Retirement Villages · Widenham, Umkomaas, Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh & the South Coast
Hibiscus Retirement Villages' 600-cottage life-right village on 100 hectares of coastal forest at Umkomaas, with one-bed cottages from R1.2 million and a frail care facility planned.
Local knowledge
The South Coast is where KwaZulu-Natal retirement is cheapest. Hibiscus Retirement Villages, a non-profit founded in Margate in 1962 and the first in the country to use life rights, runs four villages between Margate and Port Shepstone and is building the 600-cottage Widenham village at Umkomaas, where one-bedroom cottages started at R1.2 million and three-bedrooms at R2.35 million. Renishaw Hills at Scottburgh is a 500-unit lifestyle estate for over-50s, Umdoni at Pennington has on-site frail care, and Poinsettia Park, Alex Park and Lakeview serve Amanzimtoti and Scottburgh.
Hospitals thin out as you go south. Netcare Kingsway in Amanzimtoti is the main private hospital for the upper coast, Hibiscus Private in Port Shepstone and Netcare Margate serve the lower coast, and Scottburgh has a provincial hospital. Durban's specialists are 40 minutes from Scottburgh and 1 hour 30 from Margate. King Shaka is 1 hour to 1 hour 45; Margate has a small airport.
Winters are mild, the sea is warm and the pace is slow. The questions to ask are about the distance to specialist care and whether a village's frail care is built or still planned. Our frail care and village costs in KZN guide has the figures.
Assisted living sits between independent living and frail care. Residents have their own room or small apartment, and the facility provides meals, laundry, housekeeping, medication reminders and staff on call, without 24-hour nursing.
Questions families ask
Widenham Retirement Village at Umkomaas listed one-bedroom cottages from R1.2 million, two-bedrooms from R2.05 million and three-bedrooms from R2.35 million in its recent phases. Hibiscus villages in Margate and Ramsgate are generally lower.
Umdoni Retirement Village in Pennington has on-site frail care and step-down. The Hibiscus villages share the Margate and Umdoni care centres, and Widenham has a clinic with a frail care facility planned. Alex Park in Scottburgh is an older persons' home with care.
About 40 minutes on the N2 to central Durban and an hour to King Shaka International. Margate is 1 hour 30 to Durban.
Assisted living gives support with daily life (meals, cleaning, reminders) to people who are still largely independent. Frail care provides 24-hour nursing for people who need hands-on help with bathing, dressing, moving or eating.