Shattered Toilets and The South African Jaws

I went out to Muizenberg today (or actually a week ago because I just set this damn blog up) to shadow a reporter doing a story on how Cecil Rhodes’s Cottage Museum (actually the annex building next to it) had been broken into by thieves to steal copper. Apparently copper has seen a worldwide increase in value. The thieves shattered a toilet into pieces in order to get to the copper pipes. Needless to say, if you plan on visiting the museum anytime soon, make sure to hit a bathroom before you get there.

It wasn’t much of a story by itself (the real story is about copper theft increasing dramatically) but it did allow me to see the magnificent beaches of Muizenberg. The town is located on the False Bay side of the cape. Rhodes’s cottage sits right on a beautiful beach with rolling waves and incredible views.

As pretty as the town is, what it’s most well known for is Great White Shark attacks. There have relatively recently been 5 shark attacks in the Muizenberg area and one in which a 70 year-old woman was basically bitten in half. The belief in the area is that it was the same shark in all the attacks.

Great White shark attacks are actually incredibly normal in South Africa. Since 1990 almost half of the world’s reported Great White shark attacks have come from South Africa. So in other words, I’m having second thoughts about surfing down here.