The arrival of guided missile frigate INS Trishul and supply ship INS Aditya here was greeted with warmth by locals, including the many people who are descendants of the first Indians who arrived here by ship in 1860 as indentured labourers for sugar plantations. 

The two ships will be here till Thursday and the public will be allowed to come on board Tuesday and Wednesday.

Two other warships, missile destroyer INS Delhi and missile frigate INS Ganga, will be involved in a similar exercise June 9-11 in Cape Town. INS Delhi is one of the most powerful warships built by India.

The four vessels belong to the Indian Navy's western fleet, its main war-fighting arm.

The naval visit is being seen here as further entrenchment of the rapidly growing strategic partnership between India and South Africa, which has now also drawn in Brazil in the tripartite IBSA Forum.

The forum aims to use the three countries to bolster relations between the three continents. Tripartite naval exercises are on the cards in the near future, reliable sources here said.

To mark the first goodwill visit by Indian ships on this scale, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh, will visit Durban and Cape Town. 

Singh is a distinguished naval officer who, among his other important responsibilities, was leader of the Indian Navy team that helped set up an Officers Training Academy in Nigeria.