LIGHTHOUSES OF SOUTH AFRICA : UMHLANGA

Sunday 10 May 2026

We found easy parking for the cars and caravans behind the Ocean Mall and marched into the Oyster Box Hotel in our " camping clothes" and straight up to the Lighthouse Bar on the 3rd floor.

Neil loves this bar and whenever we are in Umchlanga we always come for sundowners.

Today we enjoyed morning tea and scones and a special view of the lighthouse. No.5.

How different this experience was compared to the other lighthouse quests so far! This journey is awesome!

LIGHTHOUSES OF SOUTH AFRICA : TUGELA MOUTH

Thursday 7 May

A quick detour off the N2 to the quiet beach town of Tugela Mouth. A short walk to the beach and the lighthouse; this one is manned and at least looks fully operational. The security guard wouldn't let us in through the gate, but no worries...No.4 is done!

LIGHTHOUSES OF SOUTH AFRICA : DURNFORD POINT, MTINZINI

Wednesday 6 May

Through the rural town of Esikhaweni and along some unused tracks.

We found the unmanned and neglected Durnford Lighthouse. No.3!

These lighthouse journeys are so interesting and bringing us to places we'd never otherwise visit...We're embracing the challenge!

LIGHTHOUSES OF SOUTH AFRICA : CAPE VIDAL

Sunday 3 May

We did a day trip from Hluhluwe to St.Lucia and Cape Vidal.

We'd been in St. Lucia a few weeks before, so we took Hanlie and Andrew for waffles at Ella's and a walk on the boardwalk to the beach.

It's sad to see the abandoned campsite and poorly maintained facilities throughout the park. We love the drive up to Cape Vidal with a stop at Mission Rocks.

The lighthouse is unmanned and in a bad state of repair; a few kilometres along an overgrown, abandoned no entry road - but we found it! No.2!

There used to be an old decommissioned lighthouse in the North of St. Lucia Wetland Park but it has been vandalized and destroyed. Heading South the next lighthouse was in Richard's Bay. This one was demolished in 2018 after erosion of the dune it was built on by 300 to 400m, left it precariously in danger of falling into the sea.  Plans to rebuild it have now been shelved by Portnet altogether.

LIGHTHOUSES OF SOUTH AFRICA : JESSER POINT, SODWANA BAY

27 April 2026

In 2010 Neil's Dad gave him a book about all the lighthouses of South Africa.

We decided visiting every lighthouse would be an interesting focus for our local travels and Hanlie and Andrew decided to take on this challenge with us.

Of course, we have travelled our coastline extensively over many years, so we didn't expect too many surprises. Well...

The most northerly lighthouse on our East Coast is Jesser Point at Sodwana Bay, so we did a day trip there from Kosi Bay. We hadn't been to Soddies since our scuba diving trips in the 90s. There's a tar road in now and a big car park but the beach where the dive boats launch into the breaking surf is just the same.

We walked along the beach to Jesser Point but there's no access to the lighthouse from the beach.

I convinced the security guard at the campsite to let us in. It's sad to see the KZN Ezemvelo parks in such a bad state. All the holiday chalets are derelict and the campsites overgrown. We found the pedestrian gate unlocked and scrambled up the last 500m to the lighthouse.

Success!

So now we are really committed to this quest...

We stopped in the picnic area for jaffles but the wind was crazy and the sea was too rough for a real swim.