Mitchell Park Durban

We decided to have another family outing 2 weeks ago. This time our destination was Mitchell Park in Durban. We’d been there before, but only had a picnic and looked at the beautiful gardens and let the children ride on their bikes for a bit.

This time we decided to pay the “whopping” R4 (rand) entrance fee and decided to go and look at all the animals. I was most surprised to see how much further the park extended. The park comprises mostly of birds and of course the vervet monkeys running around loose, which I think will potentially become a problem, due to their numbers. But we were fortunate to see raccoons – a first for me. They also had tamarins, marmosets, meerkats, flamingos and as I’ve  said, an array of other birds too. The crocodiles they used to have are no longer their unfortunately. I looked up the history of Mitchell Park, which was named after Sir Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell. It used to be an ostrich farm which is hard to believe, if you look at where it’s situated in a, now, densely populated residential area. The ostrich farm venture was unsuccessful and they converted it into a zoo. I’m told that there used to be a greater variety of animals than there are now, which included lions and leopards and of course the crocodiles that I mentioned earlier. The most famous animal, presented to the city council by the Maharajah of Mysore in 1928, was Nellie the elephant who would woo the crowds with her tricks & intelligence.

Today the magnificent gardens, rolling lawns, enormous trees that provide ample shade and the large play ground for the children attract many families to the park on weekends.

You may have to keep a watchful eye on your food, as the vervets have no  qualms about helping themselves to snacks left lying around unguarded. They’re harmless enough, but if you don’t like sharing, then keep your food close to you or hidden.

With so many people, these days, living in upstairs apartments or flats, or even a family just wanting a change of scenery, I would definitely recommend Mitchell Park as an ideal spot for any family to spend the day outdoors.