Blogs from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Africa - page 2

Since these oaks were from Durban….and I needed to go that way, Stuey was nice enough to offer a ride all the way! Super lekke!!!! So bright and early, well earlier than I thought these guys would be up, we hit the road and found a niiiiiice brekky spot a few hours down the road. After some good farm fresh business we rolled into Durban and to the door of my hostel EZ PZ as if it was their job! It was braai night at the hostel too so all I needed was some meat! I chose a “21 day lazy aged” steak. Whatever that means it was good over the coals. Bread was good as was the salad! The Florida Road is where a lot of action is in Durban but I only window shopped, ... read more

Romance. It didn’t happen to me, but it did happen on my BazBus to Durban between two passengers. It reminded me of the transience of travelling – after a couple of days, they’ll probably never see each other again. It was almost exactly like that Ethan Hawke film Before Sunrise when two backpackers meet on a train in Europe and decide to get off in Vienna where they spend all night walking the streets of the city and falling in love – only for the girl to catch a train back to France in the morning, never to see each other again. Travelling solo can get lonely – especially during low season – so I’ll admit that there was a part of me wishing it was happening to me. Boastfulness. It’s not a good look. I’ve ... read more

I departed Sandton, Johannesburg, as I had arrived: on the airport express service. The train breezed eastwards through suburbs, industry and intervening golf courses to Oliver Tambo International. I disembarked and scurried down the escalator to a help desk. "Where is the domestic terminal?" I asked of a young woman behind the desk. She pointed back upstairs in the direction I had seen various other people from the train heading. Feeling a bit foolish I took another escalator up to the next floor and found the SAA desk. I skirted the self check-in which I still find intimidating and joined a queue. It was being held up by a family who were taking advantage of the free cling-wrap service or whatever they call it, whereby your bags are wrapped in layer after layer of cling-film, allegedly ... read more

Geo: -29.853, 31.0164It was already hot when we docked at Durban, South Africa in the morning. We negotiated with a local taxi driver who took us to various sights around the city. Essentially these were the sights we would have seen if we had taken the official tour at 3 times the price. Durban is not as pretty as Capetown. It has a nice front with beaches and the odd statue. The post office is a notable huge Victorian building. The Victoria market is recommended by some if you want to barter for African goods but we had a look and did not stay. Must confess that we have enough African heads, masks and elephants etc! The best place to visit is most certainly the Botanical Gardens. These are free to visit and are popular with ... read more

We left for Durban early Tuesday morning and had an uneventful drive down, apart from the awful weather as we got into Natal, heavy rain and fog patches. We were staying a week with Wendy and Barrie, a very quiet house now that the 2 boys have left home, but it was lovely to see them again and catch up on all our news. In fact so much news that it took Wendy and I until 2am the first night before we decided to go to bed, Wendy claimed to be very tired the next day and said it had nothing to do with the empty wine bottles under the bar! We also stayed a night with James and Lee which was lovely as we hadn't seen James for absolutely ages as he has been working ... read more