.

DUNCAN GUY

THE WALLS of Kearsney Col-lege’s History Club room aredense with posters relating toWorld War II and South Africa,pre- and post-apartheid.

Familiar stuff. But onThursday mornings, all focusin the room turns towards theFar East – and the future – as 11khaki-clad lads at the boysschool in Botha’s Hill learnMandarin under the guidanceof teacher Miao Xueqin.

The boys have a sense thatChina is an important place tolearn about.

“There’s so much businessin China. It’s a growing coun-try,” says Blaise Carmichael.

“I want to be an aircraftdesigner and I think China is

a powerhouse,” adds RossHolland.

“Learning Mandarin is anice foundation,” says Nic deBeer. “Soon we’ll be able tostart small conversations.”

Young Michael Hurleyhopes one day to become alawyer, maybe with Chineseclients.

Miao, who hails fromChina’s Jiang Su province, hastaught Mandarin greetings tothe class, some writing andhow to count in China’s officiallanguage.

She hauls out a pack ofcards, then flashes one at atime. On seeing the three ofclubs everyone says “san”(three); six of hearts “liu” (six);seven of diamonds “qi” (seven).

She has also allocated each

boy a number and when shecalls his name, he must say hisnumber in Chinese.

Michael, sitting at the backof the class, has the number 11.Luckily he works out how tosay it: “shi-yi”, which is 10-one.

Earlier he asked how num-bers higher than 10 were ex-pressed in Mandarin. “LikeRoman numerals, perhaps?”

Before Miao had a chance toexplain, Michael’s classmate,Steve Wang, swung around totell him in a South African ac-

cent that 11 would be “10-one”.Steve is from a Chinese immi-grant family and is able to helpthe others during the week-long breaks between lessons.

He says South Africansshould learn his mother tonguebecause their country is nowpart of the Brics bloc that hasBrazil, Russia, India and Chinaas its other members.

The alliance has alreadygiven him benefits. Duringthe recent Brics summit inDurban, Steve spent five days

working as a translator at KingShaka International Airportand at the International Con-vention Centre.

“I told people where to goand gave them information.”

Kearsney has offered once-a-week Mandarin lessons, lastingan hour each, for the past 10years.

“They don’t write it formatric,” explains deputy head-master Rod de Villiers. Rather,it’s an extra activity and asubject they could write as anexternal matric exam.”

Back in the classroom, Miaopoints out that a word in Man-darin can mean many differentthings, depending on the accentplaced on it.

“‘Ma’ can mean 10 differentthings,” she explains. She listssome of them: material, numb,horse, to swear, to show that asentence is a question…

It also means “mother”, justas “ma”, or something similar,does in many other languages.

With Chinese influencespreading so rapidly aroundthe world, including Africa,one may wonder what posterswill decorate the walls ofKearsney’s History Club roomin years to come.

Chinese language instituteat DUT a boon for DurbanSIHLE MTHEMBU

THE DURBAN University ofTechnology is set to become thefirst university in KwaZulu-Natal to offer courses onMandarin.

The university has alsosigned an agreement with theChinese Fujian Agricultureand Forest University to estab-lish the DUT ConfuciusInstitute.

Speaking about the agree-ment, Alan Khan, who is thesenior director of corporateaffairs at the DUT, said thatthe institute would help bridgethe gap between Chinesepeople in the city and peoplefrom Durban interested inlearning about China.

“It will provide the opportu-nity to draw the local Chinesepopulation into conversationsand cultural connections withlocal communities, as well asprovide for the flow of students

and profes-sors betweenour two na-tions,” saidKhan.

The cen-tre will beheaded bythe univer-sity’s depart-ment of lan-

guage and translation.There are more than 100

Confucius institutes aroundthe world, but the institute atthe DUT is the first at a univer-sity in South Africa.

Xu Lin, who is the chiefexecutive of the Confucius In-stitute headquarters in Beijing,said the organisation was look-ing forward to working withthe university.

“The mission of the Con-fucius Institute is the promo-tion of the Chinese language,”said Lin. “We are not looking atthis relationship as a one-way

street. We want to collaborateand learn from you, so that it’san exchange and we learn fromeach other.”

The institute, which couldbe operating as early as nextmonth, will also be open to thepublic.

The agreement will see theeThekwini Municipality’s in-ternational relations officeusing the services of DUT-trained Chinese language pro-fessionals for language trans-lation and interpretationservices during business meet-ings or cultural events hostedby the city.

Speaking about this, EricApelgren, the head of the inter-national relations office, saidthe institute would provide amuch-needed direct link be-tween the city and China.

“I look forward to the Confu-cius Institute building strongerand more direct bonds betweenus and China,” said Apelgren.

Mandarin notmandatory butwell worth starting

GUIDE: Miao Xueqin teaching Mandarin at KearsneyCollege with the help of playing cards. PICTURE: DUNCAN GUY

XU LIN