Back Blog 1 - The Dolphin Coast

We love beaches. Not so much for the water or the sand (I know, I know, water and sand is essentially what defines a beach) but for the ambiance: crashing waves, salty sea breezes, and the warmth of the sun on lots of exposed skin. The best part about beaches for me however are how they make me feel about my aging body. I always leave the beach feeling better about myself.

The Dolphin Coast of South Africa is so named because dolphins can often be seen frolicking in the waves just offshore. We didn't see any. In fact, we never even went to the beach in the two weeks we were there, except for several pit stops to take pictures. Why, you ask? Because the waves were too big to swim in and I found the sea breezes too cool for my liking. The wind there basically made a perfect sunny day of 32 C feel like an annoying Alberta day of 24 C. The beaches though, even sans dolphins, were magnificent.

Miles and miles and endless miles of sugary yellow sand - free from garbage and people. The lack of people might have to do with the time of year we were there (not during school holidays). or maybe  because there is just so much beach in this country that there is no need for everyone to go to the same place. Or it could be the safety concerns: Most travel advisories tell you to avoid deserted beaches...so that in and of itself contributes to the beaches being deserted. But I think I know the real reason no one goes to the beach there...

More than the shark riddled waters which we couldn't swim in, what we found most unsettling in this part of the country was the inability to go for walks. Don't get be wrong - there are miles of boardwalks along the sea, and in national parks, but to just go randomly walking around cities and towns is unnerving. Crime is just so high there that unless you know your way around real well, you just do not feel safe to wander about. Also, most of the condos we rented were in secure developments, among other secure developments, so again, wandering about was impossible or when possible, it was just plain boring.

We did take a few days to go explore the St. Lucia area where there is a huge estuary. There we explored miles of reserve over two days, and while it was pretty, after Kruger, it was a bit of a let down. The park was names a UNESCO World Heritage sight and it is home to some 1200 crocodiles and 800 Hippos. I tried counting them all but...

St. Lucia and the Dolphin coast are in the state of Kwa Zulu-Natal. It is very hot and humid there and air conditioning was our top criteria when booking our accommodations. Unfortunately when we booked, we did not know about the power issues in South Africa. Power was constantly going out - and with it - our air-conditioning and our ability to sleep. When we arrived at our Airbnb just outside of St. Lucia the hosts had been without power (and water) for two days. They hinted strongly that we should go somewhere else.

And so we did.

And thus began a stressful search for last minute accommodations at 5 o'clock in the afternoon which saw us knocking on doors and going into every motel on main street. At one hotel when I went in to inquire whether or not they had air-conditioning the woman at the front desk who was dressed in a wrinkled moomoo launched into a lecture about why it was not her fault that the power was out and she was tired of people complaining and she just had her chemo treatment and she was hot too and what did people expect - this is Africa after all! Then she took a big breath and said, "I think you should go somewhere else."

And so we did.

That night we slept at a high end hotel that had its own generator, glad to have a roof over our heads, two glasses of wine, and a nice cool room to sleep in.