Mtunzini

Mtunzini means place in the shade in Zulu, and the name is accurate: the village sits under a dense canopy of coastal forest on the banks of the uMlalazi River, about halfway along KwaZulu-Natal's coastline. The founder of the modern settlement was John Dunn, an Englishman who became a diplomatic advisor to the Zulu king Cetshwayo after the Zulu Civil War of 1856. After the Anglo-Zulu War, the British appointed Dunn as one of 13 chiefs to rule the Zulu kingdom. When he died in 1895, the area became government property, and Mtunzini was eventually proclaimed a nature reserve in 1948.

The raphia palm forest is the main draw. These palms, which grow nowhere else in South Africa at this density, were declared a National Monument in 1942. The Umlalazi Nature Reserve now encompasses 9 square kilometres of dune forest, lakes, and lagoon. The mangrove swamps along the estuary are among the best examples in the country, and the combination of forest types supports exceptional birdlife, including the palm-nut vulture which comes specifically for the raphia palms.

The village itself is quiet and residential, sitting on a ridge above the estuary. There's a small commercial strip, a few restaurants, and a handful of accommodation options. The beach is accessible via the reserve, and the estuary offers calm water and good fishing. It doesn't feel like a holiday resort town because it isn't one, and that restraint is exactly what makes it worth stopping at.

The Eshowe road junction is a few kilometres inland, making Mtunzini an easy stop on the Zululand coastal route between Durban and St Lucia.