Durbanite’s experience of Durban’s rickshaw bus tour

To celebrate and honour Tourism Month, Caxton Local Media journalists will be exploring the picturesque city of Durban and letting readers in on some compelling, captivating and fun-filled hotspots within the beautiful city.

IN commemoration of Tourism Month, the Caxton Durban editorial team took some time out from chasing deadlines and spent the morning on board the well-known Rickshaw bus. Journalist Nonhlanhla Hlatshwayo shares her experience of the tour.

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In our daily grind, we often don’t notice or appreciate our beautiful surroundings. The Rickshaw bus tour reminded me that we live in an interesting city that is steeped in history.

The Rickshaw bus tour gives visitors a chance to explore Durban city from a great vantage point – from the top of a double-decker bus.

We boarded the double-decker bus and took off from the Durban Tourism – Tourism Information Centre offices located in the vicinity of the Beachfront. The three-hour tour was narrated by the guide who shared the history of almost all the sites we saw. 

The route followed the promenade all the way to uShaka Marine World, through the Victoria Embankment, and along the harbour, which is also the home of Wilson’s Wharf. It carried on right through the centre of Durban where we stopped at the Game City shopping centre, then it took us up the bridge where we were able to take in a panoramic view of the business district of street vendors, better known as the English Market. We drove through the suburb of Morningside and  also got to see the Sydenham area. We stopped at the Cube, before driving through the popular Florida Road, and then Blue Lagoon beach, until we finally arrived right back where we started at the Beachfront.

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I have been on most of the routes if not all of them, so nothing was new, but the heritage story behind them was definitely new for me. Being a born-free means that many events occurred before I was born or during a time when I was too young to remember. What I always thought to be an aged establishment, to my surprise, I learned that the famous UShaka Marine World was established in 2002. I learned that the Zulu word uShaka does not only represent the sharks that are part of marine life but also represents the former amaZulu King Shaka. You have to appreciate how Durban’s heritage is incorporated into everything that forms part of its landscape.

Most Durbanites, myself included, didn’t know that the Durban harbour is one of the busiest harbours in the world.  I learned that the harbour is a community of its own that harbours not only goods but the literal economy of other countries, as well. During the route past the harbour, we were told about the vehicles stationed there to be delivered to other countries. It is no lie when the eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda emphasises the riches of Durban. 

Furthermore, it was mind-blowing to learn that different structures play a role in communicating what goods were leaving and entering the harbour. Along that route, the first public restroom was pointed out to us. Because of my lack of knowledge, I believed that most things were invented outside the province or abroad. We got to see the building that was recently built to make things smooth sailing for harbour affairs and the different contributors to the structure.

I found out that the Morningside area is residence of some of our struggle heroes and royalties. The late AmaZulu King Goodwill Zwelithini was one of the residents, and former president Jacob Zuma’s presidential home is there.

While I may have skipped a few stops along this tour, I learned some new things about my city.

Besides the discoveries that were made during the trip and the insightful narration, I found the trip relatively underwhelming. There is a lot to showcase in Durban, and the bus trip fell short of that. However, the Rickshaw bus tour is a commendable initiative by the City that hosts visitors from all over the country and the world. A visitor will leave the bus well-informed and blown away by our beautiful city – the objective of the Rickshaw bus tour.