Five Tranquil Estuary Towns To Visit In South Africa

Where river meets ocean: 5 tranquil estuary towns to visit in South Africa South Africa’s estuary towns offer pure tranquility—from Kosi Bay to Kenton-on-Sea, here are five river escapes you need to explore… By Sundeeka Mungroo 12-07-25 08:34 in Featured River and ocean Where the river meets the sea in Nature's Valley, Western Cape. Image: wikimedia commons South Africa’s estuary towns offer more than scenic beauty, they play a vital ecological role. The rivers filter water, shield coastlines from storms, and nurture marine life during its most fragile stages. In these unique places, saltwater mixes with freshwater, tides shift with the currents, and the landscapes flow into a natural harmony. Here are five of the top estuary towns to explore in South Africa… 1. Kenton-on-Sea, Eastern Cape, South Africa estuary towns south africa Kenton-on-Sea, Eastern Cape. Image: canva Kenton-on-Sea sits between Port Alfred and Port Elizabeth, framed by two rivers and expansive beaches. Its estuaries teem with life—visitors can paddle through narrow channels at high tide or watch kingfishers dart through the mangroves. The Bushmans River, one of South Africa’s longest navigable rivers, flows gently, offering ideal conditions for peaceful boat rides and relaxed fishing trips. The town is small, safe, and perfect for a laid-back, barefoot lifestyle. 2. Witsand, Western Cape Witsand, Western Cape. Image: canva Witsand rests peacefully at the mouth of the Breede River, offering a haven for families, anglers, and Southern Right whales. In winter, whales gather in the bay to calve in the shallow waters, while summer invites warm days perfect for kite surfing or kayaking up the river. The town’s estuary stretches wide and shallow, safe for children and rewarding for birdwatchers. Witsand invites you to slow down, breathe deeply, and embrace its unpretentious charm. 3. St Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa estuary towns south africa St Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal. Image: canva St Lucia is wild in the best way. It’s the gateway to iSimangaliso Wetland Park, where hippos graze on the edge of town and crocodiles float like logs. The estuary stretches over 80 km and pulses with life, reedbeds, fish eagles, and rare swamp forests. It’s not the usual beach town: it’s more primal, more alive. You come here to slow down, but you also come here to remember nature’s raw power. 4. Nature’s Valley, Western Cape Nature’s Valley. Image: wikimedia commons Nature’s Valley barely counts as a town, and that’s part of the magic. Tucked inside the Tsitsikamma section of South Africa’s Garden Route National Park, it’s a ribbon of homes between forest, lagoon, and sea. The Groot River estuary is calm and glassy, perfect for paddling or drifting. Hikes lead to waterfalls, beaches curve empty for miles, and at night, you’ll hear frogs instead of traffic. This place isn’t curated, it’s untouched. 5. Kosi Bay, KwaZulu-Natal estuary towns south africa Kosi Bay. Image: wikimedia commons Right near the Mozambique border, South Africa’s Kosi Bay is a remote masterpiece. It’s not just one estuary, it’s a system of lakes, channels, and tidal mouths forming a kind of natural maze. Traditional fish traps built by the Thonga people still stand in the water, undisturbed for centuries. Snorkel in the estuary’s shallows and you’ll find tropical fish inches from your mask. This is the wild edge of the country, and one of the last true frontiers. Tags: DMumani featured Important ocean South Africa

Coastal South African Towns Offering Great Seafood

5 coastal towns in South Africa serving up top-notch seafood These coastal towns don’t just serve seafood—they embody it. And they dish it up the way it’s meant to be: fresh, authentic, and truly memorable. By Sundeeka Mungroo 09-07-25 15:29 in Featured Seafood Seafood. Image: Pexels South Africa’s coastal towns deliver more than scenic views and great waves—they haul in some of the country’s best seafood. From quiet fishing villages to lively seaside cities, these five destinations dish out ocean-fresh meals that easily outshine most inland eateries. No frills, just exceptional seafood.Take a look… 1. Hout Bay, Western Cape Grilled calamari. Image: canva What to eat: Snoek & chips, grilled calamari Just 20 minutes from Cape Town, Hout Bay is a working harbour with real grit and flavour. Locals line up at fish-and-chip spots along the harbour for deep-fried snoek, slap chips, and takeaway calamari. They enjoy their seafood perched on the rocks, taking in panoramic views of the Atlantic. 2. Knysna, Garden Route Knysna is known for its oysters. Image: canva What to eat: Oysters Knysna isn’t just pretty, it’s the oyster capital of South Africa. The Knysna Oyster Festival draws crowds, but you can score fresh oysters year-round from lagoon-facing spots like 34° South. Whether raw, grilled, or soaked in Champagne, Knysna oysters are clean, plump, and impossible to forget. 3. Paternoster, West Coast, South Africa What to eat: Crayfish, mussels This quiet fishing village still preserves its timeless charm. At dawn, fishermen set out in wooden boats and return with nets brimming with crayfish. Much of the catch lands on beach braais or is plated at Wolfgat, arguably the country’s most talked-about restaurant. Even the modest beach shacks dish up mussels so fresh they carry the scent of the sea. 4. Gansbaai, Overberg Abalone sashimi. Image: canva What to eat: Abalone (perlemoen), yellowtail Gansbaai, famous for its shark cage diving, also boasts one of South Africa’s richest marine ecosystems. Several abalone farms operate in the area, and some restaurants legally and sustainably serve this rare delicacy. You can enjoy it grilled or thinly sliced like sashimi. Another local favourite is yellowtail, best enjoyed simply, fresh off the coals. 5. Port St. Johns, Wild Coast, South Africa What to eat: Grilled fish, seafood potjie Far from the tourist traps, Port St. Johns is raw, wild, and packed with flavour. The seafood is rustic and real, think whole fish grilled over open flames, spicy seafood potjies bubbling over fire, and prawns that taste like they came out of the ocean an hour ago. Don’t expect white tablecloths, just good food and a front-row seat to the Indian Ocean. Tags: DMumani featured Important seafood South Africa

4 Wild Places To Explore On South Africa's West Coast

4 wild places to explore on South Africa’s West Coast South Africa’s West Coast isn’t polished, it’s shaped by wind, waves, and time. Here’s where you can feel its true essence… By Sundeeka Mungroo 09-07-25 17:51 in Featured West Coast Lambert's Bay, West Coast. Image: wikimedia commons South Africa’s West Coast wears its ruggedness with pride. It doesn’t chase luxury—it embraces wind, salt, and raw beauty. Here, dunes spill into the icy Atlantic, and small towns echo with stories older than colonial borders. If you’re after untamed nature, this is where the desert collides with the sea—and adventure unfolds without a filter. 1. Namaqua National Park: West Coast flowers in the sand Flowers in bloom in Namaqualand. Image: canva When spring arrives, wildflowers burst into bloom across the drylands of South Africa’s Namaqualand. Sun-scorched scrubland transforms into a vivid display of daisies, succulents, and bulbs that blanket the desert. You’ll hike through surreal fields of colour, with the crisp ocean breeze reminding you the coast is nearby. Spend the night at the remote Skilpad Rest Camp, where the stars outshine city lights and silence becomes your companion. 2. Elands Bay: Surfing and San rock art This town in South Africa is tiny, scruffy, and loved by surfers who prefer barrels to beach bars. Elands Bay delivers legendary left-hand point breaks that draw dedicated surfers from far and wide whenever the swell rolls in. But the magic isn’t limited to the waves, Baboon Point, perched above the bay, shelters ancient San rock art in caves that watch over the rugged coastline. Here, you get prehistoric paintings, desert cliffs, and ocean mist, all in one unforgettable West Coast scene. 3. Lambert’s Bay: Birds, boats, and braais Cape Gannets in Lambert’s Bay. Image: canva Lambert’s Bay mixes the rough edges of a working harbour with raw coastal beauty. Walk over to Bird Island, just off the shore, and watch Cape gannets up close without needing binoculars. Then dig into a crayfish braai on the sand. Locals still make a living from the ocean here, and every weather-beaten wall proudly shows off the untamed spirit of the West Coast. 4. Paternoster: Still wild beneath the West Coast calm Paternoster earns its title as the West Coast’s postcard village with whitewashed cottages, stylish guesthouses, and seafood so fresh it could still be flapping. But step away from the main drag and you’ll discover windswept dunes, empty beaches, and fishermen reeling in snoek the traditional way. Paddle out with dolphins in a kayak or hike to Cape Columbine Nature Reserve, where the coastline stretches like it’s the end of the earth. Tags: DMumani featured Important South Africa Wild Coast

Kenya: Demonstrators And Police Clash In Anti-Government Protests

Demonstrators and Police Clash in Kenya During Anti-Government Protests Kenya Thousands of people took to the streets of Kenya on Monday to protest against the government and call for President William Ruto’s resignation, triggering a heavy crackdown where police closed roads, erected metal spikes on the streets, and fired teargas to disperse demonstrators, Africanews reported. Local media reported that at least 11 people died and several others were injured as protesters, some blowing whistles, marched in the city despite the police deployment, Al Jazeera wrote. Police said 52 officers were wounded and more than 560 people were detained. Some schools, businesses, and roads around the capital, Nairobi, were closed Monday as a precaution for possible clashes, with a large police presence close to government buildings, the BBC noted. In other Kenyan cities, police responded with tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators, who had lit fires on the streets. The protests this year were part of annual demonstrations every July 7 to commemorate the anniversary of a 1990 uprising known as the “Saba Saba” (Kiswahili for 7/7) protests that returned the country to a multi-party democracy after years of autocratic rule by then-President Daniel arap Moi. Even so, they were also part of ongoing mass protests against the administration of Kenyan President William Ruto, who took power in 2022, that began a year ago over corruption, police brutality, and the unexplained disappearance of numerous opposition members. At least 80 people have been killed in protests since June 2024, while dozens have been detained. Last month, dozens of people died and thousands of businesses were vandalized in demonstrations. The protesters say that authorities are hiring armed vandals to discredit their movement’s image, while the government called the demonstrations an “attempted coup.” On Sunday, a press conference calling for an end to “enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings” by the Kenyan Human Rights Commission was interrupted by men, some armed with sticks, storming the building. The recent death of blogger Albert Ojwang while in police custody has escalated the protests and the fury of protesters. Prosecutors have charged six people in relation to his murder, including three police officers.

South Africa: To Move Forward, Look Back

To Move Forward, Look Back, Some South Africans Say South Africa In the township of Masiphumelele near Cape Town in South Africa, 65,000 residents, crammed into a quarter-of-a-square-mile slum, walk on beer crates to avoid the mud on their streets. A stone’s throw away, on the other side of a wall, sits a gated community complete with manicured lawns and swimming pools. Security cameras and guards in the latter prevent the two from mixing. “People were separate before,” Jeremy Mathers, a retired naval engineer who lives in the gated community, told the Times of London. “Thirty years later, they still are.” Masiphumelele, the newspaper added, represents the seething inequality and tensions that remain in South Africa since the country’s racist, segregationist Apartheid regime ended in the early 1990s. In a bid to address this frustration, President Cyril Ramaphosa recently launched a “national dialogue” to discuss sluggish economic growth and the corruption that many South Africans feel is the reason why their country’s many resources aren’t leading to widespread prosperity, equality, and inclusiveness, explained the Institute for Security Studies. “South Africans want action, and are well aware of the pressing issues Ramaphosa listed, such as poor social services, high unemployment, widespread crime, corruption, food inflation, and economic stagnation,” it wrote. “What they do not see is a plan to carry the country forward.” As part of moving forward, some South Africans want the president to put greater effort into reconciling the past. As part of that effort, Ramaphosa, under pressure, recently established a commission to examine whether previous governments under his political party, the African National Congress (ANC), prevented investigators and prosecutors from exposing and prosecuting crimes committed during the Apartheid era, reported News24. This new commission is separate from the much-praised Truth and Reconciliation Commission that South Africa’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela, formed in 1996 to expose Apartheid-era atrocities. However, few perpetrators of murders, massacres, and other Apartheid-related crimes faced justice after this older commission completed its work, Radio France Internationale wrote. These efforts to reconcile with the past and deal with the issues of the present are already hitting roadblocks. John Steenhuisen of the Democratic Alliance, a member of the ruling coalition alongside the ANC, as well as the Inkatha Freedom Party, recently pulled out of the national dialogue. “Nothing will change in South Africa for the better if we keep the same people around the cabinet table who have involved themselves in corruption,” said Steenhuisen, according to Al Jazeera. Analysts say South Africa has a lot of work to do to clean up the country and reconcile with the past. Some are turning to the courts to force the government to make an extra effort. In January, 25 victims’ families and survivors of Apartheid-era political crimes sued Ramaphosa and his government for what they say is its failure to properly investigate those offences and deliver justice. The group is seeking about $9 million in damages, according to the case filed at the High Court in the capital, Pretoria. The lead applicant in the case, Lukhanyo Calata, is the son of Fort Calata, one of the “Cradock Four” – a group of anti-Apartheid activists murdered in 1985. Despite multiple inquiries, no one has been held accountable for these killings. Most of those alleged perpetrators are now deceased. The families’ legal action highlights the enduring scars of apartheid and the unfulfilled need for justice, wrote Ghana’s Vaultz News. “As Calata and others push for accountability, their fight underscores a broader struggle to confront South Africa’s painful history and its lingering impacts on society.” Even though the plaintiffs have already managed to force the president to create the commission looking into these unprosecuted crimes, it isn’t enough, said Calata: “The prolonged delay in achieving justice has effectively ensured that our families are denied justice forever.”  That means many families are stuck in limbo for the moment, say analysts. Oscar van Heerden, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg, told the Associated Press that the families of the Cradock Four and those of other victims of Apartheid-era crimes have not healed. “…those were cases that were supposed to be formally charged, prosecuted, and justice should have prevailed,” van Heerden said. “None of that happened.”

Equatorial Guinea Sues France Over Paris Mansion

Equatorial Guinea Sues France Over Paris Mansion Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea filed a complaint against France at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the weekend, the latest round of litigation between the two nations over a luxury Paris mansion seized by French authorities because of corruption, France 24 reported. The West African nation asked the United Nations’ top court to intervene after French police allegedly entered the property and changed the locks last month. It asked the court not to sell the building and demanded “immediate, complete and unhindered access” to it. The years-long dispute centers on the mansion located on the upscale Avenue Foch near the Arc de Triomphe in the French capital. Estimated to be worth more than $118 million, the property features a private cinema, a hammam steam bath, and gold-plated fixtures. In 2021, French authorities confiscated the property after the country’s top appeals court convicted Equatorial Guinean Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue – also known as Teodorin – under a law targeting fortunes fraudulently amassed by foreign leaders. The court handed Teodorin – son of long-standing President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – a three-year suspended sentence and more than $35 million in fines. If it accepts the case, it would be the second time the ICJ would decide on a suit centering on the mansion: In 2016, Equatorial Guinea brought a case before the court, claiming that the building has served as the country’s embassy. It also accused France of violating the Vienna Convention, which safeguards diplomats from interference by host countries. But France countered that the mansion served no diplomatic purpose and that Teodorin was using it as his private residence. The world court sided with France in the case, saying the African nation only tried to designate it as a diplomatic venue after an investigation began into the vice president. While the ICJ’s rulings are binding, the court has no enforcement mechanism and remains occupied with a growing caseload, including cases on Gaza and climate change.

DRC and Rwanda Sign Peace Deal to End Decades-Long Conflict

DRC and Rwanda Sign Peace Deal To End Decades-Long Conflict Democratic Republic of the Congo / Rwanda Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) signed a US-brokered peace agreement over the weekend in a bid to end decades of violence in the eastern Congo, a deal widely seen as opening the region’s mineral wealth to American investment, the Wall Street Journal reported. Signed Friday in Washington, the deal commits both countries to “immediately and unconditionally cease any state support to nonstate armed groups” and to pursue the “disengagement, disarmament, and integration” of those forces. The two neighbors also pledged to respect territorial integrity and halt cross-border aggression. US President Donald Trump hailed the accord – mediated by the US and Qatar – as the end of years of conflict in the restive region and the beginning of “a new chapter of hope and opportunity.” Rwanda is expected to withdraw troops deployed in eastern Congo, where more than 4,000 Rwandan soldiers had backed the M23 rebel group with advanced weaponry, having invaded the region in January, according to United Nations investigators. The decades-long conflict dates back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which more than a million people – mainly ethnic Tutsis – were killed by ethnic Hutus. The Rwandan government and M23 fighters say they are protecting Tutsis in eastern Congo from Hutu-linked militias made up of former Rwandan army members who fled across the border after the genocide. Rwanda has denied backing the M23 rebels and accuses the DRC of supporting the Hutu-affiliated groups. The Congolese government has rejected the allegations. In 2025 alone, the outbreak of violence since January has killed more than 7,000 people and displaced about half a million more. Friday’s deal follows a series of battlefield losses by the Congolese army in the resource-rich eastern provinces, prompting Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi to turn to the US for help in return for mining opportunities. Analysts said the deal aligns with US aims to counter Chinese dominance in global supply chains for minerals, such as coltan and other resources vital to the global tech industry. The accord also coincided with separate US negotiations with Rwanda over taking in non-citizen migrants expelled from the US. Meanwhile, reaction to the peace deal has been mixed, with observers noting that its durability remains questionable because many local leaders and affected groups were not part of the negotiations, the BBC added. Former Congolese President Joseph Kabila dismissed it as “nothing more than a trade agreement” and criticized the absence of M23 representatives. Share this story