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Staphylococcus Warning KZN December 2023

Staphylococcus Warning by The Sardine News

Staphylococcus Warning December 2023

Staphylococcus Warning December 2023: it has happened again. A popular and highly experienced Southern KZN angler was recently struck down. At Seapark. He was on the rocks, where he has spent most of his life. Got a tiny cut on his foot. Happened a thousand times before. Except this time, the smell of the ANC was in the air.

Loadshedding

The sewage was pouring raw and untreated, into the ocean, just nearby. Our guy smelt the sewage. But he was on a mission trying to catch live bait.

He has now lost his foot.

This happened lightning-fast. Staphylococcus is mean stuff. You need to be vigilant at ALL times. Clean and disinfect any cut or scratch thoroughly. As it happens. Especially now at this time of the year. That the rains have come. And all the sewage in and around dysfunctional Harding is swept right to here. By the Umzimkulwana River.

Load-shedding is manslaughter now. It’s a crime against every single one of us. Who used to use the ocean, rivers and dams, for recreation as kids and even adults. And for supplying us, the population, with clean drinking water.

What load-shedding has done, and therefore directly the ANC, is turned the entire country into an open toilet. With deadly results.

Check this out…

Upriver

Since everybody’s attention, including the Public Protector and the President, has been brought to the Harding problem, NOTHING has improved. ZERO. Sewage flows in the streets. Into the stormwater drains. And into the Farmers Dam and the Umzimkulwana River, on its merry way, laden thick with eColi and all sorts of pathogens. And bugs that have been festering in the Farmer’s Dam through the dry season. All of that, is on it’s merry way to the beaches of the KZN South Coast. Right now. Just as the hapless ANC victims – the tourists, arrive. To ZERO warnings.

This has been happening for many years now.

Blue Water Only

Do not go in murky water. No matter what beach you go to, if the water is even slightly discoloured, stay out of it. Luckily there are some beaches without pathogen-infested river mouths too close by. Like Umzumbe. And Hibberdene. Those beaches are the ones in the right location in the current and on the coast, to be reliably cleaner than all the others.

Uvongo and Margate, are right in the firing line. The sewage comes out of the rivers, mixes lekker in the waves, and gets taken south by the prevailing Agulhas Current. The onshore blows, and this contaminated water is pushed into the bays and coves (Uvongo in particular, has a very unfortunate geographical structure where this bad water gets trapped in that cove). RIght onto the unsuspecting tourists who receive ZERO warning about the dire state of the ocean right now as the rainy season fires up. Underberg, Hardind, Umzimkulu – ALL discharging straight into the Umzimkulu and Umzimkulwana Rivers. The same rivers our drinking water comes from?!

There are ZERO signs warning anyone anywhere. And then we have organisations and individuals far more engaged in the profit that they can make from the tourists, than caring for the tourist’s well-being and health. Advertising Blue Flag beaches and the like. Yet in the meantime, people are getting sick more and more. From exposure to the ANC government failures. A season or two back, I had 23 of 24 guests in hospital. From swimming in Uvongo Lagoon. Not one warning sign. Not even the lifeguards cared or bothered to warn these victims.

Imagine you go to a lodge someplace. And you head for the pool. But the pool is poisoned…and nobody warns you?!

Fast treatment

Staphylococcus is mean. Sometimes even completely resistant to treatment (MRSA). You need to clean any wounds, no matter how small, properly. Scrub. Disinfect. As and when they happen.

It is so complicated in that we all have Staphylococcus on our skins and in our membranes. All of us. But it’s when too much Staphylococcus gathers together, that it takes over the delicate balance that the body has. In effect, we can actually get sick from our own Staphylococcus. If we don’t wash. Treat wounds properly.

So you get a lesion. Your own Staphylococcus is there already but checked by the immune system. Then you overdose the wound with sewage-born Staphylococcus. And there you have it. You are in big trouble already. This stuff is going to try kill you. Seek treatment fast!

You literally don’t have time to do anything else except care for your wound. Minutes make a difference.

And it’s not limited to here in KZN. It’s wherever there is failed sewage infrastructure or too many animals defecating near or in the rivers. Wherever too much sewage is discharged unchecked into the environment. That’s where Staphylococcus is waiting for you.

Loadshedding does this. Every day. Every town. In the whole country.

Attempted manslaughter at the very least. And grand misconduct considering ZERO consideration for the visiting tourists. The lifeblood of our economy.

And fellow South Africans.

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Umzumbe Backpacker options

Justin Maisch about to paddle Umzumbe backpacker options

Umzumbe Backpacker options

The good old days of living out of a camper van, or in a tent…carpark to carpark…in the sixties, gave us the dream in the first place. Those days are long gone now, and all we have to compensate for the lost nostalgia is the backpacker scene.

Umzumbe back in those olden days was heaven. Nobody. Not even cops!

Surfers lived in the carparks. For weeks/months/years at a time! Surfing. Fishing. Diving. Living.

But that golden birth of the surfing adventure is now way gone. Everywhere seems to be blown up by now…

Including Umzumbe.

And even then, backpacker spots, which were just that, are now, star worthy. If you don’t got en suite for the lady, you are nowhere in the backpacker business. Yuppies and all. There are now a bunch of accommodation offerers around the place, queuing up to serve you a marginal percentage slice of the dream. They even got hot showers?!

Justin Maisch and his highly motivated wife Hayley, run the Pumula Surf Camp. The closest thing to the dream, since Justin’s Dad lived and surfed and fished and dived at the very same beach. Peter Maisch. Nuff said.

Justin works at Wedge Surfboards, where he and his ilk have been thumping out bespoke surfboards of the elitest type, for decades. Justin, Hayley and Roosta run surf tours and coaching, for the lucky few. It’s a small and unique operation. You need to book way in advance. And, you can get hands on and help shape your own surfboard. Packages available.

So, there are remnants of the golden era of surfing lying around the south coast of Natal, you just got to look really hard, through the jungle, to find the real deal.

The rest is just imported capitalism looking for a place to grow money.

Enjoy another surf video shot near Umzumbe, on the way to the Transkei Wild Coast – featuring Calv and The Roosta, remembering the fun times of yesteryear…

Get in touch with us for advice about Umzumbe Backpacker options.

We will make sure you get the right vibe!

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Surfing the real Flintstones

Surfing the real Flintstones

After getting in a good session surfing at Flintstones Too, a few days later and we got back on the jungle trail around Port Shepstone. This time the path led straight to the real Flintstones and the guns were out.

Roosta, Calvin and Buzz took on the shallow reef ledge with lefts and rights coming in like a little miniature North Shore. The spot seems to hold semblance to a bunch of others close by – powerful, fast and challenging.

It has been a fantastic summer so far, the swells have been thick and fast – we even had a few bigger days at the end of January. In fact, speculation in the carpark calls the summer a better winter thus far.

The offshores have been holding way into the morning, and the water has been over 24 degrees most of the time. Crystal clear too! The fishing conditions are superb and many a spinning angler can be seen at our favourite beaches up and down the KZN South Coast. Today was another surfing treat as Hibberdene turned on the juice for an entire low tide – barrells in summer!

These videos are part of a series documenting the Wedge Blacktop series of surfboards – stay posted for more Surfing the South Coast in summer!

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The “Sard’s” proper south coast barrel

 The “Sard’s” proper south coast barrel

It takes many, many barrel rides, to finally get one this good, on video.
Sard, well done, fantastic ride…and see you in the morning!

Other than Sard’s fantastic ride today at an undisclosed faraway location, practically every surf spot on the south coast fired today. And it looks to be that way for the next two weeks solid!

Productivity week!

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Rodriguez Tribute at Rock Bottom this Sunday!

Rock Bottom – The Music Bistro will be holding a Rodriguez tribute this Sunday – 17 February. If you know a song or 2 (unplugged) or have an anecdote or story to tell, come and join us on stage with Dave Marks and share. It is sure to be an amazing arvo giving tribute to this previously unsung music legend. Contact Dave on 083 359 5610 if you would like to contribute. Please book as the Rock fills up fast on a Sundays. Call Noel on 079 396 5724 for bookings. —

Rodriguez at Rock Bottom
Rodriguez at Rock Bottom

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