Durban Safaris and Tours

20/08/2024

A very hot day out in the battlefields of Rorkes Drift and iSandlwana today.

I had a very interesting conversation on Sunday with one of my Australian guests. He was telling me that he was selected in the lottery to serve in Vietnam and his unit, while on their way to Vietnam, were shown the film "Zulu" over and over again.

This he said, was to reinforce the training they received that when under fire from an enemy with superior numbers, they should remain calm and collected and focus on the job at hand.

He told me that the first time his unit made contact with the enemy and received fire, all he could think about was the defenders of Rorkes Drift and how they got through it all, this he said kept him calm and focussed.

Quite a remarkable story I thought.

10/08/2024

Durban Safaris and Tours. Exploring the wildlife, the culture & the battlefields of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal | Top Rated Tour Agency | 14 years experience.

08/08/2024

I'm so very chuffed, just got my new brochures delivered. They'll soon be heading out to the airport and tourism bureau here in Durban.

27/07/2024

I'm chilling next to the Umzimkulu river near Underberg for the day. I have guests that are busy ascending Sani Pass into Lesotho and thanks to an expired passport, I'm unable to join them.

It is such a beautiful day here in the 'Berg. The sun's out, there's a chill in the breeze, the river is crystal clear and this morning on my way up from Durban, I spotted a Yellow Billed Kite which is a bit unusual this time of year.

I have my book, a thermos of coffee, a muffin and some biltong. I'm ready to read, picnic and nap :)

24/06/2024

After a wonderfully successful 2023/2024 cruise ship season, I've done the work and added 3 new Durban cruise ship shore excursions 🛳⚓️🇿🇦

--> https://www.durbansafarisandtours.com/shore-excursions/

I have taken in all the comments from previous tours and decided that in addition to my standard tours, I'll including a food tasting portion to every tour and I'll be including traditional music to the tours! 🍽🍻🧉 🎼🎤🎹

I will be putting 3 tours that I believe show off the best of Durban, the people and the culture;

OPTION 1: Durban city tour with food tasting and traditional Zulu music
--> https://www.durbansafarisandtours.com/durban-city-shore-excursion/

OPTION 2: Zulu cultural tour with braai (barbecue) and local music
--> https://www.durbansafarisandtours.com/durban-zulu-cultural-shore-excursion/

OPTION 3: Combined wildlife and Zulu culture with food tasting and music
--> https://www.durbansafarisandtours.com/durban-wildlife-and-zulu-cultural-shore-excursion/

These 3 tours are designed to give you the best insight into Durban, the people, the traditions, the food and the local traditional music.

I am also going to limit these shore excursion to 16 people per tour - this ensures you will have the best experience in the Durban :)

To book a spot or find out more information, please visit the website page 👇👇👇
https://www.durbansafarisandtours.com/durban-city-shore-excursion/

Join our Durban City Shore Excursion and discover why Durban is so popular. This tour includes a walking market tour and food tasting. Space Limited!

08/06/2024

Durban gets a bit of an undeserved bed rap out there which is surprising because honestly. it's the best city to be in during summer or winter, was voted as having the friendliest people in South Africa, and has so much to do!

Recently I wrote a blog post about 10 things to do when visiting Durban, I could have easily double that. Here is the post, please share and comment.

03/05/2024

What an astounding month of April! I think that I may have been busier these past few months in 2024 than any time in the past 14 years!

It can be so frustrating at times to be a tour guide, constantly meeting new people from different countries, dealing with unexpected delays, breakdowns, communication issues, sleeping more in lodges, hotels, camps etc than in my own bed, but honestly, I've never had a better job.

South Africa is such a diverse and wonderful country. In spite of all the negativity I read on the news and social media, not once over the years have I felt anything but kindness, warmth, patience and joy from the people I work with, interact with, bump into or deal with, from housekeepers to chefs, from reception staff to coach drivers and so many more.

In a few more days I'll be taking a well earned break to go camping somewhere interesting, but until then, there are a few more tours to go.

www.durbansafarisandtours.com

15/04/2024

Every year, around this time, we get cruise ships from around the world docking at the Nelson Mandela Cruise Terminal in Durban. Which means, small independent tour operators like myself, have to beg and plead with MSC to be allowed access to the terminal in order to collect our guests.

Yesterday, the manager of the site, an MSC employee, told us that he didn't want tour guides or operators to collect guests at all, they were a pain.

I'm stunned by this. Small businesses such as mine drive employment. We actively campaign to bring tourists to the city thereby giving the city a much needed financial boost. Our tourists interact with other small businesses thereby spreading the money around, we as much as.possibly counter the negativity spread by cruise ships.

MSC would rather ban independent guides and operators from the cruise terminal, which means guests are forced to utilise outrageously expensive ship tours that do not in any exposed tourists to the amazing people of Durban. Directly from guests, they suck.

And yet MSC continues to just destroy small businesses, they don't care at all as long as profit continues to get racked in. And worse, our local Durban Tourism department and city seems happy with this state of affairs in spite of the potential for small businesses to thrive and improve tourism to Durban.

Disgusted.

us


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02/04/2024

An amazing day spent in the village of iSithumba in the rolling folds of the Valley of a 1000 Hills. Not only were my guests treated to a walking tour of the village, but they got to enjoy a lovely lunch with the family of our guide, Amimi.

My guests were off a cruise ship; we have had so many cruise ship visitors this season, it's been fantastic! This tour has definitely been a hit among guests, a full vehicle every time.

Durban is so popular with visitors, just a shame it gets such a bad reputation, one that is not deserved at all.

Anyways, if you're looking for a day trip off a cruise ship in Durban, then contact me and I'll put together something for you.

www.durbansafarisandtours.com

02/04/2024

Got a new blog post up.

Discover the magic of South Africa with affordable safari tours from Durban. Experience wildlife like never before without breaking the bank

22/03/2024

I decided my guests and I deserved a little something extra on our 2 days to the Drakensberg and then the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve. I whipped up some cinabons for the trips which were perfect for the early morning start as a pre-breakfast snack.

16/02/2024

Yesterday's tour to Tala Game Reserve was one hell of a challenge. The heat meant most animals had disappeared into the shade which meant we certainly weren't seeing as much as usual. But still, beats sitting behind a desk.

15/02/2024

Just a cracker of a day here in the Valley of a 1000 Hills. I'm on tour the whole week, starting off with a little Zulu cultural experience here in Durban before heading out to Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve for a couple of days.

I've been told that I don't post enough, so this week I'm gonna break some records; prepare for a deluge of slightly-out-of-focus, poorly lit, overly done and filtered amateur photos.

05/02/2024

I was waiting patiently for my guests to disembark from their cruise ship and suddenly realised just how much of a gorgeous day it was on Saturday. Usually I'm too busy focused on finding guests, planning itinerary changes because the ship is late, using the waiting time to confirm bookings etc, but this time around I really just took the time to look around.

I'm often frustrated by how quickly Durbanites themselves are happy to verbally trash their city. I personally have been fortunate to travel internationally, and in my guiding career have met 1000's of international travellers, and this one thing is true, the grass is NOT always greener on the other side.

Fact is Durban has her issues like any modern city around the world, and yes, Durban's struggles and challenges are usually a bit larger and more complicated than others, but it's still the friendliest city in South Africa, it has the best weather, awesome beaches, so much to do for visitors; overall, Durban is the best city in South Africa.

On my Saturday tour, my guests said that they had been warned by the ship's crew that Durban was dangerous. Funny how we walked through the Zulu and Indian markets without any issues at all, we weren't robbed, mugged, pickpocketed or hijacked. In fact, we were greeted by warm and friendly smiles and hearty (Zulu) handshakes.

Durban is f*cking awesome. And the more positively we talk about the city, the more visitors will arrive, and the more they arrive, the more jobs that get created and the economy grows.

Anyways, come visit Durban, you'll love her!

12/01/2024

There are lots of beautiful days here in Durban, South Africa; What an amazing place to live! I'm headed down for my first surf in 4 years and can't quite get over how amazing the city is looking right now.

08/01/2024

As a wildlife guide in South Africa, I believe this is the only way anyone should ever dress for a safari. As a nod to the hot climate, short shorts, long socks and veldskoen or sandals is acceptable.

07/01/2024

And there ends the first battlefields tour of 2024!.

What an amazing day, beautiful blue skies with views into tomorrow, the friendliest people, great company - all this makes my battlefield tours awesome.

Today was a day trip from Durban, so 4 hours drive to the battlefields followed by 4 hours on the battlefields. Now the drive back to Durban.

02/01/2024

2023 Has been an amazing year; challenging for sure, but loads of fantastic experiences and amazing people. In fact, I've been so pleased with 2023 I decided to write about it.

www.durbansafarisandtours.com

#2024 #2023

01/01/2024

Quick photo dump as I'm about to start the new year with a game drive with guests. These are just 10 of a few 100 photos taken over the past year by my guests and I. I am so grateful that tourism has returned (slowly) to my corner of the world and that I get to do what I love and get paid for visiting these amazingly places.

Here's to a fantastic 2024 for everyone!

#2024

04/12/2023

Just random pics from what might actually be an absolutely perfect day. The sun is out, it's hot, but there's loads of shaded spots with a gentle breeze keeping things cool.

Welcome to St Lucia, KwaZulu Natal!

03/12/2023

Just some random clips from this week's safari at the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve. We have spotted 4 of the big 5 pretty regularly, just leopard evading us as is usual.

28/11/2023

Lion selfie, hunting for scorpions and a Hilltop Camp moon pic. All in one day ;)

22/11/2023

Forget to add all the images in the last post...

22/11/2023

Another deliciously hot day in Durban, perfect for my first cruise ship tour of the season, and I have to say with all humility, I knocked it out of the park! In all truth though, it's not hard with the amazing scenery, experiences and most importantly, the people of Durban :)

20/11/2023

"Hotter than the damn sun" is how my guests described his day tour to Rorkes Drift and Isandlwana this past weekend. And it was hot, blistering hot.

If it was hot for use, with our air conditioned vehicle and chilled water courtesy of a car fridge, can you just imagine how difficult it must have been from the British soldiers?

Clad in iron-shod boots, heavy cotton trousers and carrying arms and ammunition and all the other bits and pieces needed by the poor ol' Tommie, marching under this scorching sun must have been hell.

07/11/2023

What a couple of great days in the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve! I know I say this about every trip, but damn, these last few were amazing.

We didn't get to see the big 5, no lions or leopards about, but those we did were up close and personal. And the colours in the bush at the moment are gorgeous.

And the bird life right now, every where you look you catch these bursts of colours as they flit by.

I'm an old hand at this but still the park impresses me every single time.

26/10/2023

I am in no way paid by Nokia to create posts for them or anything like that, but I have to say I love my Nokia phone (currently X10). I've been a Nokia fan since forever; they are robust, they just work the way they are supposed to.

I recently read that Nokia is introducing (or have introduced) a new phone that anyone can repair - broken screen, easy and cheap to replace, battery replaceable.

This is what we need. The environment is getting filled with electronic rubbish that could be recycled, but companies, thanks to putting profit over environment, would rather you replace your electronic device than repair it.

Nokia is moving in the right direction, we need more companies to drive repairable products, so good on you Nokia.

Oh, and these are just random images taken on my Nokia phone lately :)

24/10/2023

Just look at that view!

I'm at the Nelson Mandela Capture site today and after all the rain we've had the last few days, the views are breathtaking; no dust in the air means you see into tomorrow.

09/10/2023