Walking Around Durban

Of all the ports Larry and I have ever visited, Durban has the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous.

When we visited last year, more guests were mugged here than any other place we’ve been. And I do mean mugged, not just pickpocketed. Many of these crimes happened in broad daylight and within sight of the ship.

So it was with some trepidation that we decided to hoof it to the local aquarium. In any other city, a ten-minute walk would be no big deal, but in Durban we were on high alert.

According to my map, the quickest path was a left onto Mahatma Gandhi Boulevard, but we’d only taken a few steps before a security guard stepped out of the shadows and said, “No.”

“We can’t walk down this street?” I said, incredulous. It looked like the safest option to me. After all, it was a busy street immediately in front of the port and it was named after Gandhi, of all people.

“No, no. Go there,” said the guard, gesturing us down a two lane street. Only then did we notice guards at every corner along the way.

I guess that’s how Durban is dealing with its crime wave, using tourist police to shepherd us from the port to the beach and the aquarium.

Along the way, we passed a canal with an inviting pathway beside it. We stuck to the street, however, because a sign warned that the canal was unguarded and therefore pedestrians strolled there at their own risk.

We later heard from a guide that unemployment in South Africa reached 65% during the Covid lockdown. To put things in perspective, the unemployment rate was 24% in the USA during the Great Depression. This same guide went on to say that SA’s unemployment rate had dropped to 30%, but that’s still so much higher than other places in the world.

I don’t claim to know how to cure South Africa’s economic woes, but it’s certainly interesting to visit and observe.Read more