Bird's eye view of Durban

What better way to see Durban than a microlight flight that takes you along the beachfront past the Stadium to the Harbour from Virginia Airport - a thrilling 20 mins @ R600 per person, or R850 for the 30 min flight that also takes in the Umhlanga Lighthouse and beachfront.

It's possible through Guesthouse co-owner Dave's Durban Skyye Flight School that opened recently and offers pilot training and Introductory Flights than can be booked either by phone on 083-7033329 or online through our website link here.

You can also join our Durban Skyye Facebook group for regular updates and information.

Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium seen from our Flight School microlight aircraft with our second school microlight in the foreground

Durban Skyye is emblazoned on our aircraft wings

Dave is presently completing his Instructor's Rating with his Flight School's Chief Flying Instructor, Brad, partners in the business

Umhlanga pier, Durban amongst world's finest

One of Durban's piers out into the Indian Ocean has won us accolades from CNN, rating it amongst the top 10 in the world.

Here's the rankings and link.

The Umhlanga Pier with the whalebone lighting

Winter in Durban, so beautiful and warm

A couple of great sky photos of Durban and South Africa..

The sun rises up from the sea over the Durban beachfront and city on a magical winter's morning

South African sky

Stunning Durban

Wow, some more amazing pics of our Durban beachfront. This morning I decided that the weather is definitely turning.. waking up to fresh air with the humidity receding.. winter is definitely on it's way... not that Durban gets colder than 15c ever even in mid-winter, but good to smell the fresh air with clear beautiful days ahead. April is always the best time to visit for sure!

Durban Skyye

I was up early this morning to get some great shots of the Durban coastline from my plane and to promote my flight school Durban Skyye which opens soon.

The view from Umhlanga to the harbour entrance

Durban beachfront with the 2010 World Cup Stadium

The view from my GoPro under the wing over the Durban beachfront and CBD towards the harbour

Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium was the focus of the 2010 World Cup Football in South Africa

The harbour entrance and Bluff

Holiday apartments

Virginia Airport along the northern beaches, where our plane, a Sling ZU-ZDL is hangared

A Taste of Durban

The Durban food and wine festival a Taste of Durban has been running for a few days and seen out and about are friends Judith and Collette, Ian, Marc and Lee and Llewellyn and myself.

Judith, Lee, Colette and Llewellyn

Great idea, great Durban winter weather and good food and wine!!
 

Welcome Indaba Delegates

http://www.indaba-southafrica.co.za/Indaba is Africa's top travel show and allows tour operators and tourism delegates from around the world to visit South Africa and Africa's showcase of hotels, Safari and game parks and lodges, and tour attractions. Almost 14 000 delegates converge on Durban for this annual show which is now   Africa's largest such showcase of our finest resorts and attractions.

Welcome to exhibit and stand designer Nicolas, as well as Eddie and Dawid seen here with Guesthouse owners Dave (left) and Llewellyn (right) as we welcome arriving Indaba guests to the guesthouse for a drink in the pub.

Indaba Showcase

Taking a quick spin-around Indaba didn't really do justice to the magnificent displays.

It is actually quite incredible what a beautiful country we live in and amazing to see such entrepeneurship and industry to keep tourists coming to Southern Africa and happy. On display was every tourist's conceivable honeymoon destination, package deal or safari expedition. Wow!!

Congratulations to all the exhibitors from Southern Africa, as well as the invitation exhibitors from further afield in Africa and the Indian Ocean.

We are the world's playground and may your efforts to promote tourism in South Africa be richly rewarded.

Indaba Guests from Eastern Cape

Meet Guesthouse owners from the Addo Elephant Park area in the Eastern Cape, Oscar and Diedrich, seen here in Durban with Dave, co-owner of Durban View Guesthouse. The Dutch couple emigrated to South Africa 3 years ago and bought the Guesthouse Lemon 3 Lodge which is enjoying the increased tourism of the Eastern Cape. They are represented on the Addo Tourism stand at the Indaba show in Durban taking place now.

Welcome Indaba Guests

 Welcome to Indaba guests, delegates and visitors to Durban - for this vital and Africa's top travel show.

We in Durban appreciate the opportunity to host this event and to ensure that our visitors see Durban and South Africa's showcased  hospitality industry in the best possible light. 

We hope that you all achieve the success you wish for out of this short window to the world period.



As we have done over the past few years, Llewellyn and I will be visiting the show and hoping to showcase our own guesthouse as an exclusive gay destination in Durban.

Llewellyn at last year's Indaba Show

It's FUNSUNZI in Durban

Our local radio station, East Coast Radio, or ECR as we all know it, has a great campaign going to promote Durban as the FUN, SUN, SEA, destination of South Africa, or FUNSUNZI as they have dubbed the campaign.

What a great idea, especially as we head towards winter, knowing that Durban is the only place on the warm east coast where you can have it all, all seasons of the year, whilst the rest of the country goes into hibernation.

Big South Africa

Our guests from Paris Fabien and Ugo did not realise how big South Africa is and that distances to drive between our major cities are great. So if you're wanting to visit the Kruger National Park and the St Lucia Wetlands Park, don't give yourself only 1 day to stay over in Durban. Firstly our Guesthouse is one of the few exclusively gay guesthouses in South Africa, we we are worth a few days visit in itself. Also Durban is the warmest city on the east coast of South Africa and our beaches and Indian Ocean are legendary. So be sure to include a few days to visit us here.

Patrice takes some pics



Enjoying a drink at Billy the Bums are guest Patrice with Llewellyn and myself (Dave)







Beach rugby and hot boys in Durban

 


Surfing the wave at Durban's North Beach



The Guesthouse pool at night



 I love it when guests snap some photos of the guesthouse or Durban. Here Guest Patrice from Canada and now living in Atlanta provided some great photos of the guesthouse at night. In the top photo we enjoyed drinks at our favourite pub, Billy the Bums.

Read Patrice's review of the Guesthouse here.

The Guesthouse - photo from the pool area towards the guest Patio

Friend and Durban photographer Ryan snaps guest Patrice from Atlanta on Durban's beachfront Pier

Surf's up

Being on the warm east coast of South Africa, it's always summer in Durban, but now that Spring is here, it is really hotting up and the beach is the place to be.

Wine Week in Durban

The great thing about the annual Mercury Wine Week in Durban is that it is always on Dav'e birthday, so who needs a reason to celebrate? With friends who enjoy a good glass of Wine there was aplenty with over 180 Cape Wine Farms represented. Needless to say I have a memory lapse after far to many tastes of the beautiful nectar.

Another Birthday %$#@& for Dave

Llewellyn and Dave enjoy a glass of wine with Chris and Gavin of Tyson's Properties - we were all on the recent gay cruise to the Baltic as well.

Dave and Llewellyn eye out the hot winemasters from the Cape. And for wines we enjoyed the Slanghoek wines.. must make a note to visit the farm next time we are in the Cape.

From Germany to Durban by Jeep to the Guesthouse

We are privileged to meet at the Guesthouse trans-Africa traveller Armin Hollensteiner who made the journey from his hometown, Bielefeld in Germany, by jeep to Durban for the World Cup opening game Germany vs Australia today.

Travelling 21 000 kms through Europe, the middle east and Africa, Armin was joined in Dar-es-Salaam by Marcus and the travellers arrived in Durban yesterday making it a 3-month 13th Mar - 13th June journey. Armin has created a blog to document the journey and you can view it here.

In the top photo are Armin and myself (Dave) outside the Guesthouse with the reliable jeep that averaged 11 ls per 100kms. In the 2nd photo Marcus and Armin pose with their mascot Lohmann, the 3rd photo shows Armin's personalised numberplate with BI for his home town Bielefeld, ZA for South Africa (Zuid Afrika) and 2010 for the FIFA 2010 World Cup Football event. The 4th photo shows the route Armin travelled across Africa to get to Durban.

Wow, congratulations guys, what a journey and accomplishment!

Durban abuzz for Germany vs Australia tonight

The Durban beachfront outside the World Cup Stadium is alive with Ozzie Socceroos and Germans eager to watch their team beat the other tonight. It was a glorious sunny day and the surfers were out as well as the fans.

In the photos guest Rudi shows which team he is supporting whilst my family and friends also took a stroll down the beach promenade to get a feel of the action.