Doings In Durban

Jim and I sometimes do unusual things in cities we visit.  We arrived late in the afternoon, so after locating our rental apartment for the night, we decided to eat Indian food.  There is a long beach front walk that was upgraded around the time of the building of the soccer arena for the World Cup which we followed to a restaurant where we thought we were going to eat.

It turned out that it was a small take-away place, so we awkwardly looked around for another restaurant.  As we stood there, an off-duty policeman approached us and said we really were in a dicey area off the beach walk and recommended another restaurant further down but on the beach.

That Indian restaurant was quite good.  From this photo you would not think that we could have gotten ourselves into an unsafe space.

Durban has many Art Deco style buildings.  Having a great interest in architecture, Jim found several that he wanted to see, and off we ventured walking through downtown Durban.

We took Uber to the east side of Durban to eat at an excellent outdoor restaurant then walked back to our apartment.

Our first stop was the Durban Botanical Garden where many interesting plants and trees grew.  A few people were out enjoying the sunshine.

One tree was labeled a jackfruit tree.

Beautiful orchids bloomed in a hot house.

We saw an Hadada ibis:

A Hindu temple was next along our route.

In the distance we could see the top of the soccer arena.

Steve had gone off on his own.  He actually toured the soccer stadium and went to the top of a building to view the city.

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To the east the soccer stadium is easily identifiable.

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To the west the port entry area is at the very end of the beach.  Our apartments were near there, too.

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Sunday was Mother's Day in the USA, but a lot of activity occurred along the beach with sand building creations and paddle outs.  We took a short beach walk to have an espresso before we departed towards Jo'burg.

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More Art Deco:

Cape Agulhas to Durban

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Cape Agulhas is the Southernmost Tip of Africa, not the Cape of Good Hope, as some of us might think.  Maybe that is because Cape Agulhas is more difficult to pronounce. Actually, the cape is the dividing line between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

There was a small version of the continent of Africa showing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

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Click on the photo to enlarge the plaque.

There many interesting rock formations.

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We only had about a week to make our way across South Africa to Durban then north to Johannesburg.  On our long drives we saw many landscapes and seascapes.  A local fisherman gets ready to brave the waves.

It was very windy.

Much of the time we drove through widespread vistas with very few vehicles.

Finding the ocean again at Mossel Bay, its sail sculpture invited us to visit.

That night we stayed at an AIRBNB near Knysna so Steve could have a close encounter with an elephant.  Our house had a lovely pool, but the weather was too chilly for us to fully enjoy it.  We made a fire instead.

Jeffrey's Bay was a must stop to acquire a surfing T-shirt.  The surfers were having a fine day.

We had lunch in Makhanda, formerly Grahmstown.  The Observatory Museum was closed for renovation, but it looked like it would have been interesting to visit.

Makhanda has numerous churches.

Back on the road we glimpsed areas in which land must have been given back to the people.

Reaching another beautiful AIRBNB apartment in Margate/Ramsgate, we beheld a beauty of a sunset, including birds perched in the nearby trees.

In the morning we followed a Ramsgate Marine Ramble path before leaving.

KwaZulu-Natal, the beach at Mpenjati Nature Reserve, has been used by naturists for many years.  Jim also tried his had at surf fishing.  Some day he will catch something on our trips.