The Oyster Box Hotel

The Oyster Box is the hotel under the Umhlanga lighthouse, on the beach north of Durban. It is a classic Indian Ocean hotel of 86 rooms, and we use it for two nights on The KZN Golf Circuit, after Blair Atholl and before Zimbali.

You fly down from Lanseria in your Embraer Phenom 300, about an hour to King Shaka International, and you are at the hotel by lunch. The afternoon is for the beach or the pool. Dinner is on the Ocean Terrace: grilled Mozambique prawns, with the lighthouse beam sweeping the water as it gets dark.

The golf is Durban Country Club, No. 8 in South Africa for 2025, carefully upgraded by Golf Data and laid out among the dunes behind the beach. Your caddie will tell you how much the wind off the ocean is worth on each tee. Non-golfers have the spa and the Umhlanga promenade, with lunch overlooking the sea.

It suits golfers and their partners, and anyone who wants warm water after the Cape.

When you move on, it is a short private drive up the north coast to Zimbali Lodge for two more rounds.

Good to know

• Umhlanga is malaria-free.
• King Shaka International is about an hour from Lanseria by Phenom 300.
• Our KZN Golf Circuit runs best April to June and September to November.

Country: South Africa