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It is little wonder that, with over 3000 kilometres of coastline, South Africa should possess some of the world’s finest and most beautiful beaches. To try to describe all of them would be a mammoth task. It is possible to categorise some of them, though, thanks to the European Blue Flag system, which included South Africa as the first country outside Europe in 2001. Blue Flag is a European based system of grading beaches by measuring them against strict environmental, tourism and safety standards. The system now covers 37 European countries as well as the Caribbean, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand and parts of the United States. To qualify for a Blue Flag rating the seawater must pass a strict cleanliness test, there must be spotless toilets and showers, ample parking, rubbish bins and excellent lifesaving facilities. In all, the beach must pass at least 16 out of 20 strict quality tests.

In 2006 twenty South African beaches were awarded the Blue Flag, which is an annual award. A beach must not deteriorate from the standards set when it was awarded the Blue Flag, and must pass the test each year. The beaches that are the 2006 holders of the award are:

 Eastern Cape: Port Elizabeth’s Humewood, Wells Estate and King’s Beaches, Port Alfred’s Kelly’s Beach and Jeffrey’s Bay’s Dolphin Beach

 Kwazulu-Natal: Durban’s Addington, Anstey’s, Bay of Plenty and South Beaches, The South Coast’s Lucien, Ramsgate and San Lameer Beaches and Umhlanga Rocks main beach

 Western Cape: Hermanus’s Grotto, Hawston and Kleinmond Beaches, Bikini Beach in Gordon’s Bay, Clifton 4th Beach in Cape Town, Lappiesbaai Beach in Stilbaai and Mnandi Beach, Strandfontein.

These Blue Flag beaches are purely an indication that the beach meets certain requirements by European standards. If you are the sort of person that likes a long deserted beach of pristine golden sands, a Blue Flag beach is not for you. Rest assured, though, that there are a great number of beaches in South Africa that would meet your own standards. The Atlantic Coast of South Africa has some of the world’s most beautiful and lonely beaches, where you can walk all day and not see another person. It rarely rains on the west coast, so you can be guaranteed to get a good tan, but be warned, the Atlantic is very cold, so you won’t be staying in the water very long.

Along the south coast of the Cape between False Bay and Port Elizabeth are dotted numerous small towns that have, for the most part, grown around the local beaches. Interspersed among these small settlements are miles and miles of beautiful unspoiled beaches, most of which can only be reached in a 4 x 4. The coast is known as the Sunshine Coast once you get past Port Elizabeth, then after East London is the Wild Coast, with many uncrowded and clean beaches to choose from. Many of South Africa’s beaches offer the opportunity of trekking the beach on horseback, and there are some wonderful horse trails to be found.