Indian Ocean Coastal Belt stays
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The Indian Ocean Coastal Belt is the warm, humid strip that runs from the Eastern Cape up the KwaZulu-Natal coast into Mozambique: dune forest, palms, sugar cane and subtropical bush, with the warm Agulhas current offshore keeping the water swimmable in every month of the year. It is the greenest and most tropical-feeling part of South Africa and the least like the rest of it.
The far northern end is the best of it. iSimangaliso Wetland Park runs for most of the coast north of St Lucia and is a World Heritage Site that holds estuaries, lake systems, dune forest and the country's only coral reefs at Sodwana Bay. Loggerhead and leatherback turtles come ashore to nest on these beaches in summer, from about November to February, and the hatchlings follow weeks later.
Winter, May to August, is the best travelling weather: dry, warm, and the least humid time of year, and it overlaps with the whale migration offshore. Summer is hot, wet and the turtle season. Stays run from north coast towns like Ballito and Umhlanga to the wetland park villages at St Lucia and Sodwana and the forest lodges behind the dunes.
- When is the best time to visit the KwaZulu-Natal coast?
- The dry winter, May to August, is the most comfortable: warm days, low humidity and good visibility for diving. Summer is hot and humid with afternoon rain, and it is the turtle nesting season. The sea is warm enough to swim in every month.
- Where can I see nesting turtles?
- On the beaches of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park north of St Lucia, particularly around Sodwana Bay and Bhanga Nek, from about November to February, with hatchlings emerging into the new year. Turtle tours run with permitted guides only, and a sighting is never guaranteed.
- What makes this coastal belt different?
- The warm Agulhas current and high rainfall give it dune forest, palms and subtropical bush found nowhere else in the country, along with South Africa's only coral reefs. It is also a malaria-risk area at its northern end in summer, unlike the rest of the coast, so check before a Sodwana or Kosi Bay trip.