Durban Day 1 – Travelling, Food And Drinks

Hey Loves,

So if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I landed in Durban, South Africa yesterday thanks to South African Tourism. I’ll be here until the 20th of July seeing what this beautiful city has to offer and also covering
the MTV African Music Awards (MAMA) for TW Magazine. This is my first time in Durban and my first music awards show so I’m very excited to be a part of this trip. I’m here with about 15 other representatives from different media houses and you know me, I can be a little shy but so far it’s been great getting to know everyone.

We left Lagos yesterday evening (on the 15th) at 10.30pm. We flew South African Airways straight to Johannesburg and had a 2 and a half layover before boarding our 50-minute flight to Durban. Both flights were pretty smooth and spent trying to sleep (which never works for me sigh) We’re staying at the Southern Sun Eleganiand Mahrani Hotel and I wish I could have shown you a picture of my room before I unpacked but honestly, the first thing I did when I got to my room was shower and sleep! I was EXHAUSTED! But I can tell you the rooms are nice and the beds are super comfortable. Maybe I’ll show you a picture after room service comes in today lol.

After a power nap, our group walked onto
the Durban Beachfront for our welcome lunch at Circus Circus cafe. They’re
right on the beach and the set up was amazing, I ordered the Grilled Baby
Calamari with crème fraîche and chili jam (yum!) starter and Thai Fish
Cakes for my main. Unfortunately somewhere in between our arrival and the food
being served, the weather took a sudden turn and our beach party quickly turned
into a blanket-fest. It was so cold! I quickly gobbled up my food and retreated
back to my hotel room, where they graciously provided my with a mini portable
heater -#africanproblems lol

We went to Butcher Boys Grill restaurant where we were greeted with warm bread rolls (if you know me you know how I feel about warm bread rolls lol), salads and a platter of chicken livers, fried calamari and local South African mini sausages called Boerie Bites. I ordered the Sirloin and Prawn combo for my main and their garlic prawns and mashed potatoes were LIFE. Everything was so tasty and the service was amazing. I was even able to order a dessert that wasn’t on the menu, a warm brownie and ice cream (not pictured as it was instantly devoured lol). Oh and let me just tell you about my cocktail! I can’t remember the name but it’s basically a long island made with Red Bull instead of coke aka “deep conversation” serum because after a glass of this we were all talking about our belief in God and miracles lol.

After dinner we walked down to Velvet Lounge, a whiskey, wine and cigar lounge on Florida Road. The decor was very Victorian-influenced with plush, thick couches and gold-framed, oversized paintings. I love South
African house so the music was right up my street but I guess the DJ got wind of the fact that some Nigerians were in the building because soon after we arrived, the music switched to Wizkid and Davido. Am I the only one that gets excited to hear Nigerian music outside of Nigeria? After a few drinks, I dragged myself (or rather Uber-ed myself) back to my hotel at about 1 o’clock in the morning and got into bed #rockstarlife lol

I have to give a shout out to the South African Tourism reps tomorrow
because they’re honestly the sweetest people. They’ve organised every single thing
since we got here from our sim cards, to where we ate and what we did, to even getting
us blankets on the beach. They’re really thoughtful and I can’t wait to see
what they’ve planned for us today!