All Roads Lead to Durban

Let’s first look at transport in Durban by considering the location of major transport hubs in relation to each other.  The new airport, King Shaka International Airport, opened in 2010 in time for the World Cup, and it located about 22 miles from the city centre.

King Shaka International Airport 

http://warwickchapman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Airport_058jpg.jpg

It makes sense that the city’s central train and bus stations have much more convenient locations with respect to the downtown areas.  Durban Railway Station is located just north of the CBD, in walking distance from key office areas, the political centre at the City Hall and the commercial centre at Victoria Street Market, only just over a mile to the harbor and just under a mile to the beach.  The bus station is situated just a couple of blocks to the northeast of the train station, facilitating travel that uses a combination of train and bus or taxi.  That said, there was very little available information on this so-called “main” bus station, to the point that I was unsure as to whether I really had found the central hub.  Certainly, reviews of public transportation in Durban warn visitors that bus companies have been in disarray for as long as nearly four years now since violent industrial action in 2009.

Durban Railway Station

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hennie_rautenbach/5632384964/

Worldtravels.com describes Durban’s public transportation as “ad hoc at best.”  With the recent decline of the main bus system, “working-class Durbanites” depend on minibus vans known, as they are called around much of southern Africa, as Kombies.   The irregularity of their schedules and routes, in addition to their reputation for danger both on the road and within the vehicle, considerably complicates the daily commute of many of the city’s inhabitants.  Very recent signs show some signal of improvement in the near future as municipal officials look to minimize travel inefficiencies.
Check out more information on these two sites:

http://www.wordtravels.com/Cities/South+Africa/Durban/Transport

http://www.mile.org.za/QuickLinks/News/Pages/news_20120315.aspx

Kombies

http://onechildoneheart.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/traffic-2.jpg

  

A study conducted back in 2000 addressed the rapidly changing story of migration to Durban at the end of the 20^th century.  Violence in the city  during the 1980’s limited the numbers of people who sought to migrate there, but the mid to late 1990’s saw a dramatic boost in numbers of foreigners, both legally and illegally immigrating.   Immigrants from all over sub-Saharan Africa arrive in Durban, often not directly from their home countries but via another city or region, and numbers continue to flow in from further destinations like India as well! 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/486110?seq=3

New African Immigration to the Durban Region. Brij Maharaj and Vadi Moodley. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines , Vol. 34, No. 1, Special Issue: Transnationalism, African Immigration, and New Migrant Spaces in South Africa (2000), pp. 149-160.

Reflecting many of our course readings this semester, Durban has seen a steady influx of South Africans from rural areas.  Many of these migrants, however, maintain strong ties with their villages and families back home so their stay in Durban may be a temporary one.  Some migrant workers make their Durban homes in the informal settlements, such as the one in the photo below, which were established in but still remain from the apartheid era.

http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/images/highdesnity2_durban.jpg

Rectification Continues!

Overall, the process of rectifying maps onto the modern WorldMap has been a fascinating but frustrating process.  For each map, I have complete confidence that the control points I used to warp the maps were accurate, yet most of these maps show sections where roads on the new version are quite clearly off-kilt with their counterparts on the old version.  Take the first map here, for example.  The road intersections in the red box on the bottom left were some of the easiest to warp because of the clear square blocks.  While that section of the map has warped very well, however, the red box on the top left shows a major discrepancy between the old and new versions.

I'll hold off on showing the complete rectified picture until I add the final piece to the puzzle on next week's blog - let the suspense build!!