Durban South Africa - Good Friday - 6th April

We arrived into Durban just before 9am.  We sailed in past the sandy beaches and lots of interestingly shaped high rise buildings and the iconic sports stadium.  As usual we were docked in the container port where there were absolutely no facilities and where you had to walk a distance to get out to where the taxis were waiting.  No welcoming band here!  The day was a perfect sunny day with less heat and humidity of our earlier ports.  After the usual breakfast on our balcony we proceeded to the Meridien dining room as instructed for our face to face “interview” with immigration… well what a shamozel the queue went the entire length of the ship plus more.  It took around an hour to complete the requirements which then meant that we had to rush off to our waiting coach to take us on tour to the Valley of a Thousand Hills.  This was a P&O tour which was from 10am to 2pm.  The tour took us through the main city of Durban to the outer region where the Valley of a Thousand Hills is.  And yes it is a valley with a lot of hills and very picturesque.  We went to Phezulu, a recreated zulu village where we were told the story of the olden day African tribal cultures.  There was a lot of dancing and singing and of course the beat of the zulu drums beating out over the hillside.  We also saw a reptile park which had a lot of Africa’s snakes and crocodiles.  We were served tea and coffee with a scone with jam and cream at a wonderful place to sit and take in the view of the thousand hills.  Zulus are allowed to have as many wives as they like and have to pay at least 11 cows to the father first.  The men usually pick out a girl by going to the river and watching them doing their chores.  All single girls have bare breasts.   If the girl accepts him as her boyfriend then she gives him a beaded necklace which he then wears as a symbol.  He then goes to the local fortune teller who tells him everything about the chosen girl.  If this confirms his choice he then visits the father with his 11 cows.  The show was quite interesting and well explained and very energetic to say the least.  The boys all dance with lots of high kicking and turns to try to outdo each other to impress the young girls.  Once the girls are committed to a boy they then start to wear a small breast covering and when they are married they are completely covered and have to wear the hide of a cow as a skirt which weighs around 4 kilos to cover the back of their wife’s thighs as this is the area of the body they find the most attractive.  The wife also wears a very fancy and elaborately beaded headdress which is often beaded into their hear which means that they have to sleep by resting their head on a small wooden stool to support their headdress. 

On our return to the ship at 2pm we then walked to where the taxis were and went to the waterfront area which is called the “Golden Mile”.  On the way in the taxi we passed our street procession for Easter.  It was only quite a small procession but were very dressed up and a large cross was being carried at the front… quite a colourful parade.

The city of Durban has some quite modern buildings but at street level is very dirty and not many tourists around at all… mainly all black people.  We were told NOT to walk anywhere on our own other than at the waterfront where there are police patrolling the area.  The waterfront area was very lively with lots of people at the beach and relaxing around the place.  There were also quite a few local bands playing along the beach front generally at an open air bar.  It was blowing an absolute gale along the beach area.  The sea was very choppy and brownish but people were still swimming.  The water temp was supposed to be around 25 degs.  We saw lots of rubbish in the water on our arrival probably the filthiest that we have seen so far even worse than the Asian countries which was a surprise.  We safely back on the ship just after 4.30 and we sailed out of Durban on dark around 7ish.  We were late leaving because 2 people had not return so from what I have been told they did not make it back so will now have to make their way to Port Elizabeth which is our next port of call the day after tomorrow.  Looking forward to a sea day to regenerate our batteries.  Love to all. xo