Durban

Arriving in Durban port, you see a city that reflects its history and its progress today.

Durban is not considered a safe city. With this in mind, I know you are nervous about going ashore so let’s join a tour. You will feel better then , won’t you. Shall we go to the Botanical Gardens and that way we will drive through the city. Some of the old buildings are beautiful.

Some of the modern buildings are unusual.

The mosque covers at least 2 blocks and has shops in many parts of the street level. It is near the main shopping area.

Can you see all the stands along the street? There seems to be everything you might need. Forget just going into a shop.It is definitely different to how you and I shop.

Need a taxi to get all those goodies home. You need to go to a taxi stand. Yes those vans in the background are the taxis.

People here seem to live in apartments just as in other cities. The difference here though is the apartments or houses have a solid fence walls surrounding them. The solid wall fences are topped with barbed or electrified wires. In some cases there is even a security guard. It makes you realise, people don’t actually feel totally safe in their homes

Here we are at the Botanical Gardens. It is the oldest Botanical Gardens in South Africa. Trees here were planted in the 1800’s. Looks like we have arrived just as they are preparing the beds for the winter plantings. Some of the trees are magnificent. Which are your favourites? Here are mine!

Don’t get close to this tree. It’s called the Fever tree because it grew in swampy land and people would get Malaria. They blamed the tree.

Apart from trees , there are some interesting gardens. Did you go to the sunken or sensory garden? The plants in the sensory garden had amazing smelling leaves.

There are some lovely statues. This I think is my favourite. I like the quote at its base.

Is “Think of us “ your favourite?

Did you know a huge stadium was built for the FIFA 2010 soccer games? It looks magnificent from here but I believe it is already under repair.

Poverty and unemployment seem to be a problem for the city. Many men seem to be on the street. Some are collecting recyclables to earn money.

Many people come to Durban for the beaches. It is called the Golden Mile and has hotels of every kind for you to stay in on your next holiday. Prefer Australian beaches… okay let’s go back to the ship.😄

We are now heading to Cape Town. More sea days.