Durban View Gay Guesthouse

Hey guys - this is Durban - the warmest place to be in sunny South Africa on the east coast..

It's where our exclusively gay guesthouse and backpackers is situate right here in the heart of Durban ... the warm friendly city where gay is good.

So come visit and enjoy gay life in our part of South Africa.

Durban View Guesthouse welcomes visitors from around the world and we've already made some great new friends. Your hosts are Dave and Llewellyn.

See links to our site for bookings and enquiries else where on this blog or click here.

Your hosts Dave and Llewellyn

                  Ty Nell at Durban View Guesthouse

Gay Loyalty South Africa

Our loyal and frequent guests will know that we have been running a successful loyalty programme for several years. From the 1st June we will be extending this programme to other select participating guesthouses in South Africa. The programme is being updated and extended to enable you to spend your points at other guesthouses or to spend your points accumulated at those guesthouses here with us. It is an entirely free programme and each guesthouse will be participating without any exchange of money - a way to say thank you to the discerning guests who prefer to stay gay while you are away from home and keep those guests within the gay circle of guesthouses in South Africa.

For every guest booked per night, you will receive 100 points. 1000 points accumulated gives you a FREE single room with your next booking of 2 or more nights. 1500 points for a FREE double room similarly.

We have created a new website for the loyalty programme - Gay Loyalty South Africa - and this will be updated as more guesthouses are added. The participation logo will also appear on the website of those guesthouses who have joined the programme.

SO LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YA ALL AGAIN!!

Dave revamps Gay Directory

The Facebook group Gay Directory South Africa is the largest gay Facebook group with over 4 200 members and has just been re-vamped. Created by Dave Mc Naught of Durban View Guesthouse the directory has been steadily growing and gives an easy link to nationwide gay interest groups, accommodation in the various provinces and more...

Check out the Gay Directory South Africa here.

Our Mr Gay World 2010 in Durban

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I was priviledged to meet Charl van den Berg, our current Mr Gay South Africa, and Mr Gay World 2010 right here at the Guesthouse last night (that's Charl on the left..lol).

The Mr Gay South Africa ™ finalists for the 2010 pageant were in Durban for their Mocambique cruise which sailed today and we hosted them for a pre-cruise Cocktail function at the Guesthouse. Charl is delightful and a beautiful person and certainly an excellent ambassador for South Africa and the gay world. See the further post below for more pics of our Guests and the stunning contestants in the pageant which holds its grand finale' later this month.

Rainbow Cruise send-off



Alan, Llewellyn  and Kevin




Dustin with Alternative Travel's Leon Nel and Ernest




Finalists Errol and Karl




Francois and Jared




Gavin and Juanne




Guests Jaco from Namibia, Elad from Israel, Juanne from Joburg, guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn and Joe from Namibia




Jared with guesthouse co-owner Dave




Joe with Mr Gay South Africa organiser Coenie, Jaco, and Mr Gay World 2010 Charl van den Berg




Juanne with Finalist Prince from KwaZulu-Natal




The Guesthouse was full for the weekend and enjoying drinks at The Lounge on Saturday were Guesthouse co-owners Llewellyn and Dave with their Namibia guests Joe and Jaco




Hamming it up are guests Peter, also from Namibia with Elad from Israel and Juanne from Johannesburg



Enjoying a weekend of fun at the Guesthouse we had an evening of drinks and pantomime on Saturday, followed by a pre-cruise Cocktail party on Sunday for the Mr Gay South Africa finalists and judges and the Rainbow Cruise passengers who left for a 5-night cruise to Mocambique today. Enjoy the cruiseguys and we look forward to your return for more fun with us on Friday.

Mr Gay South Africa ™ contestants cruising from Durban

Rainbow Cruise operator

Ms Sinfonia sailing from Durban

It's going to be a bumper weekend in Durban with the Mr Gay South Africa 2010 ™ Contestants arriving for the Rainbow cruise on the Ms Sinfonia which leaves Durban for Mocambique on Monday.

The action hots up right here at the Guesthouse on Saturday evening as we start our Pink Night welcoming guests at a Cocktail Party, followed by the adult pantomine Peter Pan at Musgrave Supper Theatre.

Durban's fabulous, famous and hilariously funny cast will present their annual show featuring Captain Hooker (Anthony Stonier), Rowan Bartlett (Peter Pan), Rikki Hastings (Wendy) and Thomie Holtzhausen (Mrs Darling). So get your weekend off to a great start and join us here at the guesthouse from 6pm this Saturday.. and see where the weekend takes you....

Ernest Gravett, Mr Gay South Africa ™ finalist

Welcome to Shisa

Welcome to Joe from the fun Guesthouse north of Cape Town - Shisa, where the locals go to play.

It's always a bit intimidating to have other guesthouse owner's come stay with us, like for the annual Indaba Tourism Conference in May each year, but then it's also a good opportunity to network and get to know the other gay operators in South Africa. We will be sure to visit you guys soon. We love trips to Cape Town, especially since my son is now studying there, so it's a chance to visit him, drink wine in Stellenbosch and play.

Euro guests

Llewellyn (guesthouse co-owner, centre) welcomes our guests Stas from Zakopane in Poland and Michael from Germany who have been together for 6 years and are presently living and working in London.

Stas and Michael are doing a driving tour of South Africa, having visited the Kruger National Park, St.Lucia, and Durban and are en route through the Garden Route to Cape Town.

Back in Durban after Amsterdam Pride

We sailed into Amsterdam on Saturday in time for the 2010 Gay Pride Canal Parade which attracted 400 000 spectators despite the slight rain. It started with a warm welcome at the dockside and ocean terminal as we stepped off the "Eurodam" after a whirlwind cruise of the Baltic with 1500 gay guys, then an interview screened on Dutch TV that night, the spectacular canal parage through the main canals of Amsterdam and awesome parties in the streets of the city.

Even the street barmen were hot and willing to wave the flag for us.

The rights of gay Africa were represented for the first time in the canal parade.

More than 40 floats took part in the parade in intermittant rain.

Street artists claimed their share of the action too.

The hot "kissing boys" did not need to decorate their float too much - just add skin!

Even the Police were represented at Gay Pride... with a helmet..

And Dave admires the boobs... lol

Dave and Llewellyn take every opportunity to show the South Africans were there.

Flags and balloons greeted the "Eurodam" at the dockside in Amsterdam on the morning of arrival for Gay Pride 2010 and we showed them our Pride.

Kzn Finals of Mr Gay South Africa 2010

Jared (left) is the winner of the Kzn finals of the Mr Gay South Africa 2010 pageant held at the Guesthouse last night, while Prince (right) is the 1st runner up who both now qualify as finalists in the competition which will take place in Pretoria in Noveember with finalists from the other regions.

Mr Gay South Africa fun at the Guesthouse

Dave and Llewellyn hosted the Central region (Kzn) finals of the Mr Gay South Africa 2010 Pageant at the Guesthouse last night and pose here with winner Jared who goes through to the national finals later this year.

Mr Gay South Africa Durban View Guesthouse Sat 24 July

It's the Mr Gay South Africa Central Reginal Finals in Durban and we have scooped the venue for the event - right here at the Guesthouse.

This Sat 24 Jul is the big night and bookings for accommodation at the Guesthouse are now open.

Bookings for the event are being handled by Mr Gay South Africa and entry is R80 which includes a free drink at the Bar. To book for the event send an email headed "Durban" to Hennie. To enter follow this link.

Opening World Cup game today

One would be mistaken in thinking our SA National Football team, Bafana Bafana, were not the world favourites to win today as they take on Mexico in the opening game of the World Cup.

I have never seen so many yellow shirts in South Africa on one day... everyone - uniting the nation - are showing their colours for Bafana Bafana and South African flags are everywhere.

Fridays have been the days South Africans and schoolchildren have been allowed to show their support by wearing a Bafana shirt to school or work. In the photos from top to bottom are images painted on a garden wall just up the road from the Guesthouse showing Bafana Bafana in action, a handwritten message  in wet concrete, my office staff gearing up for the opening game today, and a self-pic of myself in my car on the way to work - full time lawyer, inbetween running the Guesthouse with my partner Llewellyn, who also has his own SpecSavers Optometry practices by day.