“If you ever go there, be sure to leave time for a long walk.”
Oribi Mom at Mabibi in iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
It’s been three years of this COVID stuff, with two sons arriving amid the chaos. With all that’s happened, we’ve also had to postpone a holiday we’d planned for July 2020.
Instead of COVID lasting a few weeks, it was still around the next year, so we didn’t go in 2021 either. Then, Boy Number Three made an entry in 2022. And now, here we are, with a one-year-old, his two brothers, and finally a three-year-old booking we have been able to actually use.
A Special Place for Our Growing Family
The place is a very special one for us as a family. It’s where we met 22 years ago as starry-eyed teenagers. It’s also where he proposed to me six years after that, when I was finally old enough to get married. So when we go, there’s always some history to it.
But it’s truly a gem of a beach destination on the North Coast. It’s the type that is beautiful just the way it is. It doesn’t need amenities to cover up litter or dirty sand or cloudy water. It has pristine soft white dunes, crystal clear water, and kilometres of space with not a soul in sight. Perfect.
Beautiful Beach Hours Above and Under the Water
The snorkellers in our little group saw rays, crayfish, lionfish, and all sorts of other interesting things in the water. The beachgoers admired the performing whales constantly passing by. And I found five turtle nests, marked by the dried eggs fanning out from the exit point on the dune. Super exciting.
In twenty years, not much has changed there except the popping up of a very exclusive lodge right below the campsite. The camp has also erected three little cabins with canvas walls, giving us the option to have our own kitchen and shower. It’s glamping compared to the outright campsites, but just as immersive in nature.
I like the cabins with small children, but we let the bigger boys camp for two nights just to have the memories. The kids also hopped around from campsite to campsite, visiting their cousins and friends who came with us for laughs, toasted marshmallows, and lots of sand castles. They even found some of the endemic bird species in the area, saw giraffes right on the main road, and watched the sunsets over Lake Sibaya. They heard the bushbabies and elusive Green Malkohas too.
Hopefully, they’ll always remember it as the best beach ever. That’s how we think of it. If you ever go there, be sure to leave time for a long walk. You might just find one if the giant cowries my love used to propose to me all those years ago. Best ringholder ever.
Published here.