I am staying in Appelsbosch – a small town about 80km north of Durban in the Kwazulu-Natal province in eastern South Africa. I’m really not sure why it’s called “Appelsbosch” since that roughly translates to “Apple Bush” and there are no apples far as I can tell anywhere near here. Also, apples don’t grow on bushes.
The complex here is an apartheid-era teaching college built for the local Black Zulu population and opened in late 1993. It was promptly closed after
apartheid was abolished on April 27, 1994 and has been abandoned ever since. Looking at
satellite images gives a pretty good idea of size noting that the big white building in the middle is a standard size gym containing a full-court basketball court and stage.
There is an air of ghost-town-ish-ness about it because of the relative age in conjunction with its new-ish feel. Trees are pushing through the bricks outside, but most of the gym equipment had to be removed from its original packaging before the Academy could use it. A strange juxtaposition that one wouldn’t find in the US – except maybe at an old military base.
