Umvoti River Mouth, Dolphin Coast

Drive up the north coast from Durban to Blythdale Beach, park at the ski-boat launch and you can stroll from there, a little further south to find the Umvoti River Mouth. It is a protected estuary about which people know little, other than local fishermen who will tell you it is a great place to fish with your family.

Conversely, some lucky people actually live at the Umvoti River mouth, where the bird life is said to be prolific and where peace and quiet reign. Whilst some describe the smattering of homes here as a village, there are those who still refer to it as a wilderness where dune forest meets beach in an unlikely marriage of beach and bush.

There is a wildness at the river mouth that is typical of the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Whilst the surf on a cloudy day lashes the rocks on the shoreline, a line of dunes acts as a barrier between the beach and a forest. Walk over the dunes and enter a complex system of milkwood trees, protected in South Africa, and the plants that thrive under them. The protected glade offered by the thick vegetation is one of the reasons for visiting here. It is beautiful, and typical of the marine coastline along this stretch of the country.

Umvoti River Mouth is unsurprisingly part of a conservancy that protects bird life and the vegetation here. Bird life is really worth taking time out for and the African spoonbill, chestnut-branded plover and blue-mantled crested flycatcher are just a few examples of birds you can hope to sight.

Besides the conservancy and the fishing opportunities, the beach at Blythedale offers kilometres of sand and a wonderful place to swim and surf.