The surf along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline offers some of the most consistant waves in the world. This region boasts an impressive number of world class surf spots and an amazing variety of waves and breaks. Winter provides perfect offshore winds on a daily basis and guarantees that you'll score epic surf on your African Surfari.
Quick links: General surfing information | Surf spots KwaZulu-Natal
Surfing in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
The water temperature is warm all year round, so the most you are going to need is a springsuit. On hot days in summer and winter you will be quite comfortable surfing in boardshorts.
The most consistent surf is to be found in the winter months, from May through to August, mainly due to the cold fronts that sweep up the coast from the Cape, bringing solid six to eight-foot swells. In these conditions all the point breaks along the coast will be firing. You will find good clean surf most mornings during winter as a gentle land breeze blows straight off-shore.
In summer the swell tends to be a bit smaller with fun surf available at the many beach breaks. In summer the best time to surf at this time of the year is during light south-westerlies or early in the morning before the north-easterly starts to blow.
One of the big attractions of surfing in the Kingdom of the Zulu is uncrowded waves. A handful of popular breaks get crowded when the surf is good, but there is a long coastline to explore with dozens of uncrowded quality waves to be found.
The roads are excellent along most of the coast, so access to the surf is easy. There are ridable waves everywhere some of which have never been surfed – an ideal place for a surf adventure.
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A Rough Guide to KwaZulu-Natal Surf Spots
ADDINGTON
Big wave beach break with waves reaching triple overhead (12 to 15ft) in winter. Super crowded when it's working and localism is fairly heavy, so show some respect in the lineup.
ALKANSTRAND
A classy beach break at Richards Bay in Zululand.
AMAMZIMTOTI
There is a large rock formation jutting out into the sea.On each side of the rocks there are peaks depending on the wind. On a SW the leftside will cook, NE and the right side will cook.On low tide there is a backline and during the winter on the high there are at times some serious shorebreaks. Amamzimtoti is flat take a drive to the neighbouring beaches as they can be good.
BAGGIES
An epic hollow, barreling pointbreak that works through all the tides. Can get super busy when it's on. Ideal board size 6'4-6'8 Thruster
BALLITO
Surfer's Point at Ballito offers sparkling, blue waves, which wrap around the point and spill into the bay. There are a few other good spots close by. Ballito is a half hour drive north from Durban.
BAY OF PLENTY
The next pier along from New Pier – another classic right and left bowl. This is where world champions like Shaun Thomson and Martin Potter cut their teeth.
CAVE ROCK
A heavy reef break on the south side of Durban often compared to Backdoor Pipe, though much less predictable;-). It’s a very hollow wave for experienced surfers only, especially when it gets up around six to eight feet. It works best on a very gentle north-eastern or winter land breeze. Locals are very protective of the spot - surf with a bad attitude and you can expect a punch in the head.
GREEN POINT
Top point break on the south coast. It works best with a bit of swell. It’s a long right-hander with tube sections, situated just south of Scottburgh (which is another great point break, by the way).
NEW PIER
This is an excellent beach break right in the heart of Durban. There is a long, looping right-hander that can get very hollow, and a fun left-hand bowl. The crowds can get pretty insane when it’s going off. Most of SA's top surfers have grown up surfing New Piers waves. Described in the World Stormrider's Guide as the best Beach break in the world.
St MIKE'S
Classic right hand point and beach break at St Michaels-on- Sea, a bustling holiday town on the lower South Coast.
UMDLOTI
Fun beach breaks, which can get pretty heavy when there's a swell running. Umdloti is a 20 minute drive north from Durban.
The above spots are the more well-know waves in the area, however there are cracking unsurfed, uncrowded spots to be had all the way up the KwaZulu-Natal coast. We can't give you the names here because some are secret and that's the way we'd like to keep it.
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