We all know the importance of time management. We often hear that we all have the same amount of time in a day. We all have 1440 minutes in a day, and it's about planning...it's about how we are managing those 1440 minutes in a day.
Well, lately I have found myself having quite a lot on my plate to handle. And last weekend there was just no time for getting out to get some new photos.
That is the kind of time when you know what you have to do versus what you want to do. You only have those 1440 minutes in a day and you have to start prioritizing...
I also missed publishing my #WednesdayWalk post this week... But here I am...writing this post and determined to get it published...lol.
For today, I decided to dig into my photos and do a bit of an overview of Umhlanga by using photos I have taken over a period of time. I thought I'd do a couple of posts of this nature, "exploring" Umhlanga to show you what you can expect when you go there.
Wikipedia describes Umhlanga as...a residential, commercial and resort town north of Durban on the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which was created in 2000 and includes the greater Durban area. The name means "place of reeds" in the Zulu language, and the correct pronunciation of "hl" in uMhlanga is similar to the Welsh "ll".
Umhlanga is a very popular holiday destination and has its own website, umhlangarockstourism.co.za, dedicated to tourism in this area.
However, in the next few posts, I will cover various walks during our own visits to Umhlanga in this post and some upcoming posts. So, I will try to cover a wide area and I will also show some of these areas at different times of the day.
For the purpose of this post, let's start in the northern part of Umhlanga. In the next post, we will start to work our way down southward, based on our own experiences.
We'll start at the Umhlanga Lagoon Nature Reserve which can be found at the northern end of Umhlanga.
According to umhlangarockstourism.co.za, Umhlanga Lagoon Nature Reserve is a 26-hectare area on the shore of the Indian ocean. The reserve encloses the Ohlanga River’s lagoon while the greater part lies inland of the busy M4 road.
In September 2022, we wanted to walk the hiking trail through the reserve again, but on arrival, we found that all the gates were locked and we couldn't get access to the reserve from this side. This was due to the floods a few months before our visit.
I find the above-mentioned tourism website has not yet been updated in this regard. Yet, there is a beautiful photo of the pedestrian bridge that spanned the lagoon on the old trail.
Here is a flashback from our own previous visit to this trail in 2019, to give you an idea of what the trail looked like originally. This photo was taken just before arriving on the beach via the trail.
But now, in September 2022, it was a "no go"!
We were surrounded by holiday resorts bordering the reserve. We decided to take a walk, using a neatly paved walkway, passing between the resorts, and giving you access to the beach behind them.
Just above the beach, you can follow the walkway going up north again.
Passing behind the holiday resort, you can follow the walkway going up north. In my mind, I can remember starting to get my hopes up to maybe find a new entry to the reserve as we were moving closer to it again.
We just kept following the walkway through the beautiful scenery.
We found a spot to our left where we could go into an open space. From here, just behind the holiday resorts, we had this view, looking out over the reserve.
We returned to the walkway and arrived at the newly built boardwalk.
That is what I was looking for... From here, we would be able to enter into the Umhlanga Lagoon Nature Reserve.
I am not sure whether these guided tours are on other trails through the reserve, as we have been down there walking on this boardwalk numerous times since this walk. It seems to be safe and there are always people walking up and down. It's not crowded... At times you would be on your own for a few minutes, but then another family or an individual who is out for a jog or a nice "fitness" walk, would pass you by.
The boardwalk is built from recycled plastic. It has several viewing decks along the way where you can sit down on a nice bench, relaxing while you enjoy the view and being surrounded by nature.
There are beautiful views (especially looking out over the ocean) all along the walk
The boardwalk is 1km long and 1.8m wide.
I love how they worked around nature, trying not to disturb nature in any way...
Right at the end of the boardwalk, you'll find the Forest Cafe. I recently shared our early morning (sunrise) visit to the Forest Cafe. You can read about it here.
And this is where I will leave it for today...at the very northern end of Umhlanga.
In my next post, we will still be in Umhlanga, but I'll start taking you a little more south.
Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!