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Welcome to our backpacking guide of the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast!

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Backpacking The KwaZulu-Natal South Coast

Sun. Surf. Sardines. Whale sharks. The warmest ocean in South Africa. And a coastal road that unspools through sugar cane, fishing villages, and one perfect beach after another for 160 kilometres. This is the South Coast — and almost nobody outside KwaZulu-Natal has properly discovered it yet.

The KZN South Coast is one of those places South Africans have been keeping to themselves for generations. Stretching roughly 160 kilometres from Amanzimtoti in the north (just south of Durban) down to Port Edward on the border with the Eastern Cape, it is a subtropical coastal strip of warm Indian Ocean water, lush bush, sugar cane fields, and a string of small seaside towns that have not yet been overrun by the kind of commercial tourism that has transformed parts of the Garden Route. The locals still call it the South Coast, not the Hibiscus Coast — the rebranding hasn't quite taken — and there is something pleasingly unpolished about the whole place. The beaches are beautiful, the water is warm year-round, the surf breaks are good, and the cost of living is low even by South African standards.

This is not a scenery-of-the-month destination in the way that Cape Town or the Drakensberg are. There are no iconic landmarks. What it has instead is a cumulative, slow-building quality — the kind of place where you plan to stay three days and find yourself still there two weeks later, because the surf was good, the hostel was good, and the Sardine Run started and you forgot about everything else.

The Indian Ocean here is a completely different proposition to the Atlantic on the Cape. It is warm — 22–27°C in summer, rarely below 19°C in winter — and the colour of a swimming pool in good light. You can swim comfortably every month of the year. The water is also, periodically, full of the most extraordinary marine life on the planet: whale sharks at Aliwal Shoal, migrating whales, dolphins in their thousands riding the sardine run inshore, and what is consistently rated as one of the top ten dive sites in the world sitting a few kilometres offshore from Umkomaas. For a coastline this rich in marine experience, it is remarkably unbothered by crowds.

The Sardine Run: Africa's Greatest Show

Between June and July each year, hundreds of millions of sardines migrate northward along the KZN coast in a shoal that can be 15 kilometres long, 3 kilometres wide, and 40 metres deep. This is the Sardine Run — the largest animal migration on earth by biomass — and it triggers a feeding frenzy of a scale that has to be seen to be understood. Dolphins, estimated at 18,000 or more, herd the sardines into bait balls near the surface. Cape gannets dive-bomb the bait balls at 100km/h from height, hitting the water in white explosions. Sharks slice through from below. Whales arrive to scoop up what the dolphins leave. And humans wade into the water with their hands to grab fistfuls of fish, which washes ashore in quantities large enough that local communities fill buckets and bring home enough protein for weeks.

If you are anywhere on the South Coast in June or July, you need to be in the water for this. Snorkellers and freedivers can enter the water alongside the bait balls and experience the full feeding event from inside it — dolphins passing within touching distance, gannets hitting the water around you, the churning silver mass of sardines visible in every direction. It is one of the most extraordinary natural spectacles available to an ordinary traveller anywhere on earth, and it is happening on a stretch of coast where you can stay for R150 a night in a surf hostel. Book ahead for June and July — this is the one time the South Coast fills up.

A word of warning though: the Sardine Run is hit and miss. At the best of times, sometimes it doesn't happen at all. The problem has been exacerbated in recent years by overfishing and climate change, so our recommendation is that you don't pin all your holiday hopes on it: if it happens, great, but don't spend your money flying here from the other side of the world just to see it. Chances are, you'll be disappointed.

Getting Here and Getting Around

From Durban: The South Coast is accessed via the N2 south from Durban. The road is good and the drive to the northern end of the coast (Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh) takes 45 minutes to an hour. Margate, roughly in the middle of the coast, is about 1.5 hours from Durban. Port Edward, at the southern end, is 2 hours.

Baz Bus: The Baz Bus (South Africa's backpacker-focused hop-on, hop-off bus service) runs along the N2 and drops at several South Coast hostels by arrangement. This is the most practical option if you're coming from Cape Town or the Garden Route without your own vehicle — tell the Baz Bus operator which hostel you're heading to and they will advise on the drop-off logistics. Check the current Baz Bus schedule before booking, as routes and frequency change seasonally.

Margate Mini Coach: A regular shuttle service operates between Durban's Berea Road station and Margate, running several times daily. Affordable and reliable, this is the budget option for getting to the middle or southern sections of the coast from Durban without your own wheels.

Getting around the coast itself: This is the honest bit. The South Coast does not have a functional public transport network that tourists can rely on. There are local taxis (minibus kombis) between towns, but the routes and timing are opaque to visitors and English-language information is limited. If you are staying at one of the surf hostels, you are largely in one spot — and that is fine, because the surf, the beach, and the hostel itself will keep you occupied. If you want to explore the length of the coast, a hire car is the proper answer. Uber operates from Margate northward but coverage becomes patchy on the southern sections.

From Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha): The Wild Coast and Port Elizabeth are to the south. The drive from Port Edward to PE via the N2 takes approximately 4.5 hours, passing through Port Shepstone and Kokstad and through the tail end of the Wild Coast region. It is a long, mostly inland, occasionally beautiful drive. Allow a full day.

When To Go

Summer (November to March): Hot, humid, occasionally stormy. Water temperature at its warmest (25–27°C). Busy with South African domestic tourists, particularly around Christmas and Easter — book accommodation weeks in advance for these periods. The surf tends to be smaller in summer, which makes it better for beginners. Excellent for swimming, snorkelling, and general beach life. The east coast of South Africa receives most of its rainfall in summer, in short, heavy afternoon thunderstorms — dramatic but rarely day-ruining.

Winter (June to August): Mild, sunny, and considerably quieter. Water temperature drops to 19–21°C — still warm by any normal standard. This is when the Sardine Run happens (June–July), when the swell is most consistent and powerful (better for experienced surfers), and when whale watching is at its peak (humpbacks and southern rights migrating north). Whale shark sightings at Aliwal Shoal are year-round but particularly good in winter. If you are coming for the marine life, winter is the season.

Shoulder seasons (April–May, September–October): The sweet spot. Warm, quiet, good surf, reasonably priced, the beaches largely to yourself. September in particular is excellent — the sardine run is recent memory, the whales are still around, and the holiday crowds have gone home.

The Sugar Cane, the History, and What You're Actually Looking At

The rolling green hills inland from the coast are almost entirely covered in sugar cane — KwaZulu-Natal produces about 80% of South Africa's sugar, and the South Coast was at the heart of that industry from the 1850s onward. Sugar cane requires large amounts of labour for planting and harvesting, and the colonial government's solution was to import indentured workers from India — a decision that would, over the following decades, make KwaZulu-Natal home to the largest Indian community outside India, and make Durban a city unlike any other in Africa. Mahatma Gandhi lived and worked in South Africa for 21 years, much of that time on the KZN coast and in Durban, where he developed the philosophy of non-violent resistance before applying it in India. The community he advocated for still constitutes roughly 8% of KZN's population, and the South Coast's food, culture, and social fabric reflect this history in ways that are visible and delicious everywhere you go. A bunny chow — a hollowed-out half loaf of white bread filled to the brim with curry, eaten with your hands — is the greatest fast food invention in the history of human civilisation, and it was invented in Durban.

South Coast FAQs For Backpackers

Is the water warm enough to swim year-round?

Yes, genuinely. The Agulhas Current — which flows southwestward along the east coast of Africa — keeps KZN coastal waters significantly warmer than the Atlantic side of South Africa. Summer water temperatures are 25–27°C; winter temperatures rarely drop below 19°C. Compare that to Cape Town's Atlantic beaches where 14°C in February is considered a warm day. You do not need a wetsuit to swim on the South Coast in any month of the year, though surfers in winter will find a shortie (2mm wetsuit) comfortable.

Are there sharks?

Yes, and this is the one piece of information that requires straight talking. KwaZulu-Natal has a genuine shark presence, and the provincial government takes it seriously enough to maintain the KZN Sharks Board — an organisation that operates shark nets and drumlines along most of the South Coast's popular swimming beaches. The nets do not create a shark-free zone; they reduce the probability of shark-human interaction to very low levels and have done so consistently since 1952. Shark attacks on netted beaches are extremely rare.

Always swim at netted beaches when one is available. If you are surfing at an unnetted break — and many of the surf spots used by the hostels are unnetted — you are in shark territory. The local surfers know this and surf there anyway, which tells you something about the actual level of risk relative to perception. But go in eyes open: the South Coast has had incidents, particularly at the unnetted river mouth breaks. The ocean here is not a swimming pool. Swim at flagged beaches, know whether your break is netted, and don't surf alone at dawn or dusk.

Is there malaria on the South Coast?

No. The KZN South Coast is below the malaria line. You do not need malaria prophylaxis for the South Coast itself, or for Durban, or the Drakensberg. Malaria risk in KwaZulu-Natal is confined to the low-lying, subtropical northern areas — the Zululand bushveld and areas bordering Mozambique. If you are planning to visit Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, the St Lucia wetlands, or anywhere north of the Thukela (Tugela) River in a low-lying area, check with a travel health clinic before departure.

Is it safe?

The South Coast is significantly less threatening than Durban or Johannesburg from a safety perspective. The towns are small, the pace is slow, and the tourist areas are embedded in residential communities rather than in urban centres with the crime pressures that come with population density. That said, South Africa's general safety rules apply here as everywhere: don't walk alone after dark on deserted roads, don't leave valuables visible in a car, be aware of who is around you. The hostels on this list are all in low-crime areas and none have significant adverse security histories. Apply common sense and you will have a completely trouble-free experience.

Safety On The South Coast

The South Coast is, by South African standards, a relaxed and relatively low-crime environment for visitors. It is not Cape Town's City Bowl; it is not Johannesburg's CBD. The risks that exist here are specific and manageable, not ambient and unavoidable. Here is what you actually need to know.

The Ocean Is The Real Risk

More tourists get into trouble in the sea on the South Coast than anywhere on land. Rip currents are the primary hazard — the coast's geography, with its mix of sandy beaches, rocky headlands, and river mouths, generates persistent rips at predictable locations. Always swim between the flags at lifeguarded beaches. If you are caught in a rip, do not swim against it (you will exhaust yourself and drown); swim parallel to the beach until you are out of the current, then swim in. Every lifeguard on this coast will tell you that the people who get into trouble are the ones who ignored the flags and swam at unmarked breaks alone.

Petty Theft

Don't leave anything on the beach while you swim. Don't leave bags visible in a parked car on a beach road. Don't leave your phone charging unattended in a hostel common room. These are South Africa basics that apply here at a lower intensity than in the cities, but still apply. The hostels on this list all have lockers or safes — use them.

Night Walking

The towns on the South Coast are small and not all of them are well-lit after dark. Margate has a functioning town centre that is reasonably populated at night; the smaller coastal villages are essentially dark by 9pm. If you are moving between spots after dark, use an Uber or get a hostel shuttle. Walking along unlit coastal roads at night is not a good idea anywhere in South Africa.

Road Safety

This one is underrated as a risk. South Africa has one of the highest road fatality rates in the world, and the R61 and coastal roads on the South Coast are not exempt. Minibus taxis drive aggressively. Livestock sometimes wanders onto rural roads at night. If you are driving, do not drive after dark if you can avoid it. Always wear a seatbelt. Be aware that other road users may not be following any of the rules you assume apply. Driving a hire car in daylight on the main coastal road is fine; taking shortcuts on unmarked farm tracks at night is not.

Things To Do On The South Coast

1. The Sardine Run (Non-Negotiable if You're Here in June or July)

There is nothing else like it. Hundreds of millions of sardines, moving up the coast in a living river. Dolphins in their tens of thousands herding them into bait balls. Gannets hitting the water at 100km/h around your head. Whale sharks and bronze whaler sharks visible below you in the blue water. And you, in a snorkel and mask, floating in the middle of all of it, watching the most extraordinary predator-prey spectacle on the planet happening in every direction simultaneously. This is the Sardine Run, it happens every June and July, and if you are on the South Coast during this window and do not get in the water, you will regret it for years.

Ask your hostel about bait ball trips — all the dive centres on this coast run sardine run boat trips during the season, dropping snorkellers and freedivers directly onto active bait balls. It is not expensive by the standards of what you are getting.

⚠ WARNING: IT'S HIT AND MISS. At the best of times, the Sardine Run isn't guaranteed. For the last 15 years it's been affected by factors such overfishing and unseasonable weather, making baitball sightings rarer than they used to be. Although things seem to have improved in recent years, our recommendation is that you do not pin all your holiday hopes on the Sardine Run - if you see it, great, but don't count on it.

2. Diving at Aliwal Shoal

Aliwal Shoal, located approximately 5 kilometres offshore from Umkomaas, is consistently rated as one of the top ten dive sites in the world. It is a fossilised sand dune ridge running roughly parallel to the coast, draped in soft corals and gorgonian sea fans, inhabited by ragged-tooth sharks (raggies) from July to November, oceanic blacktip sharks and bull sharks year-round, and visited by whale sharks, manta rays, and humpback whales from June to October. The visibility is typically 10–20 metres. There are multiple dive sites along the shoal offering experiences from gentle coral drifts to deep-water shark encounters.

Aliwal Dive Centre (listed in the hostels section below) is the longest-established operator on the shoal and offers PADI courses, discover scuba dives, and full-day boat trips to the shoal. Even if you have never dived before, a discover scuba session in open water here, with raggies visible on the reef below you, is an experience without parallel on this coast. Cost for a two-dive boat trip is approximately R800–R1,200 depending on equipment hire.

3. Surfing

The South Coast has consistent, good-quality surf across a range of ability levels. The swell is generated by the Indian Ocean's fetch from the south and southwest, and the coast's mix of beach breaks and point breaks means there is always something rideable for someone, regardless of experience level.

For beginners: The beach breaks at Scottburgh, Hibberdene, and Margate are the most forgiving — wide, sandy, and slow-breaking enough to learn on. Pumula Surf Camp and Umzumbe Surf House both run structured beginner courses with full equipment hire. If you have never surfed before, start here. The water is warm enough that you won't be thrown out of the ocean by cold on your first attempt, which matters more than people think.

For intermediate surfers: The river mouth breaks — Umzumbe River mouth, Pumula River mouth — get faster and more hollow when the swell picks up, and there are reef breaks scattered along the coast that reward knowing where to look. Ask at the hostel for current local conditions; the staff will know which breaks are firing.

For experienced surfers: Cave Rock in Bluff (just south of Durban) is the heaviest wave on the KZN coast and is not for the faint-hearted. Further south, the uncharted point breaks between the river mouths produce quality waves when the right swell direction arrives. Timing and local knowledge are everything.

4. Whale Watching

Between June and November, humpback whales migrate northward along the KZN coast in numbers that make the South Coast one of the best land-based whale-watching destinations in the world. You can genuinely see humpbacks from the beach or from the cliff paths above the coast — breaching, tail-slapping, and spy-hopping within a few hundred metres of shore. In September and October, mother-calf pairs travelling south after the calves are born are particularly visible. If you want to get closer, the dive centres run whale-watching boat trips from July to October. Seeing a humpback breach from the water — the full 40-tonne body leaving the ocean in a slow-motion curve and crashing back in a white explosion — is something you do not forget.

5. Snorkelling at the Rock Pools and Reefs

You do not need a boat or a dive certificate to experience the South Coast's marine life. The inshore rock pools and shallow reefs along the coast are alive with octopus, moray eels, reef fish, starfish, and sea urchins. At low tide, the rock pools along the coast between Hibberdene and Port Edward are accessible on foot and worth an hour of exploration. Bring a mask and snorkel — even chest-deep water along the rocky sections of this coast will show you more marine life than most people have ever seen in the wild.

6. The Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve

Twenty kilometres inland from Port Shepstone, the Oribi Gorge is one of the most dramatic landscapes in KwaZulu-Natal — a 24-kilometre canyon carved by the Mzimkulwana River, with sheer sandstone cliffs dropping 300 metres to the river below. It is home to the Natal black eagle, samango monkeys, bushbuck, and — if you look at the cliff faces carefully — vervet monkeys doing things that look profoundly unsafe. The Lehr's Falls waterfall is a 100-metre drop into a pool at the base of the gorge. There is a zipline tour across the gorge operated by Oribi Gorge Adventures — one of the longest ziplines in the southern hemisphere — as well as a face-adrenaline swing off the cliff edge that the operators describe as "the world's biggest swing." It is 165 metres of free fall over the gorge before the arc of the swing catches you. This is approximately as alarming as it sounds and approximately as good as it sounds.

7. Hiking the Coastal Trail

The Hibiscus Coast has a network of coastal hiking paths that run between the beaches and the headlands, passing through indigenous coastal forest, across river estuaries, and along cliff paths with views of the ocean and the beach breaks below. The Wild 5 Adventures in Oribi Gorge and the local hiking clubs post current trail conditions online. Much of the coastal path between Umzumbe and Port Edward is accessible without a guide and costs nothing. Take water, wear shoes with grip (the coastal forest sections are steep and root-covered), and go early — the subtropical humidity makes afternoon hiking miserable in summer.

FREE ACTIVITIES

Swimming at any lifeguarded beach: Free, warm, and very good. The Blue Flag beaches at Margate, Uvongo, and Scottburgh are well-maintained and lifeguarded through the main season.

Uvongo Lagoon and Waterfall: A short walk from the town of Uvongo, a small but spectacular waterfall drops directly onto a beach lagoon where the Vungu River meets the sea. The lagoon is calm and swimmable, the waterfall is photogenic, and the whole thing is free. One of the most underrated spots on the entire coast.

Rock pooling at low tide: Free, requires only curiosity and a mask. The tidal rock pools along the rocky sections of the coast between the sandy beaches are extraordinarily rich — octopus, sea slugs, starfish in multiple species, blennies, crabs. Low tide times are posted at all the surf hostels and lifeguard stations.

Whale watching from the cliff paths: Between June and November, this costs nothing. Walk to any headland above the coast, look south, and wait. Humpbacks breach. They slap their tails. They spy-hop to look at you. The view from the cliff above Uvongo or above the Bluff at Pumula on a clear winter morning — ocean to the horizon, whales blowing in the blue water below — is one of the finest free things on the entire South African coast.

Evening braais at the hostel: Every hostel on this list has braai facilities. The culture of cooking meat over an open fire while watching the sun go down over the Indian Ocean is one of the finest things about the South Coast backpacker experience and it costs the price of a pack of boerewors from the local supermarket.

Watching the surf: Even if you don't surf, watching experienced surfers work the South Coast point breaks from the rocks above a reef break at first light — before anyone else is on the beach, in the blue-grey of early morning, with dolphins occasionally riding the same waves — is worth getting up for.

MARGATE MAIN BEACH - Photo: Mr Anonymous Wikimedia Commons

South Coast Backpackers Hostels

Hostels listed on Booking.com and Hostelworld

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Full contact details are included in case you want to book direct, plus useful info such as Safety Ratings and Value For Money, Solo Female Friendliness, and Digital Nomad scorecards.

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