Tuesday 06 February

The sun returned in full force and by a little after 10am we were heading towards the town of Eshowe situated 135 km north of Durban. Much of the distance can be covered quickly along the N2 toll road, but the remainder of the journey is accomplished along Route 66. Known as the Zululand Heritage Route, this highway passes through magnificent rolling hills of lush pasture land.

First destination on our itinerary was the Dlinza Forrest Aerial Boardwalk which as the title suggests is an opportunity to view the surrounding area from viewpoints high up in the treetops. It was a very peaceful experience and we virtually had the place to ourselves. When we eventually returned to the entrance gate we were warned by a ranger to give a wide berth to a particular bush in which a highly venemous Green Mamba snake was hiding. A minute or two earlier he had witnessed it pursue a Gecko Lizard to the ground where it had quickly captured and eaten the unfortunate creature. He showed us a disturbing video of the incident that he had taken with his phone.

Our second port of call was a visit to Fort Nongqayi Museum Village where our priority was to order scrumptious all-day breakfasts at the renowned Adams' Outpost restaurant. Next up was a guided​ tour of the former fort that was built by the British in 1883 to garrison​ a Zulu peace keeping force which was being recruited and trained at that time. In 1906, these 'peace-keepers' were used to help put down a revolt by their own tribesmen against British rule and taxation.

Co-owner of Adams's Outpost Restaurant

Monday 05 February

About 26C, but only very brief glimpses of  the sun. As the day progressed, dark clouds became more of a permanent feature. Summer in these parts is clearly just as fickle as it is in England.

We drove out to the west of Durban to an area known as Valley of 1000 Hills where we had a late lunch at a lovely terraced restaurant. Had we known there were so many steep gradients to be climbed we might have rented a car powered by more than an elastic band - acknowledgements to Kia.

Introducing

Thumper - Rabbit in Residence

Sunday 04 February

Cloud cover isn't necessarily a bad thing where being in Durban is concerned. It can mean the difference between doing things in comfort or feeling fried alive if there's full sunshine. Such was the case today.

We made our way to the beautiful Botanical Gardens and indulged ourselves with a guided tour in a golf buggy. This was both leasurely and informative in equal measure. It also transpired that our guide was more than happy to take all the photos!

On the return journey to our holiday cottage we stopped off to enjoy a short exploration of the Japanese Gardens with their somewhat less formal vistas. As an unexpected bonus, we discovered an enormous tree populated with a colony of Vervet monkeys.

Our evening was spent in the most wonderful company of our hosts and two of their friends. We were treated to an excellent meal and unforgettable, friendly, conversation. Life is rarely this pleasurable!

Saturday 03 February

No trace of the sun today - very grey, with occasional light rain. Temperature steady at about 21C.

We visited the nearby Umgeni River Bird Park and made friends with some of the exotic residents before we once more had to seek shelter. Cutting our stay there shorter than we would have liked, we carried on a short distance to the Suncoast Casino & Entertainment World. This place is every bit as grand as some of those that we saw in Las Vegas last year.

We arrived with just enough time to get a meal before taking our seats at the multiplex cinema. Enjoyed seeing new film 'The Commuter', which we would both highly recommend.

Friday 02 February

Although it's summer here, the Durban area gets dark rather suddenly at around 7pm. It has also been noticeable that a clear blue sky can give way to dark clouds and the likelihood of heavy rain towards the end of afternoon. The lesson from this not to dawdle the morning away, as we are normally apt to do.

In blistering heat, we made our first visit to Durban's 'golden mile' today. It's an impressive stretch of beach and promenade, but our timing was bad and we were soon diving into a convenient restaurant to take shelter from a thunderstorm. Thankfully, we were ready to eat and our beef fillets were quite exquisite.

Thursday 01 February

Today was given over entirely to cricket - South Africa vs India in Durban. The weather was glorious and we had the most enjoyable time imaginable.

We were provided with a lift to the stadium at the very kind insistence of our host. There was plenty to do even before play began and the match itself was very exciting to watch as honarary home supporters. We left the game once it became clear that India was going to secure victory as we preferred to get a taxi back to the cottage before the inevitable rush occurred.

Wednesday 31 January

We arrived at our Durban accommodation late yesterday feeling physically shattered after such a long journey. Sleeping soundly has seldom felt so good!

We've been warned that temperatures have been very hot here recently. High humidy is what we've noticed most, but the sky's been slightly overcast today and we haven't yet experienced the full force of the sun.

Our delightful self catering cottage is in the grounds of a private residence and we couldn't possibly have chosen a more comfortable home-from-home, nor found more helpful hosts.

This afternoon we drove just 10 km to the seaside town of Umhlanga, which boasts many upmarket hotels and residential condominiums. A short walk along the traffic-free promenade took us from the lighthouse to the whalebone pier, both of which are actually modern structures. The lighthouse was built in 1954 and it shines twin beams (red over white) to guide ships on their approach​ into Durban harbour. The whalebone pier was built in 2007 to carry storm water out to sea along a large sluice beneath the decking. The whalebones themselves are actually steel tubes which have been shaped and painted to resemble the real thing.