By the time you step onto Mabibi Beach, you feel as if you’re worlds away from daily life. Part of that might well be the trek to get there: it’s about 300km from Durban’s King Shaka International Airport, in the depths of rural KwaZulu-Natal. The trip involves a two-and-a-half hour drive on the N2, and then another hour and a half on the R22, where you need to navigate your way around the occasional herd of goats, a school child or two crossing the road and, every so often, an Nguni cow staring sullenly into oncoming traffic (although that does make for a great ‘Only in Africa’ photo op). The last one-hour-long stretch requires a 4x4, and I very strongly suggest that you take the transfer from Librodi Lodge.
‘We call that an African massage,’ our driver Siya quips as we bounce over a particularly bumpy patch in the road.
Some guests have attempted it on their own, with varying degrees of success. To the surprise of absolutely no one,