The Dolphin Coast is the stretch of KwaZulu-Natal shoreline immediately north of Durban, running roughly from Ballito to the Tugela River mouth. The name refers to the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins that frequently surf the waves here, visible from the beach on most days. The coast is warmer and calmer than the Western Cape, and the water is genuinely swimmable year-round.
Ballito is the largest resort town, popular with Durban families and increasingly with permanent residents who've moved out of the city. It has good restaurants and the Salt Rock area to the north is quieter and less developed. The Blythdale Beach area further north approaches the boundary of iSimangaliso and the character shifts toward the wild.
The real reason to be on the Dolphin Coast beyond Ballito is the sardine run — typically June to July — when billions of sardines migrate northward along the coast, pursued by dolphins, sharks, gannets, and Cape fur seals in a feeding frenzy that can be witnessed from the beach or by snorkelling in the middle of it. It is one of the great wildlife spectacles on earth.