MZANZI ISSUE 16

Summer Travel
iStock-Hongqi Zhang
iStock-ToscaWhi
iStock-Tosca M White
water sports and the camping and picnic sites on their banks.
The river mouths of the the Gonubie and Nahoon Rivers are
also home to popular beaches.
Like the other coastal cities, East London is renowned for its
superb beaches. These include the Orient Beach next to the
harbour, the seaside area along the Esplanade Street, Beacon Bay
East Beach, Nahoon Beach, Bonza Bay Beach, Gonubie Beach,
Yellow Sands, Kidds Beach, Glen Eden, Areena, Queensbury
Bay, Cintsa West and Cintsa East. Other attractions include
East London Zoo, several excellent golf course, Inkwenkwezi
Private Game Reserve, Mpongo Private Game Reserve, the
Hemmingways Casino, and Buffalo Park Stadium where major
sporting and entertainment events are staged.
• For more information: Buffalo City Tourism tel +27 (0)43 705
3556 or +27 (0)43 721 1007, email info@buffalocitytourism.
co.za or website www.buffalocitytourism.co.za.
Durban
Finally, our tour of major coastal cities ends in Durban on the
north-eastern Indian Ocean shore of South Africa. The climate
here is sub-tropical, which makes it extremely popular with
holidaymakers from all over. Durban is also home to South
Africa’s busiest port and the fourth largest container terminal
in the southern hemisphere. Falling within the eThekwini
Metropolitan Municipality, it is the country’s third largest city.
Durban was established in 1824 as a trading post called Port
Natal on the northern shores of the bay near today’s Farewell
Square and was soon expanded on land granted by the Zulu
King Shaka to its founders, Lt. Francis George Farewell, an
ex-Royal Navy officer from the Napoleonic Wars and a trader
named Henry Francis Fynn. Fynn had successfully treated King
Shaka’s stab wound he received in an assassination attempt.
The settlement soon expanded around its natural harbour with
a British military garrison and fort also being established.
While the rest of the country shivers in the grip of winter, Durban
and the surrounding coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal is the one
place in South Africa where summer never ends, and neither
does the action. Amon the major sports events staged here
during the winter months is the famous Comrades Marathon
run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg every year since 1921
except during WWII, as well as South Africa’s premier horse race,
the Vodacom Durban July Handicap, run on the first Saturday
of July every year since 1897 at the Greyville Racecourse.
For movie buffs the city also annually hosts the Durban
International Film Festival, probably the biggest film event in
South Africa that brings together around 400 filmmakers from
around Africa and the world. Then there’s the famous Sardine
68 |ISSUE 16|www.mzanzitravel.co.za | MZANZITRAVEL