- What to do and Where to go in Durban ? -
The biggest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere is a feast of shops (350 to be exact), and restaurants.
Add to this experience, movies (including dedicated art house cinemas), an IMAX theatre, Barnyard Supper Theatre, the world’s highest free-standing indoor climbing wall, a wave house, a 4x4 track, and a skate park designed by Tony Hawk, and you’ve got something for everyone.
The traditional Indian Spice Market in Victoria Street is the place
to take in the sights and smells of Durban’s Indian heritage.
Pick up a hookah pipe, a beautifully beaded sari and a bag of “mother
in-law’s” chillies – they’ll make your eyes water if you don’t show
them respect!
The North Coast, KwaZulu-Natal, stretches from Zimbali in the south to the Thukela River in the north. While beaches, battle sites and heritage routes comprise the major North Coast attractions, the coastal towns of Ballito, Salt Rock, Umdloti and Zinkwazi offer up endless North Coast activities.
KwaZulu Natal's North Coast is also known as the Dolphin Coast due to the hundreds of bottlenose dolphins that frequent the coast. They can be seen all year round, frolicking in the warm waters just off shore.
DID YOU KNOW?
The village of Shakaskraal, a North Coast attraction, has only one street.
The South Coast, KwaZulu Natal stretches from Durban, south to the start of the Eastern Cape's Wild Coast.
Margate, Port Shepstone, Scottburgh, Hibberdene, Uvongo and Ramsgate are some of the towns comprising the South Coast in KwaZulu Natal.
Its beautiful beaches are the main highlight, although golfing and adventure destinations also feature prominently among the South Coast's attractions.
The Elephant Coast's magnificent beaches are another major attraction, not only to visitors from around the world, but also to hordes of endangered loggerhead and leatherback turtles that come to lay their eggs in the dunes here between November and January.
The Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park is a conservation marvel. It is renowned for its efforts to save the white rhino from extinction and today features more than 1 500 white rhino. It is also home to lion, elephant, buffalo and leopard, providing an authentic Big Five African safari experience.
The Durban Botanic Gardens (DBG) traces its origins to colonial times, when it was founded in 1849 for the introduction and trial of potentially useful commercial crops.
The gardens later developed collections of sub-tropical trees, palms and orchids. The Durban Botanic Gardens remains a classic botanic gardens, reflecting the universality of the plant kingdom. It has, for over 100 years, had a fine mixed arboretum of African, Asian and American trees.
The Gardens are a few minutes walk from the bustling Warwick Triangle, site of one of the largest retail medicinal plant markets in the country. The Gardens hosts approximately 500 000 visitors per year, many of whom are foreign tourists
Hazrath Hajee Shah Goolam Mohamed Soofie Saheb Siddiqi Chisti AI-Qadiri Habibi RA, more popularly known as Hazrath Soofie Saheb, was born in 1848 in the town of Ratnagir on the west coast of India. He was the son of Hazrath Ibrahim Siddiqi RA, a direct descendant of Hazrath Abu Bakr Siddiq RA, the first Caliph of Islam.He established the first Khanqah on the northern banks of the Umgeni River near the Indian Ocean, an area which was known as Riverside and Lower Umgeni. Hazrath Soofie Saheb built a mosque, madressa, orphanage and catered for the wayfarers, old age and destitutes. He also established two cemeteries in Riverside.Hazrath Soofie Saheb passed away suddenly on 29 January 1911 (2 Rajab 1392) at the age of 63 years and lies buried in Riverside where a magnificent mausoleum has been erected over his tomb.
Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa was the place where Gandhi was shoved out a train 1893 after refusing to move from the first class to a third class coach while holding a first class ticket. This unsavory incident proved to be landmark event in Gandhi's life as he made it a mission to protest such incidents of racial abuse. The downtown of Pietermaritzburg city now hosts a commemorative statue of Mahatma Gandhi.
Grey Street (now Dr Yusuf Dadoo street) is home to Durban’s Indian district. Here, you will find the Juma Musjid Mosque and its gilt-domed minarets, one of the largest mosquse in the southern hemisphere.
Grey Street is tied to the history of the Indian population in South Africa. Indentured Indian labourers were first brought out by the British in the 1860s to work the newly established sugarcane plantations in Natal.
