{"id":36647,"date":"2025-03-26T04:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=36647"},"modified":"2025-03-26T04:16:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:16:04","slug":"durban-south-africa-%f0%9f%87%bf%f0%9f%87%a6-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=36647","title":{"rendered":"Durban, South Africa \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date : 22nd March 2025 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelled : 120 NM from Richard\u2019s Bay to Durban \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visited : Durban \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stayed : Holland America\u2019s Zuiderdam<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Walking into the crows nest this morning at the usual time to find the Zuiderdam has already berthed. So a few quick pictures of the Durban skyline and the port, pictured below. The weather is warm but the humidity has dropped a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only a relatively short sailing distance overnight from Richard\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durban<\/a> is South Africa\u2019s third largest city. Situated on the east coast in the Bay of Natal. Wiki tells us the city reflects its African, Indian and colonial heritage. Vasco da Gama spotted this section of coastline in 1497 naming it Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today we plan to visit the city with two other couples from Sydney. Apparently the local police visited the ship early this morning advising tourists to do their exploring of the city in groups, do not to walk alone. Very reassuring ! So over breakfast we formed our gang, having noted Uber works here in Durban we\u2019ll use that as required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having puts some flags on Google maps based on the \u2018Port Talk\u2019 we take our first Uber (cost A$9) to Saint Emmanuel Cathedral. We arrived to find the cathedral locked, asking a security guard he disappeared to reappear with a Nun who kindly let us in, some pictures below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Literally just around the corner is Victoria Market, from apples to offal it\u2019s the place to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Victoria Market leads us into the Indian quarter and its surrounding streets lined with shops of every description almost all with a stall on the footpath, so it\u2019s slow going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Suddenly we emerged from the Indian district as the surroundings change leaving the crowds behind. The West Street Mosque and some street scenes pictured below. Note the vans on the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durban\u2019s public transport is based on mini-vans wizzing along the streets constantly sounding their horns. Doesn\u2019t seem to be any rational on where they\u2019re going or how much it costs but people wave their arms and clamber in, so we presume it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our next stop is Durban City Hall, with its green copper domes. Built in 2010 in the Edwardian style it is a virtually copy of Belfast City Hall. In the park fronting the hall a statue of Queen Victoria. Being Saturday, city hall is closed but the museum on the first floor is open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Opposite the museum a Tudor style theatre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The museum featured African art but we found the natural science museum fun. It was also cool and spacious and easy to wander. Anyway it\u2019s the closest we will get to the big 5 on this trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Time for another Uber (A$4 this time) to Durban\u2019s beach front known as the \u2018Golden Mile\u2019. By this time we\u2019re all tired and hungry so it\u2019s more about a late lunch and a relax. We spot a likely looking hotel with a bar overlooking the beach and there we settle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full of pizza we walk the beachfront for a kilometre. Apart from the surf, there are a series of swimming pools lining the beachfront as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beach was patrolled which was a little surprising. The flags seemed very close together for the hundreds of people in the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Done with the beach it\u2019s another Uber (A$3 this time) back to the Zuiderdam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That was our day in Durban\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael + Pam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date : 22nd March 2025  Travelled : 120 NM from Richard\u2019s Bay to Durban \u00a0 Visited : Durban \u00a0 Stayed : Holland America\u2019s Zuiderdam Walking into the crows nest this morning at the usual time to find the Zuiderdam has already berthed. So a few quick pictures of the Durban skyline and the port, pictured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":36665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa-","8":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36647"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36674,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36647\/revisions\/36674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}