Pumula Lodge on the south coast is incredible. Picture Hein Kaiser
A few decades ago, the annual holiday run to the coast did not head to Cape Town, Umhlanga or Ballito. Families headed to the KwaZulu-Natal south coast – to Port Edward, Shelley Beach, San Lameer (if you had bucks) and St Michaels.
There’s also Uvongo, Margate, Ramsgate, and for the budget conscious the TO Strand in Leisure Bay offers something for everyone. With more blue flag beaches than the Grinch has fingers, the south coast is still as beautiful, gorgeous and hospitable as it was when it was considered the go-to destination.
At the centre of it all there’s Pumula Beach Hotel, a family run boutique hotel in Hibberdene that’s less than a minute’s walk to a beach that attracts every cliché in the book: stunning, pristine, beautiful and so on. You’d need a thesaurus and an appetite for hyperbole when staying at the place, because it’s that, well, lekker.
Here, it is all about family. The way it should be. Though if you are a singleton or a couple looking for a place where you don’t have to lift a finger, and where chilling becomes a temporary occupation between boardrooms, this is the place.
Importantly, it’s a full board resort where you only pay for your drinks. The food is already included, and here Pumula Beach Hotel does not skimp. When it’s a bit quieter, out of season, the set menu offers three courses and a salad. And it’s not a cheeseburger and battered hake kind of menu. There’s fillet steak, calamari and the kind of meal that you’d expect from an expensive restaurant in town. Instead, it’s a shuffle and a hop from your room, and the view over the Indian Ocean is enough to mesmerise.
The food is tasty, very tasty. Again, a need for a legion of adjectives. It’s that yum.
There’s even tea and scones at four in the afternoon.
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The rooms at Pumula Beach Hotel are spacious and comfy, and the sound of every breaking wave can be overpowering at first. It’s up close and personal with the water, but the white noise soon drills away every other worry. Every room has family stamped on it, the ablutions are spacious and importantly, the zzz-ing area of the accommodation is also roomy. It’s all bright, happiness in whites and blues, Mediterranean style. But not pretentious.
There is in fact nothing behind any kind of façade at Pumula Hotel. Staff are friendly because they mean it, and nobody’s grumpy there, it seems. Service can be a little bit slow at times, but then again, when you’re on a break, clockwatching should be left to the punch cards and diary reminders back home.
Probably one of the best aspects of the lodge are the kids’ facilities. During peak season there are crab hunts and other group beach activities managed by child minders. It gives mom and dad a break, a real one. And then there is the games room. From soft play for the super-young through to arcade games, table tennis and a pool table. It’s all there, and for the playing.
Few South African resorts have taken so much time and dedicated such a large space to entertaining children, and that includes the large screen TV cinema adjacent to the playground. Movies are shown every night, and families gather here to spend quality time together.
There’s also an outdoor play area with jungle gyms, mini golf and a large outdoor chess board.
If holidaying doesn’t mean leaving your gym membership behind, there’s also a great selection of treadmills, weights and all sorts of workout stuff that gym bunnies will recognise immediately. There are plenty of other kinds of workouts, like muscular stress exercises involving the raising of a beer to your lips while contemplating the view.
If beach bumming gives you ants in your pants after a few days, get out and explore the area. A bit away is Croc World, to the opposite side is Ramsgate and Margate with the famed Waffle House waiting to calorie you up for the next stretch of relax. There’s Oribi Gorge and its giant bungee swing, sugar cane to suck and chew on aplenty and many other roadside attractions.
Nothing compares to the big chill a south coast holiday can deliver.
Staying at Pumula Beach Hotel is just an all-round fantastic experience and reason enough for holiday makers to return to the south coast in droves. Because it’s that beautiful, and it’s that good.
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