Golden Mile

The Golden Mile runs along Durban's beachfront on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa, six kilometres of golden sand from uShaka in the south to the Blue Lagoon at the mouth of the uMngeni. It is the warmest major city beach in the country and the busiest.

The promenade was rebuilt for the 2010 World Cup and extended since, and it changed how the beachfront works — a continuous paved route with piers, skate parks, pools and vendors, used heavily by Durban's own population rather than by visitors. The city is the centre of South Africa's Indian community and of Zulu culture, and the beachfront is where both are most visible on any weekend.

The shore takes real Indian Ocean swell, and the surf here produced much of South African surfing. It is also shark territory: the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board has maintained nets and drumlines off these beaches since 1952, a programme that has effectively ended shark incidents and that kills a substantial by-catch of rays, turtles and dolphins — a trade-off which is publicly debated and which any account of this beach should state.

Development is a full urban seafront: hotels along Marine Parade, the uShaka Marine World complex at the southern end, piers built as sand-retention structures that double as promenades, and lifeguards on the main sections. Umhlanga, fifteen minutes north, is the quieter and more expensive version of the same coast, and the beaches south past Amanzimtoti are where Durban's surfers go when the Golden Mile is crowded.

Six kilometres of promenade rebuilt for 2010 and used by Durban rather than by visitors. Shark nets have kept this water safe since 1952 and kill rays, turtles and dolphins doing it; the Sharks Board publishes the figures and the argument is public. Swim in the guarded sections and take local advice about which and when.