Recently spending an unplanned week in the beautiful Ballito bubble, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the town functioned.
Unable to utilise their timeshare week at La Montagne, my parents offered it to me, their rogue eldest daughter. Antithetical to my by-the-book younger sister who has been happily married to a pastor for 20 years and has given my parents two model grandsons, I am the proud black sheep of the family.
Already living in paradise with 180 degree sea views from my home and able to walk down to my home break to surf with my locals, I have to admit I wasn’t stoked to leave my comfort zone.
But, even black sheep have some marshmallow bits on the inside. So I gracefully accepted their kind offer and off I went.
Although I still had to work and didn’t have much time to be a tourist it didn’t take me long to appreciate especially beachfront Ballito for how amazing it is.
It was just so refreshing to spend a week in a beautiful coastal town that works. The lifeguards are super switched on and friendly (kudos to KDM lifeguard supervisor Bongani Xulu).
The blue flag beaches and water are remarkably clean and what a vibe seeing clusters of colourful beach brollies scattered everywhere, even during the week. Tourism definitely seems to be alive and kicking in KwaDukuza!
Sure there are some maintenance issues along the boardwalk such as broken railings in a few places and one or two spots where the soft sand has collapsed on the verge the pathway, but just the fact that I never smelled sewage anywhere was a huge boon.
La Montagene is a kiff resort and I genuinely enjoyed my stay there. But highlight for me was getting waves everyday.
Even though the forecast was looking dismal and there was hardly any sand, there were still waves to be found somewhere everyday.
There’s a reason why after 15 years this is still the venue of choice for the Ballito Pro Challenger Series event…
I was also stoked with how mellow the locals in the lineup were. As an outsider, I naturally sat wide and went out of my way to be respectful of etiquette.
But I found the crowd to be a lot more relaxed and less competitive than back home or in town.
Perhaps it is because Ballito is a little bit of a trek for the townies and guys from Upper Highway area, so it could be that there’s less need to hustle at backline.
Who knows? Whatever the reason, I had the best time getting more waves than I usually do at home and met a handful of really cool people as well as caught up with some familiar faces.
Shout out to Janek Ferrandi for sharing some of his wealth of local knowledge of when and where to paddle out.
Sometimes it’s good to step out of your comfort zone, The semi-forced change of scenery was as good as a holiday and definitely yanked me back from a somewhat bleak headspace.
Stay in the loop with The North Coast Courier on Facebook, X, Instagram & YouTube for the latest news.
Mobile users can join our WhatsApp Broadcast Service here or if you’re on desktop, scan the QR code below.
