Durban - Did you know that rickshaws had their origins in Japan and that the word came from the Japanese “jirikisha”, which means “human powered vehicle”?
That bit of information has been brought to Durban in a photographic exhibition hosted by Durban Tourism and the National Geographic Traveller magazine.
While modern photographs by National Geographic’s Krista Rossow and local photographer Roger Jardine dominate the display, photographs from the past have been pulled from the eThekwini Municipality and National Geographic archives.
The Victoria Street market appears in pictures taken before and after a fire razed it in 1972. Photographs from the 1950s show fiery curry spices on sale with colourful names like “Roll n Roll” and “Sputnik Mixture”. It’s called “Mother-in-Law Hell Fire” in the modern picture.
Still on the topic of Durban curry, the city’s iconic bunny chow is represented, along with the caption that it is “fast catching on in Europe”.
Other images on display include a close-up of the deck of a troop ship carrying soldiers heading off to fight in World War I and modern shots of uShaka Marine World, the Golden Mile and Glenwood’s café culture.
There is more “did you know” information around Jardine’s picture of Inanda’s Mzinyati Falls where the Qadi people settled after fleeing from the Zulu king, Dingane.
Did you know that, more recently, Baptish Nazareth church leader Isaiah Shembe used the pools above the falls to baptise his proselytes in the early 20th century?
And in the caves below is a contemporary Rastafarian temple where there is a strict rule – only barefoot people may enter.
And did you know that back in the day, the shallow water off North Beach was enclosed to protect bathers from sharks but in 1928 this system ended due to the high maintenance costs?
It’s all told in photographs and their captions at the KwaMuhle Museum at 130 Bram Fischer Road, Durban.
The museum is open from 8.30am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sundays and Public Holidays.
The exhibition runs until the end of July. For inquiries, call 031 311 2237.
DUNCAN GUY, Independent on Saturday