Doug and Kerry Hudson in Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa

World Trip >> Africa >> Kwa-Zulu Natal >> Zululand >> Umhlanga

Our first destination in Zululand was Umhlanga Rocks, a very classy seaside resort just north of Durban, right on the Indian Ocean. We arrived at our self-catering accommodation at around lunchtime. The maid who greeted us spoke very little English, and wasn’t expecting us either. She became much more friendly and welcoming when Kerry spoke to her in Afrikaans. Go Kerry! Doug was most impressed.

After unloading the car, we went to the "Gateway Shopping Experience" to grab some lunch. Eventually we settled on a "cheezy pepperoni" pizza from Debonair’s, followed by some delicious ice cream from Mozart’s. While strolling around the shops, we spotted the former Springbok and legendary Natal Sharks rugby player, Ollie Le Roux. Kerry has been a fan of big Ollie for such a long time, that this really made our day.

Kerry took us to the Botanical Gardens, where we saw some unusual birds, including an African spoonbill. A coffee and crumpet restored our strength, and we moved on to the delightful Umgeni River Bird Park. There were many birds both exquisite and exotic, including some threatened by extinction. The staff put on a show for us, which was both informative and fun. At one stage a spotted eagle owl swooped down from behind where we were sitting, only just missing Doug’s head. Being an owl, it was completely silent in the air, so Doug nearly jumped out of his skin when this thing whizzed by! After the show, Doug was very chuffed to have his photo taken holding one of the owls.

The weather was not too hot the following day, but it didn’t matter for we had booked places on a guided tour of Shakaland, including traditional music and dancing and lunch. Shakaland is a Zulu village near where King Shaka, father of the Zulu nation, grew up. He famously led the Zulu to victory over the British, as depicted in the film with Michael Caine. "Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!" We set off from Umhlanga in good time, and even stopped at Ballito, another posh coastal resort, on the way. Then, with an hour to go before our tour was due to start, Doug asked Kerry where Shakaland is.

"I don’t know, I thought you knew."

"But I thought you knew!"

One hour of panicked speeding later we arrived just in time!

During our Shakaland tour, we tried Zulu beer, a milky froth that tasted like the strainings from the Devil’s jock strap. We also learned a bit about the Zulu culture and customs. We went into a Zulu hut, and came out "smelling like a hut." Best of all we enjoyed the music and dancing. There were foot tapping drum rhythms, clapping and whooping. Zulu dancing seems to consist of kicking your foot as high as possible, then bringing it down with a bone-jarring thud! We also ate some traditional Zulu food: pap and sauce, and samp and bean stew. It was a tasty conclusion to an interesting tour.

We arrived back at our accommodation in Umhlanga to find six very drunken teenagers sharing the neighbouring flat. They had just graduated from high school and were here for a week of 24-hour boozing. One of them was the one and only South African supporter of Blackburn Rovers. He was most impressed that Doug went to school with Chris Sutton!

We left Umhlanga after a very good sleep, having had no trouble from our paralytic neighbours during the night except for one almighty row. We made excellent progress but it still took three ours to reach our next destination: the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi National Park.

World Trip >> Africa >> Kwa-Zulu Natal >> Zululand >> Umhlanga

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006