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

Our first stop on Mainland Africa was Mombasa in Kenya. That marked the 95th country I have visited. We had an overnight stay here to allow some passengers to go to a Safari park. We stayed in the city. On the first morning we went on a ship tour to see some of the sights of the city. Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya and Fletcher says it is much like Nairobi except for the number of tuk-tuks in the streets. Our first stop was on the main road to view the large crossed tusks which is the symbol of the city. Then we were taken to a local Hindu temple. There is a very large Indian population here. This temple had some very gruesome paintings on the walls depicting the horrible punishments which ... read more

The journey from Reunion to Durban, South Africa is a three day sail. The sea day routine reestablishes itself. Lectures, art classes, meals and evening entertainment. Perhaps the best evening (and it is a close call) is provided by The Four Harps, a group of four Irish male singers (although one seems to come from England for all his ginger beard and green jacket, he even describes himself as a “plastic paddy”). They have the audience joining in several rousing singalongs, Wild Rover etc. But it is not all endless pleasure, oh no. We experience real hardship as comes inevitably to all seafarers. I am sitting in the lounge reserved for World Cruise travellers when a woman comes in and looks upset. “There’s no ice cream in the machines”, she wails. It appears the ship has ... read more

Coming from the spectacular Drakensberg and driving into the suburbs of Durban was quite a change for us. Finally the rain started to ease and by reaching the suburbs of Durban it completely stopped. Durban was surprisingly green and hilly. For whatever reason we expected it to be flat and dusty. But no, it was green, hilly with lots of exocitcs flowers blossoming. But it was hot and humid! For 6 days we had been on an average height of about 1700 metres where it gets a bit chilly in the evening. Not so in Durban - it was definitely a different climate. But nice for a change for us, for sure! We navigated through the highway to our accomodation in Durban North. We had opted for a room a bit out of town, because we ... read more

Nous avons quitté Cape Town sous la pluie... (seulement entre la porte d'embarquement et l'avion...), ne nous plaignons donc pas... Notre destination sera maintenant Durban où nous devons retrouver PA, sa copine et Tiffany... Notre style de vie va totalement changer... nous aurions du venir avec nos patins à roulettes... la jeunesse d'aujourd'hui a bien oublié que passé 70 ans on a plus 20 ans et qu'on ne peut plus courir comme avant... Pas grave... nous encaissons... et nos yeux captent les sentiments que nous avons à ressentir durant des kilomètres... Quand ils atteindront notre âge on éclatera de rire dans notre tombe au vu de ce que leurs corps à eux deviendront, puisque chacun est fait pour vieillir un jour. Passons à autre chose... Bien faire et laisser braire disait ma maman... A vous de ... read more

We never thought we would ever be able to visit South Africa but here we were in Durban. The capital of Kwa-Zulu Province, it is reputed to be the most Indian city in South Africa as well as the busiest container port in Africa. We arrived early in the morning but it was about 10am before we were able to get off the ship and take a shuttle bus to the beginning of the “Golden Mile” - Durban's world famous surfing beach. It was deserted for most its length but, at one point, preparations were being made for a surfing competition due to start the next day. As we walked away from the beach and into the centre of the city we began to meet more people. There were a lot of people hanging around the ... read more