Umhlanga Rocks

Only 20 kilometres from Durban, Umhlanga Rocks is a sea-side resort town. Humid, tropical weather and thick green vegetation typify this area of South Africa. A number of hotel resorts have made the Umhlanga coastline their home, and the ocean competes with fancy shaped hotel pools and kids programmes for bathers attention. More affordable than Cape Town and with much warmer water, many South African's head down to Umhlanga for school holidays

Closeby attraction include the massive Gateway Mall which includes 400 stores, a skate park designed by American skating legend Tony Hawk and a standing wave machine allowing visitors to surf and shop pretty much at the same time.

History

Umhlanga Rocks was originally part of the sugar estate of Sir Marshall Campbell, who introduced the colourful rickshaws to Durban's beachfront.

When a track was made from Mount Edgecombe to Umhlanga Rocks, the area became popular with the local farmers who leased small plots on the shoreline of the ocean and built vacation cottages.

In 1931 Umhlanga Rocks became a village[/b], and additional cottages, hotels, guest houses and stores were built. The first hotel, the Victoria, was rebuilt and named the Umhlanga Rocks Hotel. The first beach cottage, the Oyster Box, was built in 1869 and became the present-day Oyster Box Hotel. The tin roof of this cottage was used as a navigational beacon, until the automatic lighthouse was built in 1953.

Sharks board

The KwaZulu Natal coast is shark territory and in the late 1950s a number of serious shark attacks occurred, so in 1962 the first shark nets were erected. The nets are constantly monitored by the Natal Sharks Board, who tag and release everything that gets snagged. Now you can swim in safety and sunbathe on the glorious beaches.

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