It’s supposed to be a no-go city. But I went anyway, and loved it

1 day ago 6

I’m somewhat nervous as we sail into Durban on Regent’s Seven Seas Splendor. Last time I was in South Africa, driving a rental car, I skipped around the city’s edge and hurried onwards. Now the local police have issued us with travel advice about valuables, strangers and dark alleys before we’ve even disembarked.

I’m on this Regent Seven Seas cruise to see more of South Africa’s cities, which are often ignored in favour of safaris and splendid landscapes. Among the many benefits of cruising is that ships are controlled spaces, and shore excursions designed with safety in mind.

I’m not that troubled about Durban, therefore. I’m confident our ship wouldn’t dock here if it was as dangerous as warnings suggest. Still, I’m nervous enough to think that an initial recce by tour coach might be a good idea.

Shore excursions aren’t always my thing, but they have their place, especially if picked wisely. Staple overview tours should be avoided: they never get you beyond mainstream highlights and often hardly let you off the coach, particularly where safety may be an issue.

For me, the best shore excursions focus on a particular area or theme and allow interaction with the locals, and so I’ve chosen a tour that takes a look at Durban’s Indian community and lets us loose in markets, a temple and Inanda township.

Victoria Street Market is our first stop. Its pink walls and cupolas give it a vaguely Mughal look. The interior smells of turmeric, chilli and marsala in sacks, and of “tasty home-cooked food for the discerning palate” – according to the sign – from Aunty Pan’s.

I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from the coach’s windows to step beyond, into Durban’s downtown streets. Not much chance of mugging amid these crowds of shoppers. I chat to an Indian gentleman selling electronics, and a woman flipping bhajis at a street stall.

Our guide for the day is Dominic Madoo, a sixth-generation South African of Indian descent who grew up during the apartheid era in an Indian group area called Chatsworth. You can learn a lot from a good guide, another reason to take a shore excursion

The first Indians arrived in South Africa as indentured labourers in the 1860s. The country has 1.2 million people of Indian origin. Apart from Birmingham in England, Durban has more ethnic Indians than any other city outside India.

The spectacular Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple.

Mahatma Gandhi spent two decades of his early life in Durban, working as a lawyer and getting involved in the civil rights campaign. Our next stop is his house in Inanda township, which tells the story of his activism among the Indian community, and its influence on black activism.

The story has a fitting coda as we continue on to nearby Ohlange High School, founded by John Dube, first president of the African National Congress (ANC). Nelson Mandela cast his vote in the first democratic South African election here in 1994. He walked to Dube’s grave afterwards and said: “I have come to report, Mr President, that South Africa is now free.”

Later we arrive in our guide Madoo’s home district, Chatsworth, to visit Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple, a moated, lotus-shaped eruption in marble, brass and glass, hung with chandeliers and bright with Hindu ceiling frescoes.

Beside the temple, a vast catering tent is doling out free lunches to anyone who wants one. No sign of police officers or dark alleys here. The only strangers are ladies in gaudy saris eager for a chat, jewellery clanking from their ears.

I’ve had a great day. I like Durban, which is just as well, because we’re in port overnight. I’m emboldened by my first encounter with it. Tomorrow I’ll be off on my own, discovering more of a city that deserves attention.

THE DETAILS

CRUISE
Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 14-night Lagoons, Safaris and Dunes cruise return from Cape Town departs January 13, 2026, and visits Walvis Bay, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban and Mossel Bay. From $13,390 a person including all dining, speciality restaurants, beverages, Wi-Fi, gratuities, laundry service and shore excursions. See rssc.com

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The writer travelled as a guest of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

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