South Africa Day 2

Day 2, 8:30am, Johannesburg

Arrived at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg (aka Joburg and Jozi) the largest and busiest airport in Africa, sampled some of the local cuisine then headed over to check in for the last leg of the journey to Durban.

We were flying Mango Airlines who have bright orange coloured 'planes, I wondered if it was to make it easier for the crash investigators to spot them, at this point I couldn't have cared less as it would mean an end to 26 hours of travelling and waiting.

As soon as we departed the 'plane at Durban, the increase in temperature was ridiculous, I knew right away that training in this heat was going to be a test in itself, at least it was all no gi.

Our host for the trip, Morne Swanepoel, met us and whisked us away in his 'bakkie' which was proper 'lekker'. A brief stop at his place to quickly dump our stuff then immediately down to the beach for a rejuvenating swim in the ocean with it's subtropical climate. Perfect.

All too soon it was time for our first training session. A short drive delivered us to the Muscle and Fitness Gym in Pinetown, the headquarters for Morne's Association, where we entered the gym to a heat that I was just not used to, anyone who has trained at our gym knows that heat is not usually a problem; this atmosphere was even hotter than training in LA which is saying something.

Thankfully we didn't do an intense warm up otherwise that may have been my demise right there and then. We progressively worked through side control drills and escapes which linked nicely into the ½ guard section that I would teach. The first workshop was completed with rolling as always and a brief Q & A session to iron out any queries the guys may have had along the way, all in all a great session for this very warm and weary traveller.

Everyone congregated outside for a while in an attempt to cool down, awesome that after training you can stand around outside wearing only shorts, might try that when I get home.

Need food and sleep.