Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal

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Ballito Beach

Ballito is a small holiday town located in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Ballito is located at 29°32′S, 30°33′E and is about 40 kilometres north of Durban. Dolphins are common on this stretch of the North Coast shoreline known as the Dolphin Coast Coast. The South Coast of Natal is also picturesquely names - it is the Hibiscus Coast.

The town was established in 1964 as a Township, by a group of investors from Glen Anil Investments. The Area was originally a Sugar Cane Farm. The town was named after a pair of Italian Stockings.[1]

Today Ballito is thriving community of its own with ties to primary and high schools in and around Ballito, Umhlanga, Stanger and Tongaat. Ballito is growing exponentially and has 2 huge new malls. It is a fantastic holiday destination with great hotel and self-catering accommodation, numerous world class swimming (Willard) and surfing beaches (Boulder). A promenade about 2.5 kilometres long along the beach front allows for walking and jogging.

The word "Ballito" translated from Italian means "little ball". The Sunday Tribune printed and advert for Ballito Bay inviting potential investors to the North Coast with prices of land of about R790.00. By 1964 the zonings for Ballitoville's residential buildings, hotels and a caravan park had already been incorporated into the town plan known as Compensation Beach and this area stretched out from Willard Beach to Clark Bay, Salmon Bay and Port Zimbali. A brochure with the first marketing pictures of Ballito, was put out to attract the holiday makers to invest in the area with the slogan: "Buy, Build & Play at Ballito Bay" (Jack Nash) Ballito, Salt Rock and Shakas Rock are a favourite holiday destinations for local South Africans and also foreign tourists on their way up to Zululand and the battlefields