MUNICIPAL COACH TOURS IN SOUTH AFRICA, Some Details of the Coaching Enterprise of the Durban Municipality.
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LOCAL motor-coach touring to places of particular interest or scenic beauty is, in this country, operated mainly by private concerns, and it is of interest to consider information from abroad which shows the
• different lines on which other people conduct these matters.
From the tramway department of the Borough of Durban we have received information, including a descriptive pamphlet, on the tours operated by this body in and around the City of Durban by means of motor coaches and open promenade runabouts. The general manager and engineer of the department is Mr. 3. A. Bromley, A.M.I.E.E., ALLA.E., M.Inst.T. and he has developed some very popular services.
Drives are arranged for the whole day as well as for half-days, evenings, etc., and they afford, particularly for the visitor to Durban, an ideal means for seeing all the local sights. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays runabouts leave the Town Hall, in Church Street, at 3 p.m. for a circular tour of n-.10 Durban, including the Esplanade, the three parks. etc., a halt being made at Riverside (Monkey Land). The fare for the round trip is 2s. 6d.
An interesting morning tour by run
about is operated daily, except ot Sundays, the route including ,Alberi Park, the Indian and native markets, the growing industrial area of Mayden Wharf, the Graving Dock, which is the second largest in the world, the Ridge, where wonderful views are obtained, and Riverside Hotel, from which the monkeys can be seen in their wild state. From this point the vehicles return via the Blue Lagoon and the Old Fort, where relics of old Durban are to be found. For this extensive round the fare is only 3s. 6d.
On Wednesdays and Sundays coaches set out at 2.30 p.m. for an inland tour through Indian and African villages, pineapple fields and banana groves, to the filter beds which cleanse the city's water supply, and thence to Fairy Done Hotel, which is 1,100 ft. above sea level, returning to the town by an entirely different route, giving remarkable views of the Sarnia Valley and the hills in the distance. For this the fare is but tis.
Every day, except Saturday, coaches leave at 2.15 p.m. on a 58-mile trip to the Valley of a Thousand Hills, which is said to be one of the most beautiful spots in Natal, and pass along the main trunk road, climbing to a height of 3,000 ft., and rethrning by way of the South Coast Road.
A longer journey in the same district is made every Monday and Thursday, commencing at 10.30 a.m., the fare being 10s. On Wednesdays during the crushing season (June to November) afternoon trips are run to the Mount Edgecombe sugar mills, travelling through miles of sugar plantation, and visitors are shown over the mills, where the whole process of sugar production in all its many phases as practised locally, is explained to tem.
On Sundays and Thursdays a 35-mile afternoon run is made along the coast and through bushland, cane field and forest glade to Timhlanga Rocks, one of the most charming spots on the North Coast, a stop being made there for bathing and refreshments. On Tuesdays and Fridays an afternon tour of 36 miles is made to the Mariannhill Monastery, giving visitors an opportunity for seeing all over this establishment, The fare is 6s., or at the rate of%2d. Der mile.