Ballito sits along KwaZulu-Natal's Dolphin Coast, a stretch of warm-water beaches and sugarcane hills about forty minutes north of Durban. It's a town built around the sea — surfers out early, dolphins passing close to shore, and a laid-back beachfront strip of cafés and restaurants that fills up as the sun goes down. The water stays warm most of the year, which makes it as good for a lazy swim as it is for learning to surf, and the pace here rarely rises above unhurried.