South African Adventure
Following our flight with Qatar on their new route from Doha to Durban, we experienced the city that has had a huge amount of investment over the last few years. The lido area is now looking great and is a safe area to walk along the coastline of the city. The restaurants are fabulous and excellent value and you can easily eat out for £5-10 a head with drinks. A must try is the local dish ‘bunny chow’. We visited the Moses Mabhida Stadium which is a must to get the most amazing view of Durban from the SkyCar ride to the top of the arch. Durban is also great for families as well as the stadium, uShaka Marine World, Botanical Gardens and paintballing to name just a few things.
We then moved on to the Drackensburg Mountains, where we stayed at the ranch style hotel of the Drackensburg Sun Resort, a fabulous setting with the most amazing scenery. Not for the faint hearted but a must is the canopy tour - flying through the mountains on a zip wire overlooking the rainforest will take your breath away. You can also visit one of the many vineyards in the area - we visited Cathedral Peak and enjoyed a glass of beautiful South African wine with a lovely cheeseboard in peaceful, picturesque surroundings. The Drackensburg region is excellent for sports enthusiasts and lovers of the greats outdoors.
The Midlands region was our next stop. You can visit the site where Nelson Mandela was captured, visit the museum and take the ‘long walk’ to view the stunning piece of art to commemorate the event. We then visited the small local market town of Hawick - buy local goods from the market and view the amazing waterfall in this sleepy town. If you are an art lover, I would also recommend stopping off at the internationally renowned Ardmore where you can see the locals making the stunning pieces that sell for thousands of pounds and can take up to 6 months to complete. They support the local community by giving the person who makes the piece, a percentage of the sale.
Heading to Zululand, we stayed at the Islandlwana Lodge - a stunning lodge with amazing views over the battlefields where you can take a tour with a historian who will transport you back to the 1800’s. We then moved on to Ghost Moutain where we took a tour to a Zulu town to meet the locals and see how they live.
We moved on again to Hluhluwe which is one of the oldest and largest game reserves in South Africa where you can see the Big 5. You do have the option to drive yourself but I would definitely recommend one of the guides to get the most out of the safari experience - they have so much knowledge to share and they know where to get the best viewing opportunities of the game.
Our final stop was a bit of luxury on the beach at the Beverly Hills hotel in Umhlanga Rocks area, with lovely beaches and views of the lighthouse. We also visited the well-known boutique hotel - The Oyster Box.
This area really does offer something for everyone - don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want any more information.
Claire