With characteristic generosity, Campbell urged Plomer to move into the bungalow at Sezela and become a joint editor of Voorslag:
We … can put up for good if you can only get away. I think I’ll be earning from ??20 to ??30 a month for editing ‘Voorslag’: so we’ll live like millionaires, man!
[ …]
Lewis Reynolds […] invited the Campbells to occupy a seaside bungalow at Sezela, on one of his estates, Umdoni Park. Set, like Peace Cottage, in thick bush by edge of the sea, it was a simple rectangular structure of corrugated iron lined inside with wood for protection against the fierce sun; but it was well-constructed and spacious, and on three sides it had a deep cool verandah where the Campbells could sit during the day. The surrounding bush was romantically wild. Soon after moving in, the Campbells killed a cobra on the path near the bungalow, and they also killed a deadly mamba just as it was going in at the front door.
Peter Alexander. 1982. Roy Campbell. A Critical Biography. 45-49.
The 160-kilometre coastline of Natal south of Durban is one vast holiday playground. The weather ranges from warm to hot and humid. A green ribbon of sub-tropical forest about two kilometres wide runs all the way down the coast, broadening in some places, narrowing in others.
The trees are mainly evergreens such as the nala, fice, marula, Natal mahogany (or kuhlu) and the wild fig (or thombe). Lala palms and wild bananas also grow in great profusion and mangroves cover the shallows and mud flats of the rivers.
There are 4000 plant species in Natal, many flourishing in the rich soil, high rainfall and warmth of the coastal belt. Here are ferns, orchids and multi-coloured lilies. On rocky ledges can be found the scarlet flame lily and the ifafa lily, the white arum lily, the blue lily (or agapanthus), the fire lily and the blood lily.
Vervet monkeys in countless chattering groups gambol through the trees, feeding on wild fruits, caterpillars and leaves, and themselves being preyed on by the crowned eagles which haunt the forest, and by pythons, which relish young monkeys.
Wild pigs, duikers and bushbuck live in the shadows of the forest floor, but it is in the canopy where there is sunlight that most forms of life find a home. The bird-lover is frustrated as he listens to the constant song and bustle of birds but seldom sees them. The monkeys peep down through the trees and tauntingly drop a shower of peel, pips and other litter.
The coastal forest reaches down to the shoreline, where the Indian Ocean surges in on a beach the colour and consistency of golden- brown sugar. Blue water, green forest, white surf, the rich colour of the sands-all is harmony. To complete the picture there is barely a kilometre of this coast where either a river or stream does not reach the sea. Invariably each has a lagoon at its mouth, serenely mirroring the surrounding forest by day and the stars by night.
This is a coast of lagoons, lilies and lala palms; wild bananas seemingly always in flower; hibiscus, bougainvillaea, frangipani and other exotic flowering plants; legends of mermaids and mermen resting in the sunshine on the sands, or calling and singing as they catch in their hands the phosphorescent jewels sparkling in the waves on warm summer nights
A highway runs down the coast, and a railway line hugs the shore, its trains-often drenched in spray, clattering across bridges, twisting between shore and forest-linking a necklace of holiday resorts, seaside villages and towns.
Mayhew, V. (ed) 1978. Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa. Cape Town: Reader’s Digest.
