My son and his girlfriend are spending the holidays with me. I've always wanted to see the Trail of Lights, but never got there, as it's the busiest time of the year in my Airbnb Lily's Cottage.
This season, I've had guests booking longer periods, making life a whole lot easier with not too many guest changeovers.
I survived one high-maintenance family, lovely people, but...high maintenance...🙃
The year that was!
Locals and year-end holidaymakers to our coastal city stream to the annual Trail of Lights held at Durban Botanic Gardens, Africa's oldest surviving botanical gardens. The enormous park turns into a fairytale every Christmas with a fabulous display of sparkling lights, delightful decorations, various food gardens with local artisanal vendors, and live music — a time of wonder for young and old!
As it's an outdoor event in the middle of our rainy season, we had to check the weather report before we booked our tickets. Anyone visiting our coastal city, be warned: trying to book on the night doesn't guarantee you'll get a ticket!
We were considering taking an Uber, but my son chose to drive as we were told there would be plenty of parking.
As we got closer to the venue, I regretted not listening to my gut feel. I expected it to be busy, but never this crazy!
There indeed was plenty of parking, but traffic was crazy when we got closer to the park.
The organizers however had everything under control, and we were directed to a demarcated parking area right near the park entrance.
We arrived just before sunset - our time slot was anytime between 19:00 and 20:00. Once inside, we could stay till the event closed, giving one time to go food hunting.
This 'Christmas Tree' of lights greeted us as we entered the park.
The park with its gigantic trees, some of them over one hundred years old, did not look anything like it does the rest of the year - many of the branches were covered in strings of lights.
There were many photo opportunities, but also way too many people, so we missed quite a number of them! I think they were trying to make up for the nights when the show was rained out!
A golden coach with golden horses made a very pretty display - I told you it was a fairyland;)
The sunken garden.
Of course there had to be a Zipline for the little ones; there are enough trees to make a couple of ziplines!
The old bell, one of my favourite sights in the park, was transformed with little fairy lights.
Poem found at the foot of the old bell - image taken on a previous visit, during the day of course!
The pond with Lotus flowers in blossom, looked kind of other-worldly, except for the birds that live among the Lotus leaves who were singing and shouting at everyone disturbing the peace; it was way past their bedtime!
It was time for food, but the courtyard was packed to the brim, no empty tables. The queues weren't too bad, I chose steamed buns with a chicken stir-fry filling. The buns were featherlight and the filling absolutely yummy!
We eventually found one of the park benches near the section set aside as a kind of remembrance garden for the families of organ donors.
Many Colourful Rhinos in the city!
When walking through the 'African Village' we came across Rhinos in every shade of the rainbow, crafted by local schools from recycled material, for Project Rhino, a Rhino Conservation program.
What would Christmas be without Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, as some call this generous, jolly old man dressed in red.
What is on your Christmas wishlist this year?
We did a lot of walking, I exceeded my daily steps target by far, but it was time to go home.
I went home all starry-eyed like a child, and hope this display of lights and the warm African sun shining on our subtropical city warmed your cockles way up in the northern hemisphere! Of course, we're in midsummer, and it was a hot, hot, night in Durban.
Seeing my favourite park transformed into a fairyland was absolutely magical!
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