Capturing the Wild Coast - South Africa

The Wild Coast Sun is a multi faceted resort with one of the best golf courses we’ve played whilst travelling around Africa in our landrover defender, Andi the Landy.  Wild Coast Sun is golf course 25 of our Africa 100 challenge.

Playing on an Robert Trent Jones Jnr (RTJ2) course is always a pleasure, playing golf on one in Africa is just brilliant, add in a river cruise, petrified forest walk, water park, casino, and a hotel for all, and you’ve got the making of a great couples break, mates trips away or a wonderful family retreat - its a place for everyone.

The Golf

This Robert Trent Jones Jnr course is not out of place on the east side of South Africa, capturing the vista views to the ocean and embracing the blues and greens as it has been carefully cultivated out of the natural landscape and as it blends so well, its like it has always been there.  First impressions from the first tee are of wow and the first hole leads you gently from the raised tee down towards the ocean before the fairway doest a little turn to the slightly off centre green, and we’re hooked.

Luckily for us, it doesn’t end there with a blind tee shot on number 2 up a fairly steep incline and the river basin snuggled in on the right, the ocean once again beyond that, barely bearing its teeth with the small curls of white water, but as enticing as ever the Indian Ocean can be. 

Keen and  left wanting more, our golf eagerness was satisfied by the bucket load.  Big greens, blue skies, like a temptress, you’re willingly lured in, unashamed and unabashed without hesitation you embark upon any advance the course throws at you.

In fact so blown away by the course, they layout, the condition we forgot how to play golf.  Its a proper gown up golf course, which is simply just a golf course - no estate, no houses jostling for position on the elevations, just simply a great golf course which itself benefits from the magnificent views.  Big greens with some humps and waves to think about.  It seemed to be one of those course where the ball is heading towards the hole, then about a foot away takes a slight detour as it mocks you into believing you’d made the perfect putt. With so many pretty and well thought out holes, with incredible bunker placement - for any length of hitter, its a course that you want to play well and want to enjoy too.  

The reddish sandy coloured sand in the bunkers contrasted perfectly and didn’t scream at you as white pristine reflective sand might and didn’t at all detract from the overall appearance of the course.  In fact the bunkers  enhanced it as they skulked into the background and only came up to menace you as the ball made its unforgiving and unwavering path towards them.  Whilst the sand was fairly dense, it is also nice and gritty which aided the club to slide through.  

With so many amazing holes, it is difficult to highlight or pick out one, but it would be remiss of me not to mention hole number 13, over a ravine, a ravine with a cascading waterfall on the right and the putting surface just past the uphill of the rock outcrop ravine.  This par three is a test of your mettle, almost holding your breath you can finally sigh with relief as the ball lands snugly onto the large green.  A golf hole with everything to challenge every sense within your body.  By careful design the waterfall and ravine are in sight, if not play, for the holes around number 13 too.

The previous nights rain made the course zing with bright green excitement as the various shades of green shone through the early morning rays of sunshine.

With its great use of natural contouring of the landscape, there was some minor sculpturing/reshaping, which we think is actually good to see, as it means they are invested in keeping this course a pleasure and a challenge to play.

A course to put on your bucket list, but let me now try and enhance your experience and tell you about the rest of the resort?

The Petrified Forest

Many, many years ago, logs washed up onto the shores of the Wild Coast.  Today these make up the petrified Forest and whilst not obvious at first glance, once pointed out, the outline shapes of the final resting places of the logs are now evident.  As if a match box has been opened upside down these logs look like a matchstick graveyard.  Hollowed out outlines strewn along the beach discarded and left to rot and then to fossilise taking with them to their watery now solid lost in time grave the bugs that fed upon the rotten wood, and are now still visible today too.  Not really what we were expecting as we walked on the wild side and took in the stories of the petrified forest, but definitely worth spending bit of time taking in the scene.

The Hotel

A large ambling buildings dominate the scene.  A casino sitting by its side, we were told that this was the major attraction a number of years back and the resort has grown up around it.  Not only the night owls burning the midnight oil in the windowless building with brightly coloured ‘come and get me to win your fortune’ tables, fruit machines and games. But this hotel is very much geared up for families or couples of just a group of buddies to indulge in its every corner.  Our big spacious and comfortable room overlooked the pool and the ocean beyond and despite being on the top floor, the monkeys still found there way up that high to menace us, staring in and waiting for us to  leave the balcony door open!  Dinner and breakfast was in a large cafeteria style room

with a huge buffets - very much all you can eat buffets.  A lovely view out over towards the ocean was welcome in the morning sunshine.  With children being allowed to run freely, there was a bit of a mess at times, especially around the deserts and sweetie tables, but the friendliness and willingness of the staff was just brilliant and they were clearly in control, busily topping up and mopping up - all with a smile.

The Waterpark

Testimony to the ‘we cater for all’ ethos this hotel has adopted, there is a water park, just a short walk from the hotel.  Also open to not resident guests, its a popular pastime with children and adult of all ages with all desires of craziness acceptable as they whoop and swing themselves around.  Bouncing from one ride to the next battling for the inflatable rings to toss themselves upon as they slip happily down the various twisty turning slides or around the ‘river’ with a current to help them along as they lie back and drift along in relative peace.  A frenzy of activity with each and every person smiling and enjoying there time.

The River Cruise

A separate business which works hand in hand with Wild Coast Sun to offer more for their guests. This delightedly river cruise along the Mtamvuna River to view from a different angle the curvy and shapely bridge which is also visible from the  golf course.  It helps put it into perspective how close they are!  Before embarking, we had a couple of cocktails in the busy, lively and friendly bar area, where we relaxed on the sofas enjoying our pre-cruise cocktail.  A gentle tootle up the river as we watched the world go by in a relaxing and serene environment, listening to the engine chug along as the only noise, before it ended too quickly and we were back at the bar. The owners and staff will make you feel welcome and they offered us some great advice for travelling south.

Don’t forget to watch the video which helps put these words into pictures and if you have any questions, please do ask.  We are here to offer unbiased advise based on our experience, we don’t sell anything but can point you in the right direction, and we are always happy to help you decide.  

About us

We are Sarah and Steve and we’ve decided to make our home a Land Rover defender 110, then ship it to Africa to play 100 African golf courses, but we also like share non-golf things too. 

Sarah has been in the golf travel business for 20 years, Steve joined a couple of years ago and has helped enhance the you tube offering as well as provide some top notch photography, drone work and videos.  Together they play golf and consult for tourist boards, hotels and golf complexes to provide a better all round travel or golf related experience.  They also help people with impartial advice.

Please consider subscribing to the Travel lifestyle Golf You Tube channel or following us on social media also @Travel Lifestyle Golf we want you to enjoy our journey as we navigate Africa through the eyes of golfers.

Golf around Durban: Cotswold Downs and Royal Durban GC

Sometimes it rains, its grey and its miserable, but that didn’t dampen our spirits as we pulled into a empty car park at Royal Durban golf club early one morning.

We’d arranged to play early, but with no one there we were struggling to get going, then all of a sudden, the club woke up, the sparse pro shop opened, with a slight bustle of activity and we were ready to go.

We were pretty keen to get going as black clouds were looming, and golf, camera equipment and us don’t really mix with rain - I think we’ve been Africa spoilt!

Golf cart loaded and we’re off, and the first thing you notice are the amount of trees on the golf course, not unusual for a golf course, we know but as Royal Durban is in the middle of the racetrack, it was a little surprising.  That said they were not huge overpowering trees, but subtle fairly understated ones which helped shape the course.  Rain the night before meant the course was a bit wet underfoot and sloshy as the golf cart splashed through puddles.  As the course dissects roads and the golf courses takes its own route, its an interesting course to play in more than one way.  Planted trees and the traffic noise are in conflict with each other as the your sight senses tells you one thing and the hearing senses tell you another, but it works.  Dotted around the course are small ponds, some with reeds growing along the edge.  Ending on the pretty 9th/18th hole were back into he clubhouse and to a welcome breakfast following our early start and welcome because we were hungry
and the food certainly did slake our hunger pangs.

Stephen won this game in our Africa 100 challenge.

After a good feed we set off for the next course, Cotswold Downs.  We’d decided to play two rounds of golf in one day, but as we only played 9 holes at Royal Durban, which was nice and flat, we had lessened our mad challenge to crush two courses in one day - one and half is fine!

A sweeping driveway takes you down to Cotswold Downs Golf estate.  A smile upon our faces as we approached with thoughts of our own Cotswold courses springing to mind.  Even the houses that were on the estate looked very similar to the town houses of Cheltenham.  A warm but misty afternoon, and hole one greeted us with a wow moment.  

The land sloped left to right and a turn left at the bottom towards the green, but not before crossing a ravine to land on this huge ‘come and get me’ green.  So many similarities to our English course, we were right at home, even the mist that was shrouding us in a familiarity known only to those who play golf in cooler climes.

As the rain had been heavy, it was a cart path only game, and of course,  like most amateur golfers, nine times out of ten, our golf ball was no where near the path!  This didn’t deter us as much as the grey clouds rolling in, and a desire to quickly play the golf to get all 18 holes in and capitalise on this hugely undulating elevation changing delightful course.  Arriving at hole 5, we were blown away by the drop down to the
green, which was cleverly covered with elongated irregular shaped splodge bunkers left and right.  Different staging points denoted the tee you’d play from with even the forward tees bearing down on this wonderful challenge.  But the green looked big and how can any ball miss that?  There are only two bunkers, one either side - oh and a drop of water in front, by way of a mini lake…hum!  Stephen landed neatly on the green and me, I went out the back, probably water shy, but we both rescued a par in the end.

With the bunkers being quite deep in places, we were happy we’d missed those ‘velcro' ones, especially as the rain was taking hold now and the sand was becoming wet and heavy, although some were made GUR from the heavy rain on the previous day.

The balls were starting to plug, the walk the width of the fairway was becoming less enjoyable and we were getting very wet.  I must add at this stage, it wasn’t due to golf course maintenance that was the problem, it was us, just cold and wet and probably unprepared for the weather thrown at us.  The course maintenance was top notch, even in the variable conditions of late.

Sadly we had to stop after 9 holes and watching the hills rise up towards the grey clouds and away from us at hole 10, I think we made the right decision.  As we count play all 18 holes we decided on a half, overall Africa 100 score - Stephen 12.5 Sarah 11.5

After a day of playing two separate course, but only 9 on each, a day of getting wet and cold and a day when it was getting to us, we decided to take a half and reluctantly move on.

Closing the Cotswold Downs chapter wasn’t easy, as the course resonated with us so much, but one day we will go back and finish this wonderfully hill rolling course, with its large greens and deep bunkers that look picture perfect in every way.

Next we head further south on the east coast of South Africa, and hopefully hit some sunshine along the way…    but we’ll be back!

4 reasons to visit the Dolphin Coast

 We return to South Africa.

As we enter back into South Africa, there is a touch of nostalgia, a sense of homecoming alongside a sense of dread - it is true South Africa has changed considerably in the 30 odd years we’ve been visiting, but the beauty of this country brings us back again and again, and were so glad we did.

Entering at Kozi Bay was an easy transition through customs, carnet checked and stamped and the various other bits and pieces we needed to do as we cross the border from one country into another.  It has to be said at this stage we have become known as the rain bringers and re-entry into SA was no exception, it was cold, it was damp and it was miserable, we didn’t hang around and quickly headed south with North Durban, moreover the Dolphin Coast being our goal.  

Mind you we did stop at some pretty places on route, camping and staying in guest house - now that is something the South African’s do well - guest houses, so when you’re planning your trip, don’t be thinking you’d be staying in granny’s place, with lace on the back of the sofa and a cloth over the arms of the soft chairs.  Don’t be expecting a knitted dolls with strange eyes draped over the spare toilet roll, with the toilet itself being clad in a clean but well used bobbly seat cover - no, guest houses in SA can be someone opening up their home to you, but the ones we experienced were actually separate units away from the main house or adjoining it, with breakfast in the room or help yourself or to join other guest in the dining room.

Through forest with trees so tall to an out of the way cheese shop, of all things, which sold very little cheese but loads of touristy nick naks.  Pineapple fields as far as the eye could see, and the rest of the beautiful landscapes of South Africa opening up before our eyes.

Heading further south and the SA we have become to know; big shopping malls, begging on street corners and shining new buildings  became more prolific.  So we were a little surprised to see the road into Prince’s Great was not a tarmac one, so much so, we did a double check to make sure we were heading the right way, along the dirt road and then it opens up in its full glory, oh and what a sight it was too.

The wonderful lodge dominated the scene, almost a modern take on
colonial style, its width lent itself to having amazing views over the course, as well as some cosy bars and eating areas downstairs.  Further adopting the colonial ethos was the sweeping wooden stair case which dominated the eye from the lobby up to the first floor.  We had room 6, at the end of a corridor which opened up into a huge room and a bathroom big enough for a party.  A relaxing decor and comfortable room which overlooked the course with the distant views being of the white breakers on the ocean. There is so much to like about this place, but we had to tear ourselves away and go to play some golf!

Golf course number 20 of our Africa 100, and we smiled as we
registered it was another Peter Matkovich design. Peter is a designer very well known and respected on the African continent, and we were so happy to be playing yet another of his masterpieces.  In fact, we decided to split up our game over two days.  The first nine we played in the afternoon and the back nine we played early the following morning.  And having those two times of the day, really enhanced our experience; one day was windy, the other not, one day was cooler, the other not, one day Stephen was grumpy, the other not! 

Registering the name of the first hole, Temper Tantrum did cause a bit of a giggle from me, albeit a silent one, as I relish our marriage.

Then he settled down and we just enjoyed our game on a stunning course, which does undulate and does bring various challenges. Wooden boardwalks help protect the course but also allow you to appreciate the height you’re coming from as the cart clattered along the wooden walkway.  Hole 2’s boardwalk gentle took us down and across water cascades, with water in play too.  Aptly named hole 3 was a par three from an elevated tee called lookdown.  A sneaky little pond front right could have been one of those, oh no moments, but we both avoided the water and landed safely without getting at all wet!

Whilst carts were allowed on the course, the cart path from the tees and towards the greens were nicely kept and easy on the bum as you can sometimes hold the boobs and hold your breath with some cart paths being like mini off-road adventures with tree roots impending the path - thank fully there was no boob holding moments at Prince’s Grant!

As mentioned the wind got up for our first nine in the afternoon, and with it bought some relief from the sunshine too, although hole number 6 we failed to live up to the name of the hole being Career Best, coming away with one stable ford point for me and zero for Stephen - hum maybe we need to rethink our career!

Dinner in the clubhouse and a chat with a few visitors, our big comfy bed
beckoned. Breakfast was in the somewhat dark and very warm restaurant downstairs.  But the breakfast was exactly how I like it, well cooked bacon, a packed egg and a fresh tomato, a great way to approach the second half to our match.  

Hole ten, ‘out again’ and Stephen had some work to do to catch up, well not too much work as I’d only finished two points ahead of him, despite his initial grumpiness!

There is always a clue in the name, with hole 12 being called bunkers, a relatively short par 4 downhill, with, you’ve guessed it, bunkers both left and right where the tee shot might land.  A shapely little tree right and beyond that the bunkers, trying to hide behind the tree - most likely embarrassed with the amount of sand on this hole!  Stephen seized the opportunity and got one of the those points back!

Spoiler alert, justified as its our job to tell you about golf!  Hole 15 - a real wow
moment as you come towards the tee and the ocean opens up bright blue to the left - with big smacks of Kwana in Japan and to a lesser degree (maybe it was the sunshine) of Walsey in the Shetland Islands, its look and feel combined create a wonderful looking hole.  An elevated tee, with the fairway leading you towards the hole, cleverly dotted with bunkers around it.  Being a par 5, there were also bunkers along the fairway, as if holding invisible hands were grouped together, and were as magnetic as any as my ball came to rest on the head of the rake.

Two wonderful half days of golf two amazing nines on a great condition course with greens that test and are true.  Wonderful undulations, up and down fairways, trees, sand - just a bit!! and in our opinion, whilst two great nines, we enjoyed the back nine more.

And, we have a winner - Sarah - score so far Steve 10, Sarah 10 - wahoo, who would have thought I could bring it back to level after that auspicious start!

Just half an hours drive south from Prince’s Grant we find ourselves playing another course on the Dolphin Coast.  Umhlali (pronounced Um-shar-lee) was in the throes of a big club event, buzzing to the hilt, we were given matching golf shirts and got to play a round on this neat course too. The Opening hole was a dog leg left and
certainly tested our nerve as golfer after golfer came in to play in front of us.  Another windy afternoon greeted us and as the greens rolled true, although they had only been hollow tined a couple of weeks before -  we were glad to be out there.  I did like the boards at the beginning of each hole, showing the whole hole layout, important when its a course you haven’t played before, and extra important to me as I was on a roll!  I understand this was the first Peter Matkovich design course he did, and sure enough it did play and look differently too, not bad, just different - although his love for tee box planting remains the same, it seems!  A nice

parkland course with bent grass, tree lined fairways  and a buzzing clubhouse too.  Fairy tight in places, it
was difficult to see if the golfers had finished the hole and stood on the next tee, or whether they were still on the green, but then again, we didn’t know the course, and I’m sure that perception changes when you’ve played Umhlali a few times.  Hole 4 has water in front of the green, this par 4, raised tee is one to marvel at with the dead stick-like desert trees encircling the back of the green, bringing in a structure live ones might not.  Visually a very pretty hole and nice to play too, although the sign, beware of falling branches was a little worrying - thank fully it wasn’t that windy!

A nice open course, although my ball did seek those bunkers once again - one actually stopped slightly short and I had to turn the club around and play it backwards, or stand in the bunker for the shot!

Loved the narrowing off the tee for hole 13, which did open up again and wasn’t really as narrow as it looked from the tee after all!

Hole 14 was a pleasant surprise, as it snaked around water adorned with lilly pads waiting to burst and a great bunker ‘complex’ to the right for anyone taking ‘alternative routes’  The overall course offered slopes, testing but true greens and a lovely setting.  The closing hole is worth a mention too.  A quaint par 3 from an elevated tee to an elevated green, surrounded by palm trees and bunkers, but with an opening at the front - one just
needed to be straight - so I decided to play a trick on Stephen - he’d got the wrong club, so I asked him what he wanted, a 5 iron he replied, so I passed him a sand wedge - well, 5 - S they do look similar! - fortunately he did notice before he played and did laugh, although I can’t believe he didn’t believe his caddy!

We loved wearing those shirts, although I did wish I hadn’t got a patterned skort to wear with it as it looked like I’d got dressed in the dark that morning?  Not to be deterred, I hitched  up my skirt and just wore the shorts underneath, making my spare tyre extra pronounced, but at least I didn’t clash!  A really good members course and a great compliment to play when staying at Prince’s Grant. Such a nice course to play and in great condition, especially those trefoil shaped greens.

Oh and Steve won, so I'm quickly glossing over that, overall score - Steve 11, Sarah 10

Using Prince’s Grant as your base, you’re just 40 mins from another great golf course, Zimbali.   A slightly cooler start after God’s light show the previous night and the inevitable accompanying rain - don’t forget we are the rain bringers!

But the rain did sharpen up the grass which now took on an almost false green
against the grey sky.  A nice start to the course then you take a longish drive to the 2nd tee whereupon you’re greeted with a slightly different looking course - still fresh and green, but the hole weaved and bent around some water on the inside left - a really clever hole in it’s par 4 design, with options being water left or bunkers right, off the tee or on the approach.  A nice big shapely green welcomes the brave.

We discovered that neither of us were hitting as well as usual, with the 3rd hole taking me ages to get to as I thrashed around hitting one shot after the other!  A couple of birdies did appear later in the round, so I clearly settled into this wonderful exciting course and we both ended up scoring quite well. 

Hole 5 gave us views of the ocean, ok it was a bit of a dull day but the distant ocean views were just as pleasing, and one that any golfer, or anyone who enjoys sea and golf views would revel in. A long snaking road gives you a clue as to the rise uphill towards the green.

It was great to see members playing and enjoying the course too, we got chatting to a few at the half way house, which is a modern building with tantalising pies - which of course we had to have!

The disadvantage of stopping at the half way house, some golfers stay longer than others, and we did get a bit stick behind a couple of slow golfers, who waved us through quite quickly, to restore pace of play.

Back on the course and the10th was like a green meandering
stream, punctuated by a rocky brook, which was purpose built but made to look natural at first glance.  Little cascades of water plopped into pools beneath, before continuing along their journey to the next cascade.  Showing the odd water lily and delightful static basins of resting water.  With stunning vista views come see hairy cart paths, but in truth they were fun too.  Houses intersperse at various points along the course, sadly we couldn’t get the drone up, being respectful of the residents.  But just working our way around, did give us a great sense of
what this resort offers its residents and visiting golfers.  We loved the playing style
and design of this course, a course for any golfer, with the cooler day being our friend.  It is a golf course full of surprise, mostly as its cleverly fits in around the houses, plus you get a nice surprise as you enter a new tee, without
having been given the preview from previous holes.  Definitely a cart course with not so much of a hidden gem, as 18 hidden gems with established trees and monkeys watching you’re every move.  A great day out and a wonderful one to complete our trio on the Dolphin Coast of South Africa.

We also ended up with a nice even score of 11 each in our Africa 100 challenge.

Twenty two courses played, next stop Durban as we continue south discovering more golf and living the landrover life.