South Africa- Borderline. French GEO. 2009.

In the spirit of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, an intimate game of soccer amongst good friends plays out on a diminishing sanbar in the intertidal pool of the Kosi bay lagoon. These warm languid waters flush sewards into the nearby Indian Ocean.

Thulani Ngubane (kicking) and friends are Tsonga people or Shangaans. Most are descended from Tsonga peoples of the Ronga sub-group, who migrated to the area from what is now Mozambique in search of land and trade opportunities in the seventeenth century.

Its been noted that residents of non-SADC countries who would normally require visas to enter SA, would be given a special event visa to attend the 2010 World Cup.

Most visitors to the World Cup would come from Europe and Africa, and that 5 African countries, excluding SA would qualify. Immigration services at land border posts will need to be beefed up.

Kosi Bay Estuary.

The Kosi bay lagoon system is composed of four interconnected, roughly circular lakes (Makhawulani, Mpungwini, Nhlange and aManzimnyama), a broad channel leading to an estuary which opens to the Indian Ocean and three extensive areas of swamp.

It contains fresh and brackish water bays, lagoons; both salt and fresh (including artificial lagoons), tidal estuaries, permanent waters of estuaries and estuarine systems of deltas,

The lakes are separated from the ocean by a strip of forested sand dunes 600 - 2000 m in width. Numerous sandy mudbanks, emergent at low tide, occur in the lower part of the system.

Coastline that falls within the Maputaland Marine Reserve. The Maputaland Marine Reserve, which extends from 11km north of Jesser Point to the Mozambique border, was established on 7 March 1986.

The Maputaland Marine Reserve also has a sanctuary area, oteler Point (Bhanga Nek) as a northern boundary and Dog Point as the southern boundary.

The primary reason for the establishment of the Maputaland Marine Reserve is the large number of marine turtles nesting in the area, which need protection as their numbers dwindle due to exploitation by man.

Members of the ZCC Khombindlela church. The Zion Christian Church is the largest African Initiated Church in southern Africa, with 10-15 million members belonging to ZCC star & 3-5 million members belonging to St Enganas ZCC.

Although many Tsonga are Christian, many also adhere to their own traditional religion, which entails constant attention to the propitiation of ancestral spirits. Illness and other misfortunes are usually attributed to the breaking of a taboo.

The settlement pattern is characterized by scattered villages of mud and wattle huts, each village being occupied by members of a patrilineage; descent, succession, and inheritance are also patrilineal. Polygyny is common, and a bride-price is paid.

S. African Willy Labuschagne put city life behind him in Pretoria & started Maputaland horse safaris in 2002 with his Belgian wife Isabelle. Their concerns and objectives for creating employment & encouraging sustainable 'eco tourism..(cont)

Maputaland is 1 of the most rural areas in S.A with the lowest literacy, highest unemployment rates, with little tourism development. Here he entertains the local Nduna (Chief) J Thembe & wife. Their support is key to his success in the area.

A man’s livestock is apportioned among his wives for their support and for eventual inheritance by the children of each household. Widows are supported by males of the dead husband’s lineage.

Maputaland. Manguzi Region. Traditional Tsonga homes.

Maputaland. Muzi Informal border post.

South African police patrol their side of the border along the fence line with Mozambique, from the Kosi Bay border control of South Africa to nearby Ponta De Ouro (Point of Gold), Mozambique's most southerly resort.

Maputaland. Thembe National Elephant Park.

Manhoca Border Control Post. Mozambique was Africa's 8th most successful agricultural economy however farming has died & tourism now offering the most obvious way out hence the vast tracts of coastal land being fenced off for SA developers.

Manguzi. South Africans fill up 4x4's bfr crossing the border to the beach playgrounds of Ponta Do Ouro (Place of Gold). Stretches of pristine beaches offer a slice of paradise, but trouble is brewing as foreigners cash in at the expense of locals.

Park rangers Phineas Dinda & Given Chiloane, head out on anti-poaching foot patrol along the Kruger park fense line. Poor nearby communities are often tempted to lay snares and traps as a means to catch illegal bush meat.

Kruger park ranger Given Chioane on morning anti-poaching foot patrol.

Kruger park ranger John Nyathi on morning anti-poaching foot patrol.

Kruger rangers, Given Chiloane, Kafes Matabola & John Nyathi walk +- 7km daily in search of poachers & illegal snares & traps. Their old military R1 rifles R carried to protect against animals, & can only shoot at people if first shot at.

Kruger park ranger Given Chioane on morning anti-poaching foot patrol.

Rhino paoching is on the increase in South Africa. According to a local report the number of rhino's poached in the Kruger from Jan-Nov 08 was 40. Lax Mozambique authorities are abetting this increase in cross border poaching.

Kruger rangers, alerted by the presense of dangerous buffalo, cautiously size up the threat. R1 rifles are carried to protect against such animals. Brazen armed poachers are a real danger too, but they can only shoot if first shot at.

Kruger park ranger Given Chioane, Johan Nyathi (left) and Kafes Mataboal (centre) take a rest while on their 7km morning anti-poaching foot patrol.

Summary Execution? No this young cow has been darted by chopper, drugged, blindfolded and will be taken to a holding pen for relocation to another location outside the Kruger Park.

Summary Execution? No this young cow has been darted by chopper, drugged, blindfolded and will be taken to a holding pen for relocation to another location outside the Kruger Park.

Kruger National Park. Juvenile Female Rhino, held in a boma (fenced enclosure) awaits relocation to another reserve.

Musina. Anti Xenophobia poster calls for tolerance towards Zimbabweans in need of refuge from the political stife in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Musina. Northern Province. An election poster pasted on the wall of the Messian bus station encourages support 4 ANC President elect Jacob Zuma. The stylized map shows SA's borderline with Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana & Namibia.

Musina. Zimbawean farm worker Jeremiah Nhira cresotes a hunting reserve fence work that pays $5 for a 5am-5pm workday. Zimbabweans in the border zone are all too often heavily exploited as cheap labour.

While many large-scale farmers do adhere to the basic conditions of employment law, other farmers openly disregard the minimum wage, do not pay overtime, sick leave, or annual leave, and make unlawful deductions from workers wages.

Zimbawean Patience Alfonet 22 works at a Musina hotel for R40 ($5) per day as a charwoman. She hopes to return to her native city of Harare if and when things improve economically back home.

The vast majority of Zimbabweans entering into South Africa do so through undocumented means, typically traversing the Limpopo River and making their way through the rows of fences with a wire cutter or using pre-existing holes into South Africa.

Even with legit work permits they tend to jump the border to avoid line-ups & corrupt officials at the Beitbridge border-crossing. But there are significant risks involved. Drowning in the Limpop river, & physical abuse by the ruthless Maguma-guma.

These criminals have an established presence on the Zimbabwe side, & besides leading border jumpers into SA, they are more widely known for preying on the border crossers, robbing, beating, raping & at times killing their victims.

For many first time border-jumpers, attacks by the maguma-guma presaged further suffering in South Africa. Among those fleeing Zimbabwe are a growing number of unaccompanied children. Recent estimates indicate it could be as high as 1,000 a month.

Zim street kids act out pantomime. Mime, dance & slapstick comedy conveys acutely their experience on the streets, issues such as sexual, physical abuse, hunger. 'Save the Children' report approx 2800 unaccompanied children in Musina.

A political crisis in Zimbabwe, compounded by severe poverty and economic collapse, has sent millions of Zimbabweans flooding into South Africa and other neighbouring countries in search of a better life.

The South African government recently decided to shut down a makeshift camp on the border that had developed as thousands of asylum seekers descended on the country at the height of Zimbabwe's political crisis and a cholera epidemic.

Water Minister Lindiwe Hendricks said last week the situation in Musina was "untenable" as crowds at the municipal showgrounds often swelled to 8 000 in the evenings as farmworkers came to try to receive food parcels. meant for asylum seekers.

Red Cross volunteers oversea the thorough washing of food utensils and insist on regular hand washing as a precaution against further cholera outbreaks.

Musina. Red Cross Feeding Program at the Musina Showgrounds (used as a temporary refugee holding centre.

Musina. Red Cross Feeding Program at the Musina Showgrounds (used as a temporary refugee holding centre.

The migrants' situation in Musina is desperate & the numbers are depressing. There is no shelter except for the fences. They are using blankets donated by Doctors Without Borders and plastic sheeting for shelter from the scorching sun.

Authorities profiled some 1 200 people with papers at the camp and 600 undocumented people must be processed this week by Home Affairs, in mobile refugee offices.

There are four refugee reception offices in South Africa located in Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. A ¥ fth in Johannesburg has been closed for several years. Thousands of immigrants are now waiting outside these centres...(cont)

...trying to apply for refugee status. Without papers, it is difficult to live, work & access health care in SA. It might take years for people to have their refugee application processed & accepted. In the interim, refugees are issued with...(cont)

Section 22 Asylum-Seeker permits which need to be renewed on a regular basis, usually every three months. Others are scared of being arrested if they leave because they do not yet have papers. Others simply have nowhere else to go....

Exposed to the elements and left without adequate sanitation many are a¥ ected by ill health but are afraid to leave the queue to seek medical care. Th ose with chronic illnesses, including HIV, have little chance of accessing treatment.

MSF said the closure of the showgrounds showed "a flagrant disregard" for the needs of the Zimbabweans seeking refuge in South Africa.

Global medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Wednesday denounced South African plans to shut down a makeshift refugee camp on the Zimbabwe border housing thousands of asylum seekers.

South African officials on Friday will close and relocate a mobile refugee office at the Musina municipal showgrounds where an open-air camp of 3 000 to 4 000 Zimbabweans, according to MSF estimates, has sprung up.

"This ill-conceived decision by South African authorities will place Zimbabweans seeking refuge in South Africa at incredible risk," Rachel Cohen, MSF's head in South Africa, said in a statement.

South African home affairs spokesperson Siobhan McCarthy told AFP that the mobile refugee office would be closed on Friday and relocated to a military base in Musina, which lies a few kilometres south of the Zimbabwe border.

South Africa's 45 million people own an estimated 3.7 million licensed guns and many more illegal ones. Gun ownership is deeply embedded in the national culture. The newly proposed gun law has dealers and users very upset....(cont)

..Firearms sales, once 15,000 a month, have fallen to near zero, because of the law's imposing regulatory hurdles & glacial government bureaucracy that oversees them...In a country that has one of the highest homicide rates in the world....(cont)

....many citizens beleive it is there basic right to be able to protect themselves. Throughout Limpopo province guns are enmeshed in the culture of killing. Hunting fees paid on private game reserves account for a massive part of the provinces GDP.

Musina. South African newspaper headline reads, 'A Limpopo farmer who shot dead a Zimbabwean worker he claimed to have mistaken for a baboon was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday'. .(cont)

Deeply entrenched racist sentiment runs deep through a large swathe of the predominantly Afrikaans community in the Limpopo provnce. Pictured here Ex SADF soldier Eben Klassen owns 3 hunting rifles & 2 crossbows.

The ethics of cross bow hunting has been widely debate. To critics they regard it as one of the cruelest forms of hunting because bows wound more animals than are killed. Dozens of scientific studies show bow hunting yields more than a 50% crippling rate.

On the subject of transfrontier national parks & the taking down of fences to allow animals to roam, is nothing more than a government feeding program according to Klassen. In his words, "They've opened the Mozambican fense line..

...to me its a feeding program. They've open the fucking game reserve, into a cross border freedom park. So feed the people!!!! His biased belief is that once the animals cross the borderline, Mozambicans will kill them for food.

Musina. Fleeing harship in neighbouring Zimbabwe, many Zimbabweans have no choice but to load all they can onto their vehicle and try find a better life in South Africa.

Musina. 6 Malawians travelling from Blantyre to Johannesburg, must endure endless hours cramped between loaded items on the back of the vehicle.

Musina SuperSpar manager Pieter Koekemoer said the supermarket had seen an average of 40% growth in the past year. Indeed, the store has now revamped itself to sell bulk packs of groceries and added another storeroom.

The two buffer towns between the world's highest inflation rate and Africa's strongest economy are studies in incongruity and mutual dependence. The economic meltdown in Zimbabwe has spawned disparate knock-on effects, such as a business boom in Musina,

Trading on promises of cheap sales, dozens of retailers jostle for the non-stop flow of Zimbabweans in search of food and other basic goods in Musina.

"I don't think there is anybody in Musina who is not busy -- even the woman selling bananas or fruit outside is busy," said Abdul Omar, owner of the Factory Shop, one of Musina's largest wholesalers.

The official 24-hour Beit Bridge border takes Zimbabweans to Musina's supermarkets where fully stocked shelves have not been crippled by the 100 000 percent inflation rate. Some cross just for a few hours to buy goods.

At the border, a bus driver who was making his way to Joburg from Harare was slicing a mango into bite-sized strips. "There's a great difference," he said. "On that Zim side, there's nothing. Here you can buy food and eat."

Musina Bus stop. Buses are loaded with goods and used to transport them across the border into Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean man had travelled south from Masvingo to shop in South Africa's border town of Musina. "There's nothing to buy there," he said while perusing tins of instant coffee. He travels to Musina every three months to shop for basic goods.

Musina Bus stop. Buses are loaded with goods and used to transport them across the border into Zimbabwe.

With old-style trading store atmospheres, the Musina supermarkets stock basic necessities such as ric

Musina. Beit Bridge. N1 Great North Road. Truck Stop Ultra City.

Musina. Beit Bridge. N1 Great North Road. Truck Stop Ultra City.

Musina. Beit Bridge. Truck stop. Approximately 1,000 light vehicles and between 600 and a 1,000 trucks travel through the Beit Bridge border post each day. This volume increases during certain peak periods such as month-ends and the Xmas holidays

Musina. A Malawian trucker pays 4 sex with a young Zimbabwean hooker. According to this driver, most of the girls found hooking along the truck routes across Southern Africa are Zimbabwe nationals. Sex workers can be as young as 13 yrs old.

‘'I am losing too many drivers (to AIDS)", says Willie Stuart, president of Speedy Overborder, a trucking firm that carries parcelss to nations in the 13-member Southern African Development Community.

Truckers usually sleep in their vehicles and either entice women residing near overnight truck stops to have sex with them or pay commercial sex workers, who habituate places where truckers congregate.

Musina. A Malawian trucker pays 4 sex with a young Zimbabwean hooker. According to this driver, most of the girls found hooking along the truck routes across Southern Africa are Zimbabwe nationals. Sex workers can be as young as 13 yrs old.

More than 14 million people are living with HIV/AIDS across southern Africa, amounting to well over one third of people living with the virus worldwide, in an area with only 2% of the global total population, said the UN Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

No Man's Land. The bridge between South Africa and Botswana crosses the Limpopo River. The natural borderline between the two countries.

Botswana. Martin's Drift border post.

Delivering gas from Sasol 2 refinery in S. Africa truckers relax beside their cabs at Martin's drift border in Botswana. They generally feel much safer at night for truck stops in SA tend to be dangerous places where truck theft & robbery common.

Kolokwaneng Botswana.

Botswana. Daniel Jacobs (middle, Piet Bok (right), Mirapelo Mosarwe (left) Paul Jagers (back left) repair the cattle fence between South Africa and Botswana.

Struizendam. Nick Afrikaner leaves home on Botswana side of the cattle fence borderline, to visit his fiance Belinda Kruiper, living directly opposite of this fence in SA. He travels 1 hr up to the border post & another 1 hr down to her village of Welcom.

Kalkpits Botswana. On the opposite side of the SA border fence in middle of Nossob river, a cattle station still uses an Victorian era water pump to bring bore hole water to the surface to keep the cattle alive in the parched Kalahari.

Kalahari. The Mier people. Village of Welcom. A goat & sheep rancher with wind hounds (dogs of Saluki origin). Salukis were the hunting dogs of the Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, know for their great speed & Stamina.

The San have lived with Wind Dogs for centuries. Lean, and light weight, they can survive on very little food.

Komani San member, Lucky Witbooi, hunts with his Wind hounds. Wind Hounds are of Saluki origin, a breed revered by the Ancient Egyptian Pharoes who recognized them for their intelligence, speed and beauty.

The bushmen have used Wind Hounds for centuries to chase, catch & kill game such as rabbits & gazelle. Of the "Sighthound" group of dogs, (hounds who hunt with their eyes rather than their noses). Built for speed, they are capable of outrunning game.

The bushmen have used Wind Hounds for centuries to chase, catch & kill game such as rabbits & gazelle. Of the "Sighthound" group of dogs, (hounds who hunt with their eyes rather than their noses). Built for speed, they are capable of outrunning game.

Bushman Lucky Witbooi of the Komani San clan.

Belinda Kruiper & friend Nick Afrikaner petition the govt on behalf of the Komani San clan, to be allowed to return to ancestral land (the Kgalagadi) to hunt. Youth education bushcamp experiences under the tutilage of Bushmen elders is part of the goal.

Kalagadi. Komani San community and the Kruiper Clan.

76yr old Bushman & Komani san elder David Kruipers used to wander btwn Namibia, Botswana & SA to hunt before strict border protocol was introduced in the bushwar . He's one of the few remaining elders that know the true history & folklore of the Kalahari.

76yr old Bushman & Komani san elder David Kruipers used to wander btwn Namibia, Botswana & SA to hunt before strict border protocol was introduced in the bushwar . He's one of the few remaining elders that know the true history & folklore of the Kalahari.

Komani San bushman. Hoemoed. Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park.

Rietfontein Border Post.

Northen Cape. An area known as the land of the Mier. Rietfontein has water problem. The annual rainfall is rarely more than 100 mm, and some years it even stays below 50 mm.

Village of Loubos. Subsistence stock farming of goat & sheep is one of the

Northern Cape. Hakskeenpan & the Mier area is in the southern Kalahari. It lies south of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park & between the Namibian & Botswana borders, Rainfall is low; median rainfall at Rietfontein is 146 mm per annum.

In summer (October to April), the temperature in the Kgalagadi climbs up to 40 degrees Celsius and sometimes higher. The annual rainfall is rarely more than 100 mm, and some years it even stays below 50 mm.

Kalahari region. Hakskeenpan. Typically this is the time of the iconic Kalahari thunderstorms

Thunderstorm over the Hakskeenpan. The Hakskeenpan complex is one of four extensive pan systems in southern Africa, namely: Etosha, Makgadikgadi, Hakskeenpan and the Grootvloer-Verneukpan system.

Thunderstorm over the Hakskeenpan.

Northen Cape. Thunderstorm over the Hakskeenpan.

Haskeenpan after generous summer rains.

Haskeenpan after generous summer rains.

Haskeenpan after generous summer rains.

Haskeenpan after generous summer rains.

Thunder clouds over Hakskeenpan.

Mier. Philandersbron. Unsually good summer rains in 2009, give the poor communities of this parched corner of SA, reason for hope. Much improved grazing for the goat & sheep subsistance farmerns will allow them to increase their herds & therefore profits

Northern Cape. Philandersbron. Kids race their toy cars (hand made from bailing wire), through warm muddy waters after a kalahari thunderstorm.

Northen Cape Philandersbron. A kids poem; How beautiful is the rain! After the dust and heat, In the broad and fiery street, In the narrow lane, How beautiful is the rain!......

.....How it clatters along the roofs, Like the tramp of hoofs! How it gushes and struggles out From the throat of the overflowing spout!.....

.....Across the window pane It pours and pours; And swift and wide, With a muddy tide, Like a river down the gutter roars The rain, the welcome rain!......

Northern Cape. Donkey Cart.

Loubos. A group of so-called coloured people moved from the Boland (Southern-western Cape) into the interior during the first part of the previous century, and settled in what is now known as the Mier area.

Loubos 85% dependof the Mier community depend on government social grants. Small subsistance farming.

Loubos. Local team play neighbouring community Philandersbron at a game of soccer.

Nakop Border Post. South Africa/Namibia Border.

Namibia. National Road B3 between Ariamsvlei and Karasburg is the main transport route for goods from South Africa to the Namibian capital Windhoek.

Namibia. National Road B3 between Ariamsvlei and Karasburg is the main transport route for goods from South Africa to the Namibian capital Windhoek.

End of the line. Namibia's state railway Transet, terminates at Nakop. The rail imports from South Africa can be estimated with 0,420 million tonnes and consisted mainly of lime and cement (190.000 t) and containers (90.000 t).

Rail exports consist mainly of zinc concentrates from Rosh Pinah (via Ausnek) and fish meal from Walvis Bay (25.000 t). Thus, the rail traffic to and from South Africa is highly unbalanced.

Nakop. Namibia. Railworkers accomodation.

Nakop. Namibia. Railworkers accomodation.

Nakop is the border station between Namibia and South Africa on the railway line and national road between Keetmanshoop and Upington in the Northern Cape Region in South Africa.

Namibia. National Road B1 to Nordoewer the Nambian border post with South Africa at Vioolsdrif. Regarded as the hottest place in South Africa, with average summer tempratures 45 degrees celcius.

Namibia. National Road B1 to Onseepkans the Nambian border post with South Africa at Veloorsdrif. Regarded as the hottest place in South Africa, with average summer tempratures 45 degrees celcius.

Namibian border post of Onseepkans

Namibian customs official at Oranjemund/Alexander Bay border post on the Orange River.

A South African Police officer checks the level of the rising Orange River, walking the Sir Ernest Oppenheimer Bridge which connects South Africa and Namibia.

1999 Satelite pic taken of Africa hows clearly the huge sandstorm that devastated Alexander Bay. 90 knot winds that blew sand 1000km off the coast. According to resident Pieter van Wyk; "so much livestock died, It took out the sun. It was a horrible day'

Bus stop Alexander Bay

Faces at Alexander Bay High School reflect the multi-ethnic or 'tribal' diversity of the region. San (Bushman), Afrikaaner, English, Baster (coloured people of Cape origin) , Tswana, Nama, Damara, Khoisan, Zulu and Ovambo are seen here.

Students from nearby Oranjemund over the border in Namibia attend class in South African at Alexander Bay high school. Many Namibian parents prefer their children to obtain a South African matric, since it is percieved to be a better qualification.

Alexander Bay Health Clinic. Regarded as the best one of the best in the Northern Cape.

Near Alexander Bay high school a Nama mother waits for her child.'Bewaar on Flora' extols the virtues of protecting the rare & endemic plants of the Richtersveld National Park.Overgrazing by goats & sheep are a cause of great concern for environmentalists

A rare field of green and orange lichen further grow on a hill south east of the entrance road to Alexander Bay. Though spoken of as plants, Lichen really consist of patches of fungi and algae which live in symbiosis.

Alexander Bay resident Pieter Van Wyk. His family of trekboer origins have been part of the Orange river community since the early 1900's.

Most of the Richtersveld engravings are geometric designs incorporating dots, spirals, grids, etc. These petroglyphs were said to be the results of the first stage of Shamanism - a trance like state.

A sign on the main Alexander Bay to Sendlingsdrift road, where mining concessions onwned by private sector Trans Hex Mines, uses Afrikaans to discourage diamond theft. The cordial message reads,'Fluit, fluit misdaad uit'! 'Whistle, whistle', crime out!'.

The now defunct HMS (Heavy Medium Separation Plant) was built in 1935 and is still in used for gravel processing today.

The now defunct HMS (Heavy Medium Separation Plant) was built in 1935 and is still in used for gravel processing today.

Alexander Bay. Protea security guards, Ophniel Monaisa (from Mbabatho. NW Province) & Theodore Mouton (Cape Town) employed by state run Alexkor Mines, patrol the beach from the (Heavy Medium Separation Plant) to the mine perimeter fence. Stictly no entry.

Alexkor Mine Boat Harbour. Diamond boats with suction hoses sift mid to shallow water seabed gullies in search of the abundant high quality Kimberlite diamonds found in these cold Atalntic west coast waters.

Diamond diver Daniel Norman from Clanwilliam in the Western Cape, arrived in Alexander Bay seeking his fortune. With Lady Luck on his side, just 3 days working the shoreline, a big stone yielded a big payout.

This divers payout at R350 000 (approx Euro 28 000 or just 10% of the concession holders cut) is good. 'Jackpot' stories like this circulate quickly throughout the diving community, perpetuating the myth that diamond diving is a short cut to wealth.

Big payouts encourage lavish spending & many 'wayward' divers are prone to 'blow' big bucks on booze, drugs, women & fast cars.

But success stories like this are rare. For many divers & concession holders alike, lean living is common place. With fewer 'sea days' (when sea conditions are favourable) due to adverse effects such as global warming, reduce the number of work days.

The intermittent flooding of the Orange River (& subsequent siltation of the adjacent coastal waters), also prevents divers from operating. These divers work the shallow gulleys in Alexander bay harbour in search of a payout on a 'bad sea day'.

With the price of diamonds falling due to the drop in global demand, the expense of maintaining boats & equipment, the need to constantly find 'virgin gravel' (that which has not been hosed or sucked) drives many operators into bankcruptsy.

Diamond divers work a gulley in Alexander bay harbour. David Mitchell (right) drags the big stones out of the gulleys and crevices, so that Pete Johnson (left) can work his hose into the recesses that hold the virgin gravel.

A diamond diver works a gulley in Alexander bay harbour. Long hours heavy work is the norm. Some divers work on a retainer salary and earn a much smaller cut of the pie if and when a diamond is found. Peace of mind for those divers with families.

Most divers however prefer the riskier 'full monty' pay agreement, which pays big when the diamonds are big, but nothing until the stones are found. As one diver lamented, " I've eaten nothing but baked beans for the past 5 months "!

Many divers agree that the work is addictive. The thrill of hitting the 'jackpot' looms large in their psyche and it's the constant excitement of not knowing what might come up on a given day that keeps these guys hooked to the profession.

Diamonds in his eyes! Diver, Michael Payne of Sunglide Miners, work a shoreline gulley in the Alexkor 1A mining concession.

But for some, 'burnout' comes quickly & many divers with Class 3 certificates take the less lucrative but more "reliable" pay cheques that come with working the world's offshore oil rigs. Jobs abound along the Angolan coast & in the Nigerian Delta.

Alexkor Concession 1A. Sunglide Miners. An Namibian migrant worker tends the drum mashine that separates the big pebbles and stones from the precious 'diamond' bearing gravel.

Shoreline equipment of concession holder Simon James. An ex-diamond diver with a number of big payout's in his kitty, has invested his money into equipment. The gamble has paid off, and this operator is 'making money'. Others are often not so lucky.

Protea security guard, Ophniel Monaisa from Mbabatho in the NW Province, employed by Alexkor Mines, patrols the beach strip from the HMS (Heavy Medium Separation) Plant to the mine perimeter fence. Diamonds still wash up on the beaches!

Protea security guards, Ophniel Monaisa from Mbabatho in the NW Province, and Theodire Mouton from Cape Town, both employed by Alexkor Mines, patrols the beach strip from the HMS (Heavy Medium Separation) plant to the mine perimeter fence.

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