Durban, SA 74F sunny, population: city 600,00 extended area 5 million
We have 3 stops in South Africa (SA) on our rerouted itinerary: Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. I have not been to any of these cities. I thought I would start out with some general information I found to be common between the cities and then share what I saw, city by city.
South Africa is considered a dangerous place to live and visit. Recently SA was ranked as the 6th highest country for crime, not in Africa, but in the world. We received multiple warnings on the ship to never walk alone, don’t walk after dark etc. In Durban it was suggested that if we were going on a private tour to let the cruise port terminal police know who we were going with and when we were expected back. During my tour of Port Elizabeth, the guide was adamant that we would not get out of the car at various stops. And a final notice from the ship, stating it was from the government, of contaminated drinking water so be careful what you eat and drink. I believe the contaminated water warning was overblown and more likely that different bacteria and hygiene exist in this part of the world – follow safe eating/drinking practices. When I asked all the guides how they were dealing with the contaminated water issue, they had no idea what I was talking about.
I had black and white guides all willing to talk about the years since apartheid was outlawed. My overall impression from their thoughts was that the government is widely corrupt and has not done enough to create equitable opportunity for everyone. A theme voiced in each of the stops is that a good part of this is that if politicians can keep a group of people unhappy, that is their base. At election time you make wild promises and hand out t-shirts. The problems are never resolved, and their base remains unhappy, yet willing to vote for the promises over and over. People kept in a fear or victim status can rally around politicians promising to make everything better for them.
They all talked about 3 main groups of people: white, black and colored. Colored refers to mixed race people – white with a non white. I learned a ‘township’ is just another word for a slum. While people can visit a township, you must obtain permission and security from the township leaders beforehand. That setup does not give a complete guarantee that you won’t be mugged. Separate townships exist for black and coloreds. There are no townships of white people.
Townships exist for squatters. Shacks are constructed out of whatever material they can scrounge. Tin boxes, tarps for roofs, it truly was whatever they found to mark out some territory as their own. Streets are dirt, electricity is pirated, and live wires kill many children each year. Water is also stolen from pipes with taps located at various points in the township. Toilets if they exist are communal. Shops for fruit, vegetables, clothes etc are really goods on a blanket on the ground at the entrance to the township. No one wants to go inside and have their goods or money from sales taken from them. At night the crime within the township escalates and my guides all agreed that serious crime, shootings, murders etc were daily occurrences.
We talked a little bit about what the government is willing to do and building some government housing to move people from a township into safe housing is always in the works. In Cape Town, the next group of government housing is expected to be started/completed in 5 years. It doesn’t sound like that initiative is high on the list.
In Port Elizabeth the guide indicated that squatters could plop down anywhere they choose. If the squatters are not removed within the first 24 hours, they have the right to remain and can’t be chased off. The methods one can use to chase them off the property do not seem to be regulated.
It is very common as all the guides pointed out, to have townships exist adjacent or in between high end neighborhoods. In every city, this was pointed out to me as we drove along. Which is probably one of the reasons that every neighborhood and each home is surrounded by high walls that include electrified wire adding another 3 ft in height. Some combined the wire with spikes or shards of glass along the top of the wall as well.
Interestingly the guide from Cape Town was ok with arranging a visit to a township with enough advance notice. The guide from Port Elizabeth used to arrange visits to the township but stopped after a group was mugged. On the ship, there was an arranged tour to a township in Durban which would tell me large, arranged tours provide more safety – more payment and repercussions for violence against the larger tourism companies would be swift. I turned down all opportunities to visit.
Every town, even those we live in, have good and bad areas. We all know where not to go at night. The guides were all matter of fact about areas that they would go into or not, even pointing out areas where it is easy to obtain drugs or guns. I asked my guide in Port Elizabeth (he is white) if relationships were so bad that just being white made you a target? His replied that it generally wasn’t an act of hating a race but that white equals more money. Would you prefer to mug a poor person or a person with more money if they were in the same area. This is no doubt just the tip of iceberg in this situation.
Even though SA has vast natural resources such as gold and precious stones along with other economies, it seems that the country is failing in many areas, the greatest problems appear to be supporting their economy and the corrupt government and police/security forces. Various resources question if the country will survive on the path it is currently on.
Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town are part of a tourist area that is referred to as the Garden Route. Lots of planned tours that will include all 3 stops with convenient side trips to national parks and safaris (Kruger and many other private parks), beautiful scenery along the coast (teh Gold Coast) and important history with Mandela and Ghandi. I was surprised in that I was so used to thinking about savannahs and animals without considering the coast. Especially around Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, it is stunning.
Let’s take a look at Durban. Thankfully we are going to have cooler weather – like needing a sweater in the morning – for the African stops. That makes everything look better already!
Archeologically the area around Durbin has been inhabited since 100,000 BC. In 1497 Vasco de Gamo was the first the first European to sight the natural harbor in the area. They named the area Natal Bay as it was at Christmas time. It wasn’t until 1686 that a ship from Dutch East India company wrecked off the eastern coast of South Africa with the survivors landing at the Bay of Natal. Shortly thereafter, they purchased the Bay of Natal from the Abamdo tribe, realizing the important of a deep, natural harbor.
Long story short, Britain become interested in the same area of land and purchased the bay from the Zulu tribe in 1824 and became a British colony in 1825. The modern city of Durban started as a British settlement in 1824. In 1835 the actual town of Durban was started and named after Benjamen D’Urban the governor.
Sugar cane and sugar refining is one of Durban’s top economies. Durban is South Africa’s busiest port for cargo and also ship repair due to the unpredictable currents and rough seas around the area. It is also one of the main entry points of the drug trafficking routes in southern Africa. Tourism, due to the attraction of coast, history and animals, was a main feature of the economy but has been decreasing in the recent years.
Included in the cruise is a package of 15 land tours. These tours are selected (port and itinerary) by the Costa company. I decided that unless there was a compelling reason, I needed to take those tours as it made some economic sense. The tour at Durban was added because of the reroute that lost some of the planned tours. Unfortunately, it was not a good tour – the itinerary, I think, was the issue. The tour ended up as a don’t get off the bus ride around town (except at one overlook in an affluent neighborhood) and then drive through the country to a beach for a 15 min stop and back to the boat. I overheard a passenger saying ‘I realize we didn’t pay extra for this tour, but I still want my money back’. All to explain why these pictures are all I have for Durban.
From the port, you can see a variety of buildings and sky scrapers like a modern city.
Right outside the port were examples of more colonial architecture.
The city had a lot of green spaces and buildings from different time periods. What you can’t easily see is that many of the buildings are vacant.
Some of the buildings appear modern and lots of churches downtown.
This is a very square and austere Methodist church.
The downtown contains a host of government buildings and a the first playhouse. This is City Hall.
The clock tower of the post office. If you look closely, you can see fig trees growing out of the structure level with the clock. The government as decided a refurbishing is necessary. A nice park is also in front of the post office.
The government leases these green tables found all across the CBD (central business district) to anyone wanting to sell goods. Fruit, vegetables were common, also shoes, clothes etc. There were also a good number of people selling things from blankets on the ground or carts – a more informal job since they did not lease approved space.
The downtown also included a good mix of older buildings – but again lots of vacant buildings.
We are getting close to a bus transfer station. Durban uses the private owned white mini vans as the bus system to outlying areas. The owner determines where their route goes. Someone sits in the front passenger seat and hangs out the window to call out the route and spot people who want to board. They also collect the fare and cram as many people into the van as possible. There were at least 100 vans at the transfer. With no routes or numbers or signs on the vans, I guess you just have to know waht you are doing.
During the overlook stop we could see the Moses Mabhida sports stadium and skyline.
If you look closely at this wall surrounding an apartment complex, you will notice electrified wire about a foot below the top of the wall. Kind of silly to build a ledge into the wall but with the wire pointing out towards the street, someone trying to climb the wall will need to climb up, then out and then over the wire.
Driving in the countryside we passed by multiple towns. There was always some kind of new housing being built from condos to single homes. What we saw from the highway was modern and well kept. It was completely opposite from the abandoned buildings and squalor of Durban.
This beach was the destination of the tour - Dolphin Beach. This was a vacation area filled with older beach homes and newer very expensive and very large homes. Many existed for the seasonal rentals and did not have year-round residences. All had high walls, and ‘fast response’ security group signs.
There were no dolphins to be seen.
After this disappointing highlight, we took the same route back to the boat. I will say that in the city, while Durban’s old town looked relatively nice, we quickly were in areas that were filled with piles of trash. There was a street market in one area that was crammed with tarp filled tables and looked about as unwelcoming as one could imagine. We saw the same thing in Kenya where it was explained that if cities did not care to invest in street cleaners (human) and trash pick up, that was the outcome. I imagine it holds true throughout Africa, or anywhere.
We didn’t have too much time in Durban once we arrived back at the boat and with all the warnings, I walked around outside the port, but it was not in a busy or historical area, mainly businesses supporting the port.
I’m not sure I saw the true spirit of Durban. Since there are just a handful of stops left on the cruise (how quickly time flies) I decided that I would arrange for private tours for the other ports. Part of my interest is always being able to ask questions, have conversations and see different things from a regular tourist tour. Of course, private tours aren’t always SNAFU free as you will see in other cities.
Totsiens !
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