We’re all in this together. What you do affects me, and vice versa. So why don’t we all just play smart?
Muizenberg is a great spot for an early morning dog walk. Images by Chris Davies.
One recent morning, I went for a walk on Muizenberg Beach. It was lovely and crisp, and the sun was out: it was going to be a beautiful day. There weren’t many people on the beach, but in the distance was a tall, lanky man and his two dogs, one a small black poodle. They all looked rather sweet muddling along the shoreline, so I prepared to engage this threesome with a happy good-morning grin. But as I neared, the poodle stopped dead in its scamper, curled its little back into a concentrated arch and produced a steaming mound.
Now, dogs do poop and there’s nothing about this that offends me, but the man, smiling blithely, scooped sand over the pile with his foot.
‘I’m sure the person who steps into that is going to thank you,’ I said brightly. ‘Or if you were thinking that the sea will wash it away, better still, because I’m swimming here later and who doesn’t adore the potential of catching hookworm?’
Of course, I said none of this, because had I spoken my mind I knew that the response would not be, ‘True (hehe); would I want to swim in faeces? Certainly not! Let me pick it up this very instant,’ it would be more along the lines of ‘Mind your own business!’ followed by indignant stomping down the beach.
Now, I have no doubt that if I met this man at a dinner party I would think, ‘What a nice chap.’ But the fact is, when it comes to their dogs in public spaces, perfectly nice people can reveal a bizarrely myopic view of the world. They will walk their dogs without leashes (and swear at people, conservation officials included, when asked to do so), despite the fact that other humans or creatures might feel threatened, or worse, that they might be in a protected bird-nesting area. They’ll allow their dogs to poop in spaces we all use: the beach, common and public walkways.
Why bring this up in the age of Cecil the lion, and hunting and sewerage in the sea, and myriad other weightier issues? Well, this is the walking issue, and walking and dogs are inextricably linked with public spaces. But to my mind it all comes down to the same thing, really: the dog-poo issue perfectly illustrates our general attitude to our broader world – as long as we’re not the ones stepping in it, we think the poo is someone else’s problem (even, sometimes, if it comes from our own dogs). But we’re all part of an ecosystem, so we need to give a damn about our wild spaces, our forests, the effluent pouring out into the sea, poor infrastructure in poor areas. If we insist on living as if our wants alone are important, surely we’ll all soon be swamped with sh*t?
This issue is full of stories about great public spaces and walks through them: our own Melanie van Zyl on a life-changing Karoo pilgrimage, Fiona McIntosh in exquisite Mpumalanga and Limpopo, Niq Mhlongo in gritty Dar es Salaam, Darrel Bristow-Bovey in bucolic England. There’s nothing like a lovely long walk to make one appreciate the beauty of SA’s stunning outdoors. Let’s look after it.
I hope you enjoy the issue.
TO OUR READERS: We want to hear your views. Mail us at [email protected]
This article first appeared in the September 2015 issue of Getaway magazine.
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