Manaba Beach

Manaba Beach is a small coastal town on the South Coast of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, located approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of the Margate CBD and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south of Port Shepstone. The name ‘Manaba’ translates to 'ease and relaxation' in the Zulu language.

Geography
Forming part of the adjacent coastal town of Margate, Manaba Beach is sandwiched between Margate North Beach to the south and Uvongo to the north. The coastline along Manaba Beach is generally rocky and is therefore not popular amongst tourists who wish to swim or bathe in the ocean.

Economy
Manaba Beach functions as one of the smaller economic centres of the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, characterised by a number of retail and hardware stores and motor repair centres lined along the main road, Marine Drive. Albany, one of South Africa’s largest bread producers is one of the notable employers in the area with a bakery located on Marine Drive.

Despite being largely being a residential and commercial centre, Manaba Beach is also a seaside resort area and has many self-catering holiday accommodation flats along the beach.

Beach
The Manaba Beach vicinity consists of two beaches, Lucien and Manaba Beach. Lucien Beach is the blue flag beach on the north end of Margate Beach. Manaba Beach has lifeguards and also has shark nets which makes it a safe swimming beach. Margate Main Beach just south of Lucien Beach is also within easy access for residents of Manaba Beach. There are also natural rock pools along the rocks between these two beaches there is also a large tidal swimming pool.

Transport
Manaba Beach is bisected by the R620 (Marine Drive) connecting Uvongo to the north with Margate to the south. The area is also reached via Seaslopes Avenue, which provides access to the R61 freeway (to Port Shepstone and Port Edward) and Izotsha Road (to Gamalakhe and Ramsgate) to the west.