Durban, South Africa (Dec. 27-28)

Thursday, December 27

Warren and I woke up at the crack of dawn to head to the Johannesburg airport to catch the 8:30 flight to Durban. Warren’s close friend Alfred picked us up at the airport after the one-hour flight. Alfred is from Durban but also studying medicine in Pretoria with Warren. He drove us (in a very Durban-like way) to our Happy Hippo Hostel so we could drop off our backpacks and change into beach stuff.

The three of us walked from the hostel through uShaka Marine World to the beach. uShaka itself is a really big tourist trap, but it did have some really nice restaurants and stores that surround it. Right on the other side is the beginning of the “Golden Mile” and also a ton of new developments. They’re putting up apartments unbelievable fast, with gorgeous views of the miles and miles of golden sandy beaches.


Alfred drove us up the coast to get to Suncoast Beach. You had to pay 5 rand entrance (about 75 cents), but that surprisingly makes a huge difference in the people and the quality of the beach. I had been told in advance to stay clear of certain beaches because the looked like giant “oil slicks”. Yes, that’s a racist comment, and racism about certain aspects is still strong in the country.

I attempted body surfing some of the waves, but they were so massive that I definitely got eaten by a few of them. I’m positive that I flashed numerous innocent bystanders during the day, because those waves really tore at your bathing suits! You had to be quick to readjust yourself before resurfacing!

Alfred’s brother, Nico, joined us at the beach, and we just chilled there for the afternoon. Warren and I decided to walk home the 3k along the beach, and when we got back to the hostel, we couldn’t get to the cold showers fast enough! Despite putting on sunscreen several times, we were both burnt to a crisp. It makes sense that I was not used to the sun—I had just come from a winter! Warren’s excuse was that it had been raining the whole summer before my arrival, so he hadn’t been out in the sun much! Some South African!

After napping and waking up even redder than before, Alfred and his brother came to pick us up. They took us to Florida Road where all the fancy clubs and pubs are found. We went to a place called “Society”. It was on the second floor of what used to be an old house. It even had a veranda overlooking the street. They had bed-like couches and giant cushions spread out along the veranda, and so we sat outside and relaxed on one of the couches for the evening. It was a nice way to finish the night before the sunburned, arms-extended, no-blanket-allowed-to-touch-my-body sleep.

Friday, December 28

Day two was even warmer than day one. The humidity was more apparent because the wind from the day before had died down. We checked out of the hostel and walked along the beach again. We had delicious fresh juice at a restaurant called Moyo right on the beach, then followed behind a parade that was put on for the tourists at uShaka.


We walked just behind the beaches where there was an enormous market full of African artists and the carvings, paintings, jewelry, etc. that they were selling. There were so many of them selling such similar things, that the competition had lowered the prices to a point where you felt like you were ripping them off—even without bargaining!


Another interesting thing to mention was the advertising for the “free abortions”. (Also take a peek at the cool art on the garbage cans!)


We were so disgustingly hot and sweaty that, after walking through the market (and only visiting the stalls that were in the shade, of course), we stopped to eat lunch on the shady patio of The Deck. Alfred met us there afterwards and took us for a drive to the Valley of a Thousand Hills. It was gorgeous!! We grabbed a drink at the Pot & Kettle—a restaurant overlooking the hills.


There was a sign there that said, “Please do not feed the monkeys”. I thought it was a joke until leaving the restaurant, we saw quite a few vervet monkeys hanging out in the trees and on the fence. It was awesome!


The three of us then headed up into the mountains a little more until we came upon PheZulu. Unfortunately it was a Zulu village that had been preserved (or created, I’m not sure) for education/tourism purposes. It was closing for the day, so we went on our way, however, not before spotting some crocodiles that were kept outside of a restaurant.


Our last stop of the day before heading to the airport was at a lookout called Krantzkloof (the translation would be something along the lines of “cliff valley”). That was also really neat; it was off the beaten path and still completely unexploited.


We headed to the Durban airport, flew in to Johannesburg, drove back to Pretoria, watched a movie, and went to bed. Tomorrow would be another early morning—we were leaving for the Kruger National Park.