We visited the Ushaka marine park in February 2003. This is a new attraction which forms part of the redevelopment of Durban. If you a atying in the golden mile. You will need to take a cab to get there but it should only be a few English pounds. The cabs in Durban tend not to be metered, and many have fixed prices. Still worth haggling a price though.
Ushaka is a combination of an Aquarium, Water park, and shopping experience.
At the time we went, they had a special offer on where it was kids prices for all. We got a combined ticket that included the aquarium and the water park.
Guests enter the aquarium through a 'hole' in a wrecked ship and walk down three floors. It is one of the five largest aquariums in the world. There is an extensive range of marine life on display including sharks. We had visited the Two oceans aquarium in Cape Town a week previously and I thought Two oceans was slightly better.
However Two oceans does not have a dolphin show. Ushaka has a 1200 seater dolphin stadium where you will be entertained by the dolphins. There is also a seal stadium and a penguin rookery.
Sea World also for an extra charge offer special interactive activities such as snorkelling through reefs and scuba dives.
The shopping experience is not worth shouting about. There are a couple of shops worth visiting for spices and tourist type gifts. I thought many of the shops were overpriced. I also suspected that a few of the shops might be selling fake designer goods. There is also a tourist information bureau based there.
The food court is good an extensive. It includes restaurants to fast food joints such as KFC and Ocean basket.
The water park is another highlight. It replaces the Waterworld that was based in the Golden Mile. Wet 'n Wild offers exhilarating fun and safe entertainment. It features swimming pools for kids and adults, relaxing river rides and high speed chutes. I particularly liked the various water slides. There is also a play area for very young children. More importantly it is fun for kids, leading to a fun day out.
I would recommend that you bring your own towels. (It is expensive to buy a new towel at the gift shop) There are lockers available near the changing room to put your clothes and valuable in for storage. We went there on a Friday, and the queues for the water slides were short. I heard that it can be very busy at the weekends.
