Durban, South Africa - Just One of Those Days!

The Skyline of Durban, South Africa

(Please note that two blogs are being posted at the same time; Richards Bay, South Africa precedes this one.)

Once again I am writing this blog for reasons that will become obvious. There isn’t too much to say for this day as it became a major disappointment.  However, we have to put it into perspective because we have seen so many wonderful things on this amazing cruise.  Our setbacks were very minor by comparison with those of others.  Unlike friends Carole and Conrad who had to cancel the entire voyage, our issues were quite insignificant. But the day in Durban was not one of the highlights.

After a busy, but wet day on Wednesday, and thinking we would have a busy day on Thursday, we skipped the evening entertainment and got ready for the next day as our shore excursion was scheduled to go out at 8 AM.  Durban, one of South Africa’s largest cities is located on the East Coast of South Africa and is in rather close proximity to Richards Bay, South Africa and Maputo, Mozambique.  It has rivaled Maputo for trade but Durban has had somewhat of an advantage as South Africa is the larger country.

Tala Game Reserve shore excursion was to view a private reserve in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Hills where we hoped to see a lion and other of the African animals.  But about 9 PM, our room phone rang and our friend Nancy reported that they had received the notice at their door and asked if we had heard that our shore excursion had been canceled.  We were in our room for the evening, so would have missed it until we went out on Thursday morning.  Barb went to the door and found the message explaining the recent heavy rains made traveling in the park too muddy and inaccessible.  But we could choose one of two other tours where there were still openings.  Neither appealed to Barb as she had had her heart set on another wonderful game drive.  I could have agreed to do the City Highlights tour but Bob and Nancy had checked a map and figured they could take the shuttle into the city and to Ushaka Shopping Mall and could then walk past some of the sites that were included on the Highlights city tour.  We were welcome to join them if we wished.  We thought that might be a good option since it would afford us the chance to shop at our leisure and walk and take pictures.  Likewise, Travel Guide Barbara Haenni had explained in her talk about Durban that there was a wonderful extensive craft market in the terminal when ships docked that we could compare prices and either buy in the mall or return to the terminal and make purchases.

On Thursday morning, Barb suggested that we enter the terminal and check with information to see if any private tours to Tala were available.  Her rationale was that maybe they couldn’t accommodate the large numbers of people that Holland America might send, but could take a much smaller number of tourists.  It was worth a try!  Bob and Nancy suggested we might also try to locate our previous day’s tour guide, Karoline, who had told us she was from Durban and she was guiding a different tour in Durban.  We could ask her if she felt we might be able to book a private tour.  So about 8 AM, Barb and I got off the ship and headed for the terminal.  We spoke to Barbara who is always available on the pier for last minute questions and inquired as to whether there was an information center set up in the terminal near the craft sales booths.  To our surprise, and Barbara’s, she reported that she had been coming to Durban for about 20 years and this time, there were no handicrafts whatsoever and no information booths.  Durban hadn’t contacted her to say none of this would be available so we couldn’t have our questions answered and no ship guests could make purchases there (unlike the previous day where crafts salespeople stood in the rain all day to market their items).  It seems that since the Italian cruise ship line, MSC makes weekly visits to Durban, they have pretty much taken over the terminal and they dictate what can and cannot be done; thus the craft sales weren’t present.  We were beginning to get the impression that Durban wasn’t particularly interested in earning tourism money from the Amsterdam!

To our surprise, we did locate our Richards Bay guide, Karoline and presented our dilemma.  She did confirm that Tala Game Reserve had been closed by the recent heavy rains, but they planned to open in the afternoon.  HAL did have a tour there that we might be able to get on.  Ah, a sign of hope!  We spoke to the Shore Excursions Manager, Irene, who said yes, there was a tour but it was fully booked.  If we wanted to be there at 12:45 and wait to see if there were no shows, we might stand a chance of getting the tour.  As a result, we decided to get the shuttle bus to the Ushaka Mall and get back in plenty of time to have lunch and be ready to go on the excursion if there were any cancelations.  The problem apparently was with the park which had limited numbers of vehicles for their game drives so HAL had been told exactly how many they could send in the afternoon, so we had to depend on someone not doing the tour.

After an uneventful trip to the mall on a bus with the highest steps onto a bus I have ever seen and seats with 3 each on one side and 2 on the other like many airlines, we got back so we could check in to let Irene know we were there and would do the afternoon tour if possible.  The fact that the bus was still in the parking area at the 1 PM departure time suggested that not everyone had arrived.  Then a few last minute people came down, got on the bus and the bus was on its way without us.  The irony was that these people had booked very late only after the morning tour which we had booked last June 25 sold out and HAL secured a few extra spots on an afternoon tour. Here was a time that the last shall be first and those of us who booked early were excluded.  You win some and lose some and this time we lost. Guess it was the luck of the draw, but we didn’t seem to be able to get anything right in Durban.

Later, in conversation with Bob and Nancy, their day had gone backwards too.  They had given up the prospect of trying to go to Tala so left for the mall later than we did.  They tried their best to find the way to walk past the interesting areas which they had seen on the city map and were unable to find how and where to go.  No one seemed to be able (or willing?) to help, so they gave up with that mission unaccomplished either.  Some other acquaintances did book a private tour but told Barb that it took a full hour and half to arrange the tour and were still sitting in the vehicle waiting for the driver.   And still another told of taking a tour where they left the bus to do sightseeing and were informed that it would be fine to leave things on the bus. When they returned, the driver had decided to leave and dumped all their belongings, unsecured where the bus had been parked!  A few others though did get a cab and went on to explore and had a great day.

It was just one of those days when things didn’t go well for a lot of people.  It certainly could have been much, much worse and the rainstorm that led to the temporary closure of Tala Game Reserve was no one’s fault, but in contrast with Richards Bay, our impression was that Durban wasn’t a particularly welcoming port.

CT