uShaka Marine World

Description:

At uShaka Marine World in Durban KZN there are incredible water slides that you will never experience elsewhere in Africa.

Forthe cost of a "free fall slide" is everything it's promised to be namely there's the Cuda super tube; the Squid midi super tube; the Torpedo, a "kamikaze" speed slide and the Mamba, effectively a super tube in a tunnel.

Now experience the Zoom Zoom, a multi-lane racer on inflatable tubes, which is perhaps the greatest innovation known to families after the heated kiddies pool - an essential if you go uShaka on a rainy day which was so windy the seagulls were flying backwards.

Only to be found in Durban is the most popular uShaka Marine World, an establishment that combines a theme park with an aquarium.

There are actually four parts to uShaka:

An open-air shopping mall, a tourist and kitsch except for the fact that everyone's unfailingly polite and the prices are extremely reasonable.

Hosting a total of about 300 shops on either side, and numerous restaurants, banks and fast food joints as you make your way down to the beach and into uShaka Marine World proper.

Divided into a Wet 'n Wild area is the place where 40 year olds can become 10 year olds by howing off on all the slides and the uShaka Sea World, an outstanding aquarium.

At Sea World learning is combined with entertainment.

The aquarium is located in the inside of a rusty old freighter ship. It leads you into the bowels of the hold around the skeleton of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling.

At the bottom is an entertainment area for young kids to play under supervision while the rest of you experience a world under water.

The tanks are on the sides where the hull of the ship would be. In some areas the designers have contrived the ship to be upside down. It's a fascinating and clever way of making use of dead space and displays an attention to detail that resonates throughout. There are some stunning tanks. A perennial favourite has to be the shark tank, closely followed by a tank full of rays.

One of the unique attractions of Sea World is to get right up against the action. If you're bored with the normal view, you can snorkel in the aquarium, walk along the bottom of the tanks in a specially designed air bubble or dive in the shark tanks. Innovative and clever, it's something that filters through to the dolphin show.

Ushaka's dolphins, all five of them, will win your hearts. The show is set against a narrative of how dolphins mended the heart of the grieving Zulu king and thereafter were accorded a special place in Zulu culture and mythology. By the end of it, you've fallen in love with the dolphins, irrespective of whether you're 4 or 84.

Those in the know say it's better to go to uShaka twice, one day for the half-kilometre of attractions and seven aquariums that make up Sea World, and the second for Wet 'n Wild. You might even want to add a third day - to enjoy uShaka beach, go swimming, scuba diving or sea kayaking or learn to surf. That way you can do it properly - and get your money's worth.

uShaka Marine World has totally revitalised a derelict part of Durban, providing world class entertainment and marine education all in one in a safe and affordable environment. It stuns us by letting us realise how close our inner child actually is and what fun it is to let it come out to play.

For more information on uShaka, call 031-328-8000 or visit www.ushakamarineworld.co.za