Familia Flamenco at Catalina Theatre in Durban

Familia Flamenco

If you’ve been read­ing this blog for a while you’ve prob­ably real­ised that I am a bit of a nut when it comes to pro­duc­tions, shows, con­certs and so on. And what is so great about liv­ing in South Africa is that there is such a vari­ety of tal­ent and oppor­tun­it­ies for us to expand our cul­tural experience.

This time it is Dubans turn for a bit of heat when Familia Flamenco with Linda Vargas who is return­ing after more than five years of not being on stage. Dance lov­ers should look for­ward to this pro­gramme that will be presen­ted with flair by the acclaimed Flamenco Dance Company Vargas ... Continued

moyo opens new venue in Durban

moyo uSh­aka Pier

A brand new venue has opened at moyo Ushaka Pier. Situated right at the very end of the pier, the new venue is a new double storey glass build­ing that offers 360 degree pan­or­amic ocean views, as well as glimpses of the beau­ti­ful Moses Mabhida Stadium in the distance.

Already a firm favour­ite with local and inter­na­tional guests, moyo uSh­aka Pier is com­pletely unique in Durban and South Africa – as it’s the only venue to suc­cess­fully com­bine the balmy beach with authen­tic African cuisine and enter­tain­ment. And it is the closest guests can get to a cruise liner exper­i­ence, without leav­ing shore. Continued

A Blooming Great Day at The Durban July

The Durban July

Saturday, July 31^st sees the run­ning of the Vodacom Durban July.  This fam­ous horse race has taken place since July 1897 (that’s 113 years!) and has grown from humble begin­nings at the Durban Turf Club with only seven run­ners to what it is now; Africa’s greatest sport­ing and social event with a purse of R3 mil­lion.  Over 50 000 people des­cend on Greyville Racecourse to take part in the fest­iv­it­ies; R190 mil­lion is spent on nation­wide bet­ting with R36 mil­lion on the main race of the day!

By 1904 the num­ber of run­ners and increased from seven to 19 and the annual event soon star­ted to draw interest from around the coun­try with spec­tat­ors arriv­ing by trams and horse-drawn car­riages.  Horses were still only drawn from stables in the Natal Colony but by 1918 horses were trans­por­ted from the Cape and the Rand to make the July a national event. Continued

Durban International Film Festival, 22 July to 1 August

Durban once again hosts the Durban International Film Festival and in 2010 it will be the 31^st fest­ival which is quite a leg­acy. The fest­ival takes place at vari­ous ven­ues across Durban from 22 July to 1 August 2010 with more than 200 screen­ings of films to chal­lenge your think­ing, excite you, and raise aware­ness from all corners of the world.

Not only will there be films screened but work­shops and sem­inars as well as train­ing and industry events over these 10 days and the fest­ival is able to do this thanks to their main fun­der the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund. Continued

uShaka Marine World offers a cultural experience during the World Cup

uSh­aka World Cup

uSh­aka Marine World is offer­ing a real cul­tural exper­i­ence for both inter­na­tional vis­it­ors and loc­als dur­ing the World Cup. Come and be intro­duced to the Zulu Kingdom with this singing and dan­cing spec­tacle brought to you in this magical set­ting, “Under African Skies” will be a night to remember.

What is this show all about? I have told you it will be a singing and dan­cing extra­vag­anza but what I haven’t told you is that there are very spe­cial per­formers in the pro­duc­tion. Dancing and diving diva’s and show­men will be enter­tain­ing you as the dolphin’s of Seaworld Affrika, Tombi, Khanya, Zulu, Kelpie, Jula, Khwezi and Ingelosi light up the stage. The star of the show the largest bot­tlen­ose dol­phin in any ocean­arium in the world, named Gambit, will make his grand entrance on stage ... Continued

The Ultimate Human Race; the Comrades Marathon

Comrades Marathon

Sunday, May 30^th will see the run­ning of The Ultimate Human Race; the Comrades Marathon.  Arguably the world’s greatest ultra mara­thon, Comrades was star­ted by Vic Clapham to hon­our and remem­ber those who fell dur­ing the Great War of 1914 – 1918.  Run between the KwaZulu Natal cit­ies of Durban and Pietermaritzburg, the first race star­ted out­side the Pietermaritzburg City Hall on 24 May 1921 with 34 run­ners and has been run every year since then with the excep­tions of the 2^nd World War years of 1941 – 1945.  The dir­ec­tion altern­ates each year – giv­ing us the ‘up run’ or the ‘down run’.

This year the race starts in Pietermaritzburg and will end at 5.30pm in Durban.  Athletes are given 12 hours to com­plete the gruelling run with the timer start­ing as the gun fires at 5.30 in the morn­ing.  The race is run ‘gun to gun’ so if you are a first timer right at the back of the pack and it takes you seven or eight minutes to get over the start line you are already seven or eight minutes into the race before you’ve even crossed the start­ing line! Continued

The Heritage Country Market in Hillcrest, Durban

Heritage Market

Located on the well-known 1000 Hills Tourist Route, The Heritage Country Market is a craft mar­ket which oper­ates on the last Sunday of each month in Hillcrest, KwaZulu Natal.  An out­door shop­ping venue, the mar­ket is found at The Heritage in Hillcrest and this group of shops, housed amongst gar­dens and rose bushes has become a firm favour­ite with both Hillcrest res­id­ents and vis­it­ors alike.

The mar­ket aims to bring the coun­try atmo­sphere back to Hillcrest and stocks a wide range of foods, arts and crafts.  Live music keeps vis­it­ors enter­tained as they stroll along the cobbled street lined with tables offer­ing shop­pers any excuse to pur­chase some­thing! Continued

uShaka Marine World — a review

uSh­aka Marine World

Durban seems to have become peppered with ref­er­ences to King Shaka, the man who ruled over the Zulu clan and brought them to great glory. The new air­port in La Mercy, which will be the gate­way to KwaZulu Natal from May 2010, is also to bear his name and will be christened King Shaka International.

As we trav­elled along what in my day was con­sidered ‘down­town’ Durban, I recalled fond memor­ies of swim­ming at Addington and South beach, which were always calmer and less fre­quen­ted by Durban’s trend­ies. uSh­aka Marine World lies oppos­ite what is now called — yes you guessed it — uSh­aka Beach, which is said to span some fif­teen hec­tares ... Continued

For the ultimate ride of your life try the 'Big Rush Big Swing' at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban

Big Rush Big Swing

I couldnt res­ist — this was sub­mit­ted to the SA-Venues.com web­site as a "Thing to Do", and I thought our read­ers might like to know about this — I love that all ages are allowed to do this — which means that even I could give it a go next time I visit Durban (there is no age limit — they have appar­antly 'jumped' people as young as 8 years and as old as 75!).

For the ulti­mate ride of your life the 'Big Rush Big Swing' at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban is a must. This is the world's only sta­dium swing and the biggest swing of any kind any­where. Continued

I ♥ Berea because ...

I ♥ Berea

Hi, I’m Sharon Muller from Botanic B&B on the Berea, Durban.
BEREA IS BEST KNOWN FOR the friend­li­ness of its people, the inter­est­ing range of its cul­ture, and its wide range of tea gar­dens, cof­fee shops and res­taur­ants, the lat­ter espe­cially in Florida Road and Davenport Road, where you will find menus from around the world.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the Botanic Gardens’ Orchard House with its mag­ni­fi­cent dis­play of beau­ti­ful orch­ards.
THE BEST DURBAN PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the top of the Arch of the Moses Mabhida sta­dium where  you can enjoy a pan­or­amic view of Durban and the sea.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the Durban beach­front ... Continued

Planning a wedding? Wedding Expos coming up ...

Attending a Wedding Exhibition, Fair or Show is a great way to meet many local wed­ding sup­pli­ers, all under one roof. Brides it’s your time to shine, so those of you who are plan­ning your up and com­ing wed­ding should take note of the fol­low­ing bridal shows tak­ing place ... Continued

Britannia Bunnies

Britannia Hotel

I had read about the Britannia Hotel and after ask­ing local friends about it, it turns out that the Brittania is a bit of a legend in Durban.  The build­ing, built in 1897, is now lis­ted and forms part of the her­it­age of the city.  The front of the build­ing must have been impress­ive in its hey day but see­ing as Umgeni Road and its volumes of traffic now run past the venue its dif­fi­cult to get a good look and appre­ci­ate the work­man­ship, for fear of being knocked over by a car!

However, we had not come to the Britannia to admire the archi­tec­ture; we had come to sample a good curry.  I’m some­times a bit wary of new places but not being able to find a park­ing spot and then find­ing out there was a wait­ing list for a table in the res­taur­ant was clearly a good sign! Continued

Last few days to see My Fair Lady at The Playhouse Theatre in Durban

My Fair Lady

The Playhouse Company’s star-studded 2009 sta­ging of the clas­sic musical My Fair Lady, presen­ted in part­ner­ship with East Coast Radio is one of the hot­test theatre tick­ets in Durban this Festive Season.

One of the world’s all-time box office hit shows, the much-loved musical returns to The Playhouse Opera in a sump­tu­ous sta­ging dir­ec­ted by and star­ring multi-award-winning Ralph Lawson, one of South Africa’s lead­ing theatre luminar­ies. This clas­sic rags-to-riches tale stars Gina Shmukler (Chess, Unforgettable, Show Boat) and Lisa Bobbert (Abbamaniacs, My Fair Lady, Little Shop of Horrors), altern­at­ing in the lead role as Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower-seller who is trans­formed into a high soci­ety lady ... Continued

Mariannhill Monastery – a gentle space of beauty and peace

I'm look­ing at the incred­ible interior of the church of the Monastery of Mariannhill and real­ising why, des­pite its being years since last I was here, it had such a pro­found effect on me as a 16-year-old (See pho­tos at this link).

During my third year of high school I sang with a choir that recor­ded Franz Schubert's mass no 2 in G stand­ing within this sanc­tu­ary. It was one of the most intense exper­i­ences of my life. The sound we man­aged to evoke in this place of God was not only incred­ible, it was impress­ive and, as young people only begin­ning to form opin­ions and views on the world, I felt I had touched some­thing within and without that I would endeav­our to recre­ate again and again in my life. Continued

Ike's Bookstore & Collectables in Durban

Get in a room with out of prints ... First edi­tions, second time around to be read more than thrice and passed down through gen­er­a­tions; line up in rows on bottle green painted book­shelves at the top of a wise old stair­case await­ing bib­li­o­philics. Wooden floors and paper pages fill slow unfold­ing morn­ings with Durban sun­light that slants through the corner sash win­dows defrost­ing for­got­ten nov­els ... Continued