Explore Durban from a completely different perspective by participating in one of the beach outrides that take place behind Durban International/Reunion Beach way. It’s fun, good exercise and a great way to get outdoors and off the couch. A 2 hour ride costs R225 and the 3 hour, where riders stop at the beach to let the horses go down to the water for a swim, costs R335.

They also do Saturday morning lessons from 9-12 for R150. These include learning how to groom & tack-up, the basics (ie. learning to stay on successfully!) as well as more advanced stuff later on like jumping.  Each lesson ends with an outride into the fields surrounding the airport.

The ranch itself is ramshackle and beautiful and the herd lives out in the open fields just as nature intended and not cooped up in a stable most of the time. The horses have the most gorgeous temperaments and there are loads of playful foals that come right up to you to see if you taste good or need grooming!

Bookings can be made for any day of the week by calling Terrence on 0844 670752.

• Thanks to Liana for the tip-off!
• Does anyone have any other suggestions for an unusual day out in Durban?

Greater Good South Africa (GGSA), an online social marketplace for people who want to make a difference, will be hosting a “Do It Day” on Friday 19 September - an annual opportunity for South Africans to unite in positive community action.

Now in its fourth year, Do It Day encourages South Africans from all walks of life to come together to engage in volunteer activities. Through GGSA’s online platform, interested parties can sign up to participate in community projects suited to their time and skills.

“We believe everyone has something to give,” says GGSA Managing Director Carol Tappenden. “Giving time and sharing your skills with a good cause is just as valuable as donating money.  Do It Day is a chance for people to get out and do something positive and uplift their communities.”

In 2007, Do It Day attracted over 700 volunteers who worked on 60 projects all over South Africa. This year there are already 120 different projects listed on the GGSA website, requiring varying numbers of volunteers.

Projects range from the painting of children’s hospital wards, planting of vegetable gardens, designing websites for community organisations, giving career guidance at schools, IT support, bookkeeping, baking, building and much much more.

Employee groups as well as individuals are invited to join GreaterGood SA on 19 September for South Africa’s biggest day of mass volunteering yet.

For more information visit Greater Good SA or call (021) 794-0580.

City Futures: confronting the crisis of urban development by Edgar Pieterse (Univ of Cape Town Press)

Cities are the future. In the past two decades, a global urban revolution has taken place, mainly in the South. The ‘mega-cities’ of the developing world are home to over 10 million people each and even smaller cities are experiencing unprecedented population surges. The problems surrounding this influx of people - slums, poverty, unemployment and lack of governance - have been well-documented.This book is a powerful indictment of the current consensus on how to deal with these challenges. Pieterse argues that the current ’shelter for all’ and ‘urban good governance’ policies treat only the symptoms, not the causes of the problem.

Instead, he claims, there is an urgent need to reinvigorate civil society in these cities, to encourage radical democracy, economic resilience, social resistance and environmental sustainability folded into the everyday concerns of marginalised people. Providing a dynamic picture of a cosmopolitan urban citizenship, City Futures is an essential guide to one of the new century’s greatest challenges.The ‘mega-cities’ of the developing world are home to over 10 million people each and even smaller cities are experiencing unprecedented population surges.

The problems surrounding this influx of people - slums, poverty, unemployment and lack of
governance - have been well-documented. This book provides ways on how to deal with these challenges.

The School of Development Studies invites you to a seminar by Professor Edgar Pieterse from the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town.  The seminar is entitled ‘City Futures: Confronting the Crisis of Urban Development’.

Date:   Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Time:   12h30 - 14h00
Venue:   School of Development Studies Seminar, Room F213, MTB
Queries:   masmith@ukzn.ac.za

This seminar reflects on Professor Pieterse’s recent book published by Zed Books with the same title.  This book will be launched at IKE’s Bookshop on the evening of the seminar.

Edgar Pieterse is currently the Director of the African Centre for Cities and Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, both at the University of Cape Town. He is the holder of the DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Urban Policy. The African Centre for Cities is an inter-disciplinary research centre that aims to facilitate critical urban research and policy discourses for the promotion of vibrant, democratic and sustainable urban development in the global South.

Prior to establishing the centre, Professor Pieterse spent three years working as a Special Advisor to the Premier of the Western Cape focussed on policy coordination and integration. Before that assignment, he founded and directed the Isandla Institute, an urban policy think-tank, for six years.

He holds a PhD from London School of Economics and an MA in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies (The Hague). He has published in both local and international journals and co-edited three volumes: Consolidating Developmental Local Government (2008); Voices of the Transition: The Politics, Poetics and Practices of Development in South Africa (2004) and Democratising Local Government: the South African Experiment (2002).