Umhlanga ready for action, despite a few renovations under way
UMHLANGA is a premier Durban holiday destination which usually attracts wellheeled holidaymakers with a taste for the finer things in life – and the local beach is an obvious attraction.
Because of this, its fixtures, fittings and facilities have had to be in keeping with the needs of locals and visitors alike.
The local beach is just a few steps away from the newly opened lavish The Pearls of umhlanga shopping complex, which features a variety of fancy restaurants and other establishments.
Once again, this season scores of visitors are expected to add to umhlanga’s buzz.
This week, the Beach Watch team visited umhlanga as part of our beach readiness check.
The outstanding feature about umhlanga’s beach is that it is divided into two sections by the award-winning umhlanga Pier. On the righthand side of the pier, beachgoers can stroll with their pets and this area is also home to the fishermen.
On the other side of the pier, is the bathing area, with all the relevant facilities.
Our check focused on cleanliness, bathrooms, change rooms, safety, and security.
Bathrooms and toilets were in a good condition.
Some of the bathrooms and showers were undergoing repair work and were closed.
All the other shower facilities were open to the public and fully operational.
Lifeguards and police were present for safety monitoring.
Workers from KZN Ezemvelo and ethekwini Municipality continued with their beach clean-up programme, focusing mainly on nurdles (plastic pellets), which are hazardous for marine life.
An Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP) security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the most common problem in the area was alcohol, which was not allowed on the beach.
He said that beachgoers were urged not to bring alcohol to the beach, including the parking areas.
umhlanga’s beach previously had blue flag status before the city pulled out of the programme. However, since Durban has rejoined the programme, umhlanga’s beach has not been able to reclaim its status as a blue flag beach.
About acquiring blue flag status in 2017, ethekwini’s head of Parks and Recreation, Thembinkosi Ngcobo, said due to the renovations that were currently under way, most of Durban beaches could not contest for the status.
Head of the UIP, Cara Reilly, said from a security point of view umhlanga is ready for the visitors and that all security radio communication was integrated onto one frequency.
“Metro Police and SAPS will also be using the UIP control room and will provide dedicated the area.
The city’s parks department has contracted 11 security officers from private companies, who will be integrated with the UIP deployment,” she said.
Reilly said that during the matric “Rage” event there patrol vehicles for would be added security personnel on duty.
Regarding the Beach Summer Festival, Reilly said they were expecting 600 000 visitors during the event’s duration, from December 13 to 23. It would be a multifaceted beach carnival consisting of water sport, surf activities and entertainment.