I was a tourist in my own city once again, this time on a postcard hunt, the type you pop into a red postbox to travel via snail mail.
Did I find this rare species, and if so, will it find its way across the waters to a very special Hivian?
I went to various stationary stores at a large shopping mall, then started calling curio shops at some of our tourist attractions, but none of them sold postcards!
The truth dawned that we now have a new endangered species in this techno world of ours!
My last hope was Ushaka Marine World, one of the largest and most popular tourist attractions on everyone's itinerary when they visit Durban.
The Village Walk @Ushaka has many little curio shops, so I called 'All Africa Curios'. They did not sell postcards, but the super helpful manager told me that there is a curio shop right across from them, and they have a postcard stand and post box right outside their shop entrance.
Hubby and I happily hopped into the car; any excuse for gallivanting after a rocky end to 2022 and an even more rocky start to 2023!
As you can see as one enters Ushaka, all roofs are thatched, and many buildings are styled like rondavels.
A traditional rondavel is a circular building with a conical thatched roof.
Why is this attraction so popular with families, especially the little ones?
Well, of course, there's tons to do, so if you ever come to Ushaka, make sure you've had a good night's rest, and arrive early, or you may end up missing out on all the attractions:
Penguin Rookery
Ocean Walker
Rope Adventure - not for the silver-haired
Snorkel Lagoon
Seal Stadium
Shark Dive - not for me, I'm too much of a sissy
Aquarium - housed inside what looks like a big ship, called the...
Cargo Hold on the Promenade - houses restaurants as well
African's Highest Water Slide - not for me thank you!
Dolphin Stadium
...And much more as can be seen on the map further down.
This is a replica of the Megalodon Shark's jaw - these were ancient sharks that are believed to have grown up to 16 metres in length!
I would not have liked to encounter one of them in the deep blue, as they could have swallowed more than one person at a time with those big jaws!
All Africa Curios
This little outlet offers a platform for talented Africrafters who design and make colourful handmade goods onsite - decor, clothing, jewelry, bags, shoes and sandals, hats, etc.
I will give you a peek at the work of talented bead artists.
They say birds of a feather flock together, and here one finds many of the beaded feathered kind.
The artist was quite happy to demonstrate his beadwork and have his photo taken.
Heritage Afrika
This shop sells more upmarket African artwork and I just took a peek from the outside, as I was afraid I'd miss the elusive postcard stand!
Gift & Collectibles
As we arrived at the most wanted postcard stand, my cellphone died!
I chose a couple of postcards, before they become totally extinct, and was chuffed to see an old red postbox outside the store.
They're also becoming extinct in our city as more and more post offices close down.
The days of handwritten letters and postcards sadly are a thing of the past.
Hubby took out his phone and started snapping inside the little curio shop, but totally forgot to take photos of the postcard stand in all the excitement of spotting this endangered species!
All Africa Curios manager to the rescue again - he had offered to take photos of the postcards when I initially enquired, so when I called him from home afterward, he happily agreed and sent me the images of the postcard stand and the postbox.
We don't see many postboxes around do we? Well, not functional ones at least!
As you can see, they mainly cater to foreign tourists, advertising prices in various currencies.
Thank you, Ananias, for these images!
Note: all other images are my own.
They had some really nice gifts and clothing with wildlife designs for all ages.
Mission accomplished, well almost!
We were a tad peckish, so stopped by the...
Ocean Basket
We found a table on the balcony outside this popular seafood restaurant and ordered some small bites, so I could write my postcard and pop it into the quaint old postbox.
We enjoyed our little outing and watched the gigantic MSC cruise liner from where we were sitting. Passengers were boarding for a weekend of merrymaking on the high seas.
Durban is one of the harbours that these cruises depart from, so we occasionally have guests staying at our BnB the night before departure, and again on arrival back to terra firma, before driving or flying back home. Recent guests went on a midweek cruise, had a ball, and sent me over 50 photos of their cruise!
A trip on a cruise liner is on my bucket list, something Denise did recently, and just like our guests, it sounded like she had a whale of a time!
I hope all my #marketfriday friends enjoyed having a little taste of Africa from the Ushaka Marine World's Village Walk where I eventually found the endangered species :)
Why not take a peek at the post by the Market Friday community's 
Original Content by
Thank you for stopping by
Copyright 
JOIN Hive using my referral LINK
