20241230 Seabourn Sojourn Grand Africa Cruise Day 35/96 - Durban, South Africa

Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 35/96 - Durban, South Africa - Crocs (not the shoes), Going Zulu, and Arlona Goes Home

Today was a big day. Originally, it was planned as a sea day but because of the unrest in Maputo Mozambique, we swapped that stop tomorrow for one today in Durban, South Africa.

Today, we rode to the PheZulu Safari Park and took a tour of the facility in the Valley of 1,000 Hills.

We docked around 8:00

Passenger cruise terminals love having huge propellers out front

According to our guide, this was the first public toilet in Durban

The original post office - now a monument

We passed a huge cemetery in town (I won't repeat the "dead center" joke)

The Christian section was the largest

A much smaller Muslim section

A tiny Jewish section

This is an active market

This is another market

They call this the Early Morning Market as this is where the day's fresh produce is available early in the day

A large Christian church

Suburban Durban - hey, I made a rhyme

A shopping mall

We haven't seen McDonald's in Africa so we were surprised to see this one

We have, however, seen tons of KFCs - today was no exception

Eucalyptus tree farm

Young sugar cane

After about an hour, we arrived at PheZulu Safari Park

Our tour today didn't involve an actual safari, although there were tourists here doing that. Our tour was through the reptile and snake areas and a traditional Zulu dance demonstration. Let's start with the reptiles. Crocs and turtles and tortoises, oh my! And bearded dragons. And alligators. And birds And snakes (but they were behind glass so I didn't photograph any).

Crocs

Crocs continue growing their entire lives

Some of them were huge

The top one is documented as being 101 years old with four ladies and still sexually active - wow!

No wonder he looks tired

Alligators

They had three baby alligators

Turtles

Tortoises

Then, we stumbled onto some tortoise porn.

Look how much fun he's having!

Big smile - well, on him - her, not so much

Bearded dragons

Village Weavers

They weave these circular, hollow nests, hence their name

After light refreshments, we were treated to a Zulu dance show. It featured some traditional dances plus a marriage proposal ceremony and wedding dances.

The welcome dances.

Here is a young Zulu man making a play to marry this young woman. Eventually, he succeeded, but not without working for it., including a pledge to provide her family with eleven cows.

The wedding dances.

The fortune teller who threw bones to predict the couple's future

The view of the 1,000 Hills area was beautiful

There were several Zulu huts to explore

Specials in the local cafe

Returning to Durban

Juma Mosque in the Indian section of Durban

An alley market

Dick King statue

Now, on to the Arlona Goes Home part of today. She's not leaving. While researching her name online, she stumbled upon a company in Durban - Arlona Engineering. I reached out to the company before our trip and traded emails with the marketing manager and grandson of the founder. He had no idea about the origin of the name but graciously offered a tour if we could get there when we were scheduled to visit Durban in late January. After that, we wound up booking an overland tour through Seabourn and that tour will start the same day we are scheduled to dock in Durban. That meant we wouldn't be able to visit Arlona Engineering. Then, our itinerary changed and we made this unplanned stop in Durban. But...most industrial companies in South Africa shut down for the holidays so Arlona Engineering was closed today. No tour for us, but we hired a cab and took a ride out there so Arlona, the retired engineer, could get a photo in front of the building.

Per their website, Arlona Engineering has the capability to design and manufacture a solution for any application requiring lifting and moving of almost any commodity 

It was a shame they were closed, but it was still fun for Arlona to visit her namesake company

We made a brief stop at a store on the way back to the ship.

We saw these chips showing KFC assert their dominance in African fast food

Once back at the terminal, we had to go through a face-to-face exit immigration process and then boarded the ship. After some pre-dinner libations, we went to dinner in The Restaraunt hosted by the new Entertainment Manager, Rhys. Then, we attended this evening's show, Skyline, featuring the Seabourn Six performing songs inspired by cities like New York, Chicago, Rio, Sydney, and London. As usual, the Seabourn Six gave an excellent performance. 

We shoved off on schedule at 10:00 and are en route to Ilha de Moçambique, Mozambique on January 3, 2025. Tomorrow night, we will celebrate the New Year a solid seven hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast.