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Umhlanga’s big-hearted Humphrey has eye on the prize
Umhlanga Tourism’s loveable mascot Humphrey is fast approaching the R700 000 mark in his collection for the SPCA. And his owner, Alwyn Immerman, reckons R1 million is in their sights. We caught up with the pair the other day and can confirm the pooch has lost none of his charm. While Immerman remains smitten and…
Crocodile Creek snaps back into action
There can’t be many unreformed killers on the FunShine Coast enjoying themselves more than Umthakathi. “He came from the Nseli River. He killed a 12-year-old boy,” says Sean Le Clus of the big male Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) menacingly near his feet. “It’s a fantastic sentence for murder. You lie around the pool and get…
Highway fix fillip for tourism
The reopening of a major road serving Umhlanga and its surrounds augurs well for efforts to get tourism in the region back on track. A stretch of the M4 Ruth First Highway, linking Umhlanga with resorts to its north, as well the airport and Sibiya casino, officially reopened on Friday, 12 June. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle…
Top tour guide on the road ahead
Form is temporary, class is permanent, sports journalists are wont to say whenever a much-loved team or star player slumps. Greg Garson, the Umhlanga Tourism committee member, tour operator and national guide, is hoping the same holds true for him. Of course, the sporting analogy is a little wide of the mark. It’s not like…
Dark days call for dose of the good stuff
If you ever doubted the addictive powers of a fresh cup of coffee, you probably haven’t seen the line at Daily Dose. We’re talking about the little wood-clad kiosk above Umhlanga’s Durban View Park, which reopened in early May to the considerable approval of its clientele, new and old. These being lockdown times, the caffeine-lovers…
Umhlanga Rocks:
Flat out good value
A bargain is up for grabs for Umhlanga Rocks tourists, with special rates on holiday flats on offer through to the end of November. All but a handful of the area’s estimated 700 holiday flats were empty at present while Covid-19 lockdown restrictions remained in place. But the sector was preparing for this to change.…
Winter’s golf coast
with the most
Umhlanga really is a swinging little place. And if you love golf then around about now is the sweetest of times to be in the unofficial capital of KwaZulu-Natal’s FunShine Coast. Just ask the organisers of the IGT Pro Tour, which was scheduled to return to these shores from mid May through to July next…
Umhlanga still the cat’s whiskers,
but we need to be brave
The bosses of Umhlanga’s two best-known hotels are refusing to let the lockdown get them down. They are calling on the hospitality industry and public to keep its collective chin up and plan for the future. Desmond O’Conner, general manager of The Oysterbox Hotel, said he wanted the world to return to some semblance of…
SunShine Coast swimmer Sarah
on her virus showdown and plastic
Durban North endurance swimmer and eco-warrior Sarah Ferguson has renewed her call to shoppers and local businesses to curb plastic use despite the hygiene challenges posed by Covid-19. Ferguson was speaking to Umhlanga Tourism a few days after completing her isolation for coronavirus. Readers of this blog and FunShine Coast residents will recall that Ferguson…
Koan and the barbarians:
Durban’s Japanese Gardens puzzler
In the previous blog in this series on the Durban North Japanese Gardens, we reached the top of a slope overlooking an outdoor chapel and eastwards to the sea… ‘But at my back,” as the poet told his coy mistress, “I always hear, time’s winged chariot hurrying near.” Our stroll in the gardens had gone…
Picnic time for the Teddy’s boy:
provisioning a Japanese Gardens jaunt
Ah, the quiet pleasures of a walk in the park. And so it was last week, on the eve of lockdown, as opportunities for public recreation began to disappear like so many rolls of twin-ply from the supermarket shelf, I returned to the Japanese Gardens. As returns go, it was not one of those nostalgic…
Plenty to trumpet about: why disabled folk love Umhlanga
Accessible, family-friendly facilities, good shopping and its nearness to the airport make Umhlanga a hit with disabled tourists. That’s according to Jennae Bezuidenhout, of Access2Africa Safaris, an award-winning tour operator that caters for the needs of people with disabilities and their families. Bezuidenhout, who was speaking to Umhlanga Tourism ahead of International Wheelchair Day, on…
Shuck it to me, baby!
Frisson over Oyster and Bubbly Festival
If you are one of those people who, excuse the salty language, regards eating oysters as akin to licking boogers off the back of a tortoise, read no further. The little molluscs, it must be stated, are an acquired taste. But if, like your correspondent, you have done the hard yards acquiring, then you will be…
Outdoor gym muscles in on flab
Unless you’re on the right side of 25 or genetically blessed, you won’t get that trim Umhlanga beach body lounging on the sofa scoffing pizza and binge watching miniseries. There’s a price to pay for everything. But the good news for residents and visitors to the FunShine Coast is that it has recently got easier,…
Valentine’s Day: hot tips for an Umhlanga date
Marketing and tourism go together like, well, love and marriage. So it’s only right that scores of FunShine Coast hospitality businesses have been quick to climb on the Valentine’s Day promotional bandwagon (or should that be, carriage?). The romantically inclined, or the just plain anxious to placate, are being inundated with offers – spoilt for…
Umhlanga fan goes the extra mile
What do you do if you have a soft spot for Umhlanga Rocks and its famous pier? Mention it to a few friends, maybe. Share a picture or two on social media, perhaps… Well if your name’s Jonathan Syster, a regular visitor to the seaside fun spot, then you go the extra mile to spread…
Sarah shines on tough North Coast swim
A record-breaking endurance swimmer shrugged off “wild” conditions, illness and a nasty bluebottle sting, to complete a 101km campaign on the KZN North Coast in aid of plastic-free oceans. Sarah Ferguson tackled the multi-stage swim in concert with hikers who were doing the newly launched Philocaly Trail, a charity beach walk and cleanup from Durban…
Wonder Market whips up a feast
Umhlanga Tourism tries out some of the fine fare at the lakeside market. ‘Merhaba (hello there)…. Türkiye çok guzel,” I say, digging deep into the holiday phrasebook memory banks. Murat Oncel, looks up and smiles, one eye on me, the other on a lamb kebab he is busy singeing with a blow-torch. Yes, Turkey is…
Jumbo growth for KZN reserve
Plans are afoot to extend one of KwaZulu-Natal’s most important elephant sanctuaries. The 30 000 hectare Tembe Elephant Park, on the southern border with Mozambique, is looking at expanding by 26 000ha. The park had run out of space for its elephants, forcing it to put its females on contraceptives since 2007. The expansion to…
Flippin’ good time for whale watching
And so we bid farewell to a much loved visitor to these shores. Every September and October, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) begin leaving the East Coast of Southern Africa to return to their summer grounds in the Southern Ocean, where they feed on the rich abundance of small fish and krill, a shrimp like crustacean.…
Snow news is good news
Spring may have sprung on the funshine coast, as the marketing men love to remind us, but up on the hill things have taken a turn for the wintery. A new pleasure dome, Snow Wonderland, has opened at Umhlanga’s Gateway shopping centre. It will let funseekers experience, all year round, some of the delights normally…
From London with love:
parkrun draws ’em from near and far
Want to get out and stretch those legs; perhaps meet a few people from elsewhere in the country and beyond? Well then, give the Umhlanga parkrun (the organisers insist it is spelled without a capital) a whirl. The free timed fun event north along the promenade and back again, has proved a hit with locals and…
Five star welcome for furry friends
IT is not just people who are pampered at uMhlanga’s Oyster Box Hotel – their pets get the VIP treatment too. The famous five-star hotel has a pet-friendly policy and small-to-medium sized dogs and cats can enjoy the same sort of luxury as their owners at the Oyster Box’s superior villas. Demand for the pet-friendly…
Symphonic Choir promises
stage songs, soaring spirituals
Classical and show tunes are on the bill at a Durban Symphonic Choir concert in Umhlanga.
Scores stay high in precinct perception survey
Umhlanga Rocks Urban Improvement Precinct users remain overwhelmingly positive about the area and its facilities according to a recent survey. The perception survey conducted for the precinct over the March/April holidays sought participants’ views on the safety, cleaning, maintenance and greening services in the area. In reply to the question, “Would you recommend Umhlanga Rocks”,…
Umhlanga surfer has Ballito Pro in his sights
UMHLANGA surfer Beyrick de Vries is going “all out” this year in a bid to take the honours at the Ballito Pro contest, the world’s longest continuously running professional surfing event. “It would mean so much to win in front of all your friends and family who have spent time and energy in supporting me…
Volunteers bag tons in Beachwood cleanup
More than 150 volunteers have cleared tons of trash from the Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve. The 11 May cleanup comes in the wake of the storm that devastated parts of KwaZulu-Natal after the Easter Weekend. Flooding claimed at least 70 lives, destroying millions of rands in infrastructure and dumping mountains of debris on beaches in…
Umhlanga Tourism Shows It’s Cool to Care
A group of children from Girls and Boys Town showed up on the beach on Tuesday 18 December to take part in Umhlanga Tourism’s fun in the sun festival. The children had great fun playing games and all were given a number of super prizes, donated by generous sponsors. These included vouchers from Cornubia Mall…
Calling all Waitrons!
The new kid on the block at this year’s Umhlanga Summer Festival is the first wacky ‘Waitronathon’, a feature event taking place on Sunday 23 December. The 23rd of December is the final day of the festival and it promises to end in great style. Waitrons from participating Umhlanga restaurants and hotels will make their…
The Umhlanga Summer Festival 2018: It’s Cool to Care – About People
The annual Umhlanga Summer Festival brings a host of family-centred holiday activities to Umhlanga for the 2018 festive season for visitors and locals alike, from 14 – 23 December. Understanding that the season is about goodwill, family and community, the theme for this year’s festival is It’s Cool to Care – with all aspects of…
Umhlanga Summer Festival – Carols Under the Stars
Always a crowd favourite, the annual al-fresco Umhlanga Carols Under the Stars, takes place at the Granada Square in Umhlanga Rocks on Thursday 20 December from 6pm in the courtyard of the favourite shopping and dining destinations on the Umhlanga Strip. The concert is co-ordinated by Shelley McLean featuring a myriad special guests. The evening…
The Umhlanga Summer Festival 2018: It’s Cool to Care – About the Planet
The annual Umhlanga Summer Festival brings a myriad family-centred holiday activities to Umhlanga for the 2018 festive season for visitors and locals alike, from 14 to 23 December. Understanding that the season is about goodwill, family and community, the theme for this year’s festival is It’s Cool to Care – with all aspects of the…
The Umhlanga Summer Festival 2018: It’s Cool to Care About Community
The Umhlanga Summer Festival 2018 was launched this week at the beautifully decorated Cabana Beach Resort conference room. Invited guests were treated to talking, music, dancing, singing and modelling – all by locals. Umhlanga Tourism is a Community Tourist Association and as such supports initiatives, creatives and organisations in our own back yard and the…
Need Some R&R?
Spa Durban, which has four branches in and around Umhlanga, is offering the most wonderful-sounding spring spa packages. Choose from: Spring Treat, Oh So Heavenly, Massage Spoil, Bud Blossom & Bloom, Spring Time Romance or Blissful Spring Time. The treats are aimed at couples, singles and even groups, and range in time from a ‘quick’…
It’s Cool to Care
The Umhlanga Tourism Summer Festival 2018 is just around the corner and this year’s theme is: Cool to Care. The popular Umhlanga Tourism Summer Festival will this year feature old favourites such as the Miss Umhlanga Beauty Pageant, Carols Under the Stars, and 10 days of beach fun. There will also be a relatively new…
Charming Farmers’ Market in Umhlanga
Did you know that tucked away on an open piece of ground in the busy precinct of Umhlanga Ridge is the Umhlanga Farmers’ Market? The market, depending on which stallholder we spoke to, has been in existence for 20 to 25 years. It convenes every Wednesday from 8am to 12pm in Autumn Drive, Prestondale (next…
An Eco-Conscious Co-Work Space in Umhlanga
Umhlanga is a vibrant, growing city. Just count all the cranes active at one time and you’ll see the growth! Umhlanga Tourism recently ran an article on co-working spaces and how they are catching on. Another one of these spaces is the Homebru Graft Café. On first glance Homebru is a trendy coffee shop with…
Umhlanga Tourism Festival Host is a Winner
Kevin Ellis is a champion! Pinetown-boy Kevin returned to South Africa as the reigning European and World, doubles and singles champion after competing in the 2018 World Dance Masters competition in Blackpool, England in August, and the European competition in Dublin, Ireland in March. His partner in the doubles category was Robyn Beck. Kevin’s speciality…
Gandhis Pass on the Legacy of Nonviolence
The rainbow nation Madiba named is looking somewhat refracted; the seven colours of the rainbow are not shining as one. So said Tushar Gandhi on a recent visit to Umhlanga, Durban, South Africa. Tushar and his father Dr Arun Gandhi were part of a tour group that recently took American tourists to a number of…
Good food, good restaurants, good company
Do you enjoy good food? Eating out? But have no-one to go with? Then sign up for a dining experience with DINE4SIX. I attended a DINE4SIX event recently and cannot recommend it highly enough. DINE4SIX is a platform through which people (six at a time) wanting to eat out can sign up for a restaurant…
RocoMamas Says ‘No!’
Umhlanga Tourism advocates the elimination of single-use plastics from everyday use. We recently featured The George’s and The Oyster Box‘s efforts in this regard. In support of other local Umhlanga businesses who are cutting down their reliance on these pollutants, we highlight here another restaurant that has joined the ban on plastic straws: RocoMamas. ‘The…
FunShine Coast Champions
Okay so Umhlanga doesn’t have just anyone leading their campaigns. No, they have champions! Kevin Ellis, entertainer, style guru and Umhlanga Tourism’s Easter Festival host, is a dance champion. Kevin returned to South Africa on Wednesday 28 March struggling to carry the number of trophies he won at the 2018 European Championships in line dancing.…
Looking for Miss Beach Babe
Girls, it’s Miss Beach Babe time! As part of the Umhlanga Tourism Easter Festival a fun beauty pageant for girls will be held on Easter Saturday 31 March at Main Beach, Umhlanga. So, don your bikinis and get down to the Millennium stage at 11am for registration, 12pm to 2pm for the competition. Sashes, tiaras…
The George Leads the Way
Pete Ely has had enough. When his young daughter came home from the beach after swimming with plastic (not sea creatures) one too many times, Pete decided that The George had seen its last (plastic) straw. The proprietor of one of Umhlanga’s best-known pubs has banned plastic straws and polystyrene take-away containers from the bar/grill…
Can You Escape?
BY UMHLANGA TOURISM · 6TH DECEMBER 2017 New to Umhlanga is the intriguing detective game experience Mindgame Escape. The venue is just across the road from the Umhlanga Tourism office, on the second floor of Granada Square, Chartwell Drive. Umhlanga Tourism recently gathered a team of six and arrived in a flurry, having made our…
Treat Yourself to a Boat Ride
BY UMHLANGA TOURISM · PUBLISHED 24TH NOVEMBER 2017 · UPDATED 24TH NOVEMBER 2017 At 10.45am on a Thursday in October 2017 my husband and I arrived at CASEA Charters on Umhlanga Main Beach. We had signed up for a boat ride and – in my opinion – couldn’t have picked a better day. The weather…
Help Humphrey Become a Dog in a Million
BY UMHLANGA TOURISM · 14TH OCTOBER 2017 Humphrey is aiming to be a dog in a million. Here’s your chance to help him get there! Umhlanga-based Humphrey (who may be a Russian wire-haired terrier, we can’t be sure) raises funds for the SPCA and his challenge is to schools, companies, organisations and individuals to donate…
Superwoman: She’s Real!
BY UMHLANGA TOURISM · PUBLISHED 17TH AUGUST 2017 · UPDATED 17TH AUGUST 2017 In honour of Women’s Month… Who said Superwoman was a fictional comic character only? There is proof that she exists in real life. In various forms. Take these ladies as a modern-day, local example. Lynn Eaton, Shivanie Naidoo, Trish Roberts-Loose, Claudette Lingenfelder…
Anchor’s Rest Maintains Number One on TripAdvisor
BY UMHLANGA TOURISM · 11TH AUGUST 2017 Anchor’s Rest Guest House was recently listed on TripAdvisor as the number one of 43 B&Bs in the Umhlanga area. Cilla Rose, owner of Anchor’s Rest, attributed the rating to several factors. These included customer service, consistency, flexibility and enjoyment of people. “You can’t be in this business…
Weekly Fun at Umhlanga Parkrun
The Umhlanga Parkrun takes place every Saturday at 8am. An average of 500 to 600 runners/walkers/trotters gather at the Umhlanga Pier each week and set off in a northerly direction once the welcome has been given. Insanely fast runners sprint away at the front of the pack and a mix of others jostle their way…
It’s Bastille Day Weekend at Granada
www.webtickets.co.za → July 13 to 15 is Bastille Day Weekend At Granada Square. It’s not too late to enjoy the festivities. Tickets cost R125 per day each and include a Festival glass and festival tokens to use for wine or/and food. Bookings are essential and can be done at http://www.webtickets.co.za/. For more information and updates…