Durban delights
They say #DurbanHasMore and they certainly do! This is my third time to attend Durban July, the biggest horse race in Africa, which started in 1897 at the Greyville Racecourse and has been run without interruption even during the world wars.
I first attended this in 2019 but the pandemic stopped this annual event from 2020 to 2021. The day at the horse races is all about socializing, eating, drinking, betting, and people watching! This is when people from all over Africa put on their most colorful outfits and parade around the racetrack. One will get to see traditional African wear, as well as the modern African designs made by young designers.
Durban July is definitely one of the biggest attractions here but there is so much more to do in this coastal city in Kwazulu-Natal province in the eastern part of South Africa. This area is famous for their reserves and lodges that feature the big five, namely the lion, leopard, African bush elephant, rhinoceros, and African buffalo.
Mkuze Falls Game Lodge is one of those that offers guests a glimpse of the big five inside their reserve. We had a boma dinner (a gathering where lodge guests meet for dinners in an open-air atmosphere and usually with a bonfire) where the adventurous could eat game meat such as nyala steaks, kudu potjies, or impala sausages.
Our game drive to see the big five didn’t turn out too well, as our tracker saw fresh lion tracks, but a tree felled by an elephant blocked the only road leading to this area. We did get to see the rhino, buffalo, and elephant (plus hippos, wildebeest, and more), so three out of the five were good enough.
There are tons of activities to do in Durban. There is shark diving, though the trend now is cage-less shark diving, which I was too scared to do, so I did dolphin watching, where a large pod of dolphins swam right by our boat. Whale watching (I saw one) is a popular activity as well. Durban also has bungee jumping, surfing, zip lining, horseback riding (with an option doing this on the beach), and quad-biking (an all-terrain vehicle). The last two activities are wonderful when done around the Drakensberg mountain range. Check out a Zulu cultural experience at Indlondlo Cultural Village. Here we learned that in the Zulu culture, the dowry for a bride is 11 cows. I was told this is still practiced in modern times but instead of cows, the monetary equivalent is also good.
Durban is known for its African and Indian colonial influences. Food is great here and there are countless restaurants in the city! The specialty here is Bunny Chow, a hollow loaf of bread filled with your curry of choice. Steak here is great and a 300 gram rib eye, porterhouse, sirloin, or prime rib are all priced around P1,000 or less! Butcher Boys and Butcher Block are the top steak places here.
Two items that have sprung up on nearly every menu recently are bone marrow and snails. The African way of cooking snails is like the French way (butter and garlic), but they also have a creamy cheese version, which is great! Head down to The Oyster Box, the most beautiful hotel in Durban and grab the seafood platter for dinner. This has fresh crayfish (which is like our spiny lobster), squid, mussels, prawns, kingklip, and excellent deep-sea, large-flake fish only found in Africa. Head to a Nando’s, which actually originated in South Africa and there is nothing like the original peri-peri chicken.
Durban has some of the largest malls in Africa where you can practically find anything you want! I love shopping in their supermarkets, which basically sell what one can only find in Australia or the UK (such as lamingtons, rusks, Bovril, and Marmite). They have a good selection of canned sardines, mackerel, and cod as well. I never miss going to Victoria Street Market where I can get affordable African arts and crafts and unique souvenirs.
The Golden Mile is a popular stretch of beachfront in the city. It runs roughly from uShaka Beach to Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World and now includes a route directly to Moses Mabhida Stadium, one of the stadiums used for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The wide stretch of fine sands, artificially separated by various piers, is filled with surfers, sun-worshippers, and swimmers who enjoy the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Most of the Mile’s beaches are protected year-round by lifeguards and shark nets.
This city has so much more to offer and there is something new every time I come back! Friendly people, great food, loads of adventure, and of course, the exciting game drives… what more can you ask for? Do drop by Durban when in South Africa.
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Visit www.visitdurban.travel or Durban Tourism’s Facebook page or @dbntourism on Instagram.
Follow me on Instagram @pepperteehankee.
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