uShaka Marine World...

Last Saturday (6th November) I got the chance of going to uShaka Marine World, home to a world-famous aquarium and water park. It is somewhat similar to Loro Parque in Tenerife, but perhaps on a smaller scale. My friends and I witnessed the open ocean feed (where divers entered a tank with chunks of fish to feed the larger sea creatures), the dolphin and seal shows, and browsed through many interesting exhibits in the aquarium.

We also had a lovely meal at the Cargo Hold restaurant, located in a large model tramp-steamer, the Phantom Ship, that doubles as the main aquarium. Here we ate our lunch while sharks swam menacingly by the glass windows overlooking our table.

I also had some time to kill between shows and so I visited the "Dangerous Creatures" exhibit. Here you got up close (albeit behind glass) with snakes, scorpions, spiders and other creepy crawlies - the photo at right is of a rattle-snake. Despite the distinct lack of anything marine-related here, it was definitely my favourite part of the day!

The open ocean feed was really cool to watch!

The Dolphin Stadium.

Synchronised swimming.

This is their oldest dolphin at 39 years of age!

My friends outside the Dolphin Stadium.

The African Penguin display.

The Seal Stadium.

It had a pirate theme to it.

CPR seal-style!

A whale skeleton in the aquarium.

Sea Turtle.

Hammerhead Shark!

Cool Jellyfish!

The Phantom Ship.

Durban beachfront from the Phantom Ship.

And finally the Dangerous Creatures exhibit. This is the beautiful - but deadly - Green Mamba.

The Black Mamba - the Green Mamba's more aggressive and equally deadly cousin.

An Anaconda.

And finally the Cape Cobra, common throughout most of South Africa - and also very dangerous.