Durban

Durban is the third largest city in South Africa with a population of 600,000. It sits on the east coast on the Indian Ocean. It was sighted by Vasco de Gama in 1497 but colonisation began after Henry Fynn befriended the local Zulu King Shaka and the British were granted land in 1824. Durban was named in 1835 after the Cape Govenor Sir Benjamin D’Urban. Because of the sub-tropical climate it became a centre for planting sugar cane and the production of sugar. To enable this many indentured Indians were brought in to run the plantations. The conditions of the indenture were such that the Indians were little more than slaves. The population still has 25% with Indian heritage and is consequently known as the curry capital of South Africa.

When we attended the T20 cricket between Durban and Cape Town the majority of the spectators were of Asian origin. Unfortunately the gamed was rained off after 11 overs.

The main purpose of our stay was to recover from the flights to get here (London-Johannesburg-Durban); we stayed in a residential and tourist town north of the city, uMhlanga, which means place of reeds. Our art deco style hotel, built in the 1940s, has a sea front location next to an unmanned lighthouse built in 1954.