Things To Do in TugelaTugela Lighthouse
Lighthouses Dolphin Coast Zululand
Where? Tugela River Mouth, Tugela, Dolphin Coast
When? Best viewed during daylight hours. However, the tower is closed to the public.
How much? Free
Overnight? Stay at accommodation in Tugela, in KwaZulu Natal
Lying on the north bank of the Tugela River Mouth, the lighthouse stands in amongst the typical densely wooded vegetation of Zululand, just south of Red Hill Nature Reserve.
The round, cylindrical concrete tower is painted white with narrow black horizontal bands, its flashing light a beacon visible virtually all the way to Ballito.
The concrete version replaces a 21 metre aluminium tower on which was mounted a red lantern, the first made entirely of reinforced glass plastic with a fourth-order optic and a range of 23 sea miles.
Photos as recently as 1993 reveal the aluminium tower still standing at the river mouth.
Today this same little red lantern rests atop the concrete cyclindrical tower that stands 22 metres high. The new lighthouse tower, originally commissioned in November 1972, was only built and painted by 2005, and only as recently as 2007 was the lamp finally added to the top of the column.
The tower is closed to the public, is operational, but not manned.
