For thousands of Gauteng holidaymakers seeking Durban’s sunny shores, it was a long and exhausting drive.
Some motorists spent more than three extra hours in traffic getting into Durban.
There’s good news once they reach Durban: the weather office says most parts of the province will have moderate conditions, with the only chance of thunderstorms over the Drakensberg.
KZN department of transport spokesman, Kwanele Ncalane, said more than 2 000 vehicles an hour were passing through KZN’s toll plazas.
“We have law enforcement working around the clock to see everything running smoothly, we expect the traffic to increase,” said Ncalane.
Rivonia Naidu, travelling from Pretoria to Durban, said the drive was exhausting, and added three hours to normal travel time.
“The traffic was backed up for about 10km at some toll booths and getting out of Gauteng alone took two hours,” she said.
The national transport department said there had been 20 road fatalities since Thursday.
By Friday night Durban and surrounding areas were bursting at the seams, as holidaymakers flooded in.
Chairman of the KZN B&B Accommodation Association, Heather Hunter, said with the extra public holiday on Wednesday, many people had taken Tuesday off to extend the long weekend.
Chairman of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa), Gerhard Patzer, said the city would be a hive of activity over the next few days, with the Quiksilver Surfing Pro Series attracting a host of international surfers and their teams, the big rugby clash between the Sharks and the Hurricanes at the Mr Price Kings Park Stadium, an Easter Carnival in Umhlanga and a host of events scheduled by Suncoast and Sibaya Casinos. - Independent on Saturday