Point Waterfront Canal Boat Cruise, Durban

The canals of the Point Waterfront

The Point is the narrow spit of land at the southern end of Durban's beachfront, where the city meets the entrance to the harbour. In the 2000s the old docklands here were rebuilt as the Point Waterfront, a residential and leisure precinct laced with artificial canals that bring the sea between the buildings, in the style of waterfront developments around the world but with a distinctly subtropical Durban feel.

Your pontoon boat follows these canals at a gentle pace, passing under footbridges and past palm-shaded promenades, modern apartment blocks and restored Edwardian warehouses, with views opening up towards the harbour and the sea. The skipper explains how the precinct was built, what stood here before and what is planned next. For a first-time visitor it is a relaxed way to understand this corner of Durban before exploring it on foot.

Durban harbour and the story of the Point

Durban's harbour is among the busiest container ports in Africa, and the Point has guarded its narrow entrance since the first settlers landed on the bay in the 1820s. For most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries this was a working waterfront of customs houses, warehouses, railway sidings and the original lighthouse that guided ships through the sandbar at the harbour mouth.

From the canal boat you see the restored brick and iron buildings that survive from that era and, beyond the precinct, the cranes and ships of the modern port and the long North Pier that visitors walk along at sunset. The skipper's commentary ties the two together, from the dredging of the harbour entrance to the redevelopment of the waterfront, which is why a short cruise here is worth it even for people who already know Durban.

uShaka Marine World and the Golden Mile

The canal jetty sits beside uShaka Marine World, the large aquarium and water park at the southern end of Durban's beachfront, built around the theme of a wrecked cargo ship and home to sharks, rays, dolphins and penguins. Many visitors combine the two, taking the cruise before or after a few hours in the aquarium or the water park, since the entrances are a few minutes' walk apart.

North of uShaka begins the Golden Mile, Durban's famous promenade of beaches, piers and swimming pools that runs for several kilometres along the Indian Ocean, lined with hotels and lifeguard-patrolled bathing areas. The water here is warm all year, which is what makes Durban different from the rest of South Africa's coast, and the promenade is ideal for a stroll, a cycle or a swim once you step off the boat.

Planning your Point Waterfront cruise

Boats leave every thirty minutes from 09:00 to 16:30, and each cruise lasts about half an hour, so you can arrive at the jetty without a long wait and fit the ride into any part of the day. Mid-morning is the quietest; late afternoon gives warm light on the buildings and the harbour. The boat is covered, so it runs in light rain and provides shade in Durban's summer heat.

The Point Waterfront is reached from the beachfront along Point Road or through uShaka's car park, about ten minutes by taxi from the city centre and twenty-five minutes from King Shaka International Airport. There are cafés and restaurants on the waterside promenade, and halal food is easy to find around Durban's beachfront and in the city's Indian quarter. Keep to the busy, patrolled areas of the precinct and the promenade, as you would in any city.