Five Reasons I Love Durban

PHOTO: The view of the Indian Ocean from the Elangeni Hotel in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by David Cogswell)

When I pushed out through the door from the baggage claim area to the public arrivals area of the King Shaka International Airport in Durban, I plunged right into the festive atmosphere of Indaba, the travel trade show of Africa.

Crowded behind barricades were the usual drivers holding up signs with the names of their passengers, but also a veritable army of teenagers in red polo shirts with the Indaba logo, eager to assist people arriving to attend Indaba. They directed people to the free shuttles to the hotels provided by the conference or to give whatever information was needed.

Riding from the airport into the city of Durban the excitement of that city during Indaba flowed into me. It only intensified as I saw the different landmarks that reminded me of previous visits to Indaba: the fertile, rolling landscape, the stunning Moses Madhiba stadium that was built for the World Cup, and finally the beachfront and the strip of hotels that line it.

Durban is a great undiscovered resource. Everyone knows Cape Town, the Mother City, with Table Mountain standing at the edge of the ocean. Cape Town was rated as the number one destination in the entire world in the New York Times 52 Places to Go for 2014. And everyone knows about Johannesburg, though it’s rarely cast in as favorable light as Cape Town. But Durban remains largely off the radar as far away as America.

Here are five reasons I love Durban.

The beaches. Americans don’t need to go to South Africa to go to the beach, but the beach is a great presence in Durban. The city has a four-mile strip of beaches sometimes referred to as the Sugar Coast that gloriously line the city. The strip also houses a number of hotels that serve as headquarters for many of the conference-goers and events of Indaba.

From my hotel room in the Elangeni I have a view of the ocean as well as the panorama of the city and the International Conference Center where Indaba is held. Even seeing the beach from your window is a great pleasure. There is something undefinable and uplifting about the mere proximity to the beach, the edge of the sea. And the water is warm enough to swim all year. Durban is a big vacation destination for southern Africans because of its great subtropical climate. It’s South Africa’s version of Miami Beach or Rio.

Indaba. The Indaba travel trade show is the most exciting event of its kind that I have ever attended, and it has been held in Durban for more than 20 years. Other cities have vied for it and debate has raged over whether it should be alternated to different cities. But it has so far stayed in Durban. Now there are several other travel trade shows that have moved into the market and they are in Cape Town, where they can use the international popularity of The Mother City to attract attendees. But Durban is a major conference destination and the ICC has conferences on an ongoing basis. The ICC is a world-class conference venue, with the capacity to accommodate major events such as Indaba. The constant influx of conference attendees from various industries helps make Durban a lively place.

Multiculturalism. Durban is the capital of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, which is the kingdom of the Zulu, but Durban is a major port city that has historically attracted commerce from all over the world. It was inhabited 100,000 years ago by hunter gatherers. It was discovered by the Europeans when Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sailed by in 1497 and was first settled as a city by the British. It has the largest Indian population of any city outside of India, and is a center of Indian culture and cuisine. It is one of the most culturally vibrant centers in Mandela’s Rainbow Nation.

The Moses Madhiba Stadium. Built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the stadium continues as a venue for major events including sports events and concerts. It has a capacity of nearly 63,000. It is a marvel of architecture and engineering with its striking 1,148-foot arch, which is the pathway for a cable car and is a perch for bungee jumps. It can be seen from the highway on the way from the airport into the city and can be seen from many points in the city.

The Inanda Heritage Trail. This trail includes important points of South Africa’s history that took place in the township of Inanda, including sites associated with Gandhi, who lived there as he was developing his principles of passive resistance as a young lawyer, the birthplace of John Dube, the first president of the African National Congress and the place where Nelson Mandela cast his vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.