I have recently moved to Durban and am hoping to carry on sport climbing down here. I am looking for routes in the 15 to 23 range and it looks like the best option would be Magnetic Wall at Shongeni.

The few times I have been there, the wall has been deserted (Saturday and Sunday), and speaking to some local climbers I've been told horror stories about muggings and about the wall being completely unsafe - which would explain why the wall isn't climbed. Yet Roger Nattrass' new route guide for the wall doesn't mention anything at all about security issues at Mag Wall (only the one mugging at the Wave Cave).

So what is the story with the place? I can't imagine Roger including the routes for an area that are as dangerous as made out to me by locals. Is it a case of "nobody goes because it's not safe", "so nobody's there", "so it becomes unsafe"? Or is it that the really good climbers don't bother with Mag Wall (all climbed out?) . Durban produces some amazing climbers... so where do the intermediate climbers climb to eventually get to that level?

Michael

Hi Michael,

I haven't been to Shongweni in ages... but as far as I know, the main security problems are fairly recent which is why it's not mentioned in Rogers book. It is also getting pretty expensive to get in there as far as I remember. I think Kloof gorge is a better bet, Rumdoodle is a popular intermediate place to climb. Otherwise, you can come up to Howick area and climb at Umgeni Valley and Howick Falls, both are incredible venues! Let me know if you're looking for a climbing partner, there are quite a few climbers up here that you can fit in with. There are normally a bunch of Durban climbers at Umgeni over the weekend so ideally you should try get in contact with them, hopefully they can add to this post as well.

Cheers
Josh