Events and Venues Southern Africa: 2013

Dieu-Donneé Venue

Dieu-Donneé River Lodge was established in 1986 by the current owners Wim & Antoinette Meyer and is conveniently situated on the R102 in Southport, 7km north of Port Shepstone on the main route between East London and Durban which is on the Southern KwaZulu Natal coastline also known as Hibiscus Coast.

Dieu-Donneé is an ideal venue for the discerning business, sports and leisure traveler, to explore a diversity of attractions and activities.

Dieu-Donneé provides a quiet, calm, tranquil setting for those who enjoy their privacy. It has a homely atmosphere where you feel at home away from home.

Dieu-Donneé offers bed & breakfast and semi self catering stylish accommodation with magnificent garden views, pool, braai area, dining area and a conference venue.

Dieu-Donneé Accommodation

Dieu-Donneé comprises of seven luxury en-suite rooms in a stylish contemporary Victorian style house with private balconies overlooking the garden and pool. Elegantly and tastefully decorated, each room has a double bed, bathroom en-suite, ceiling fan, microwave, small bar fridge, crockery, cutlery, flat screen DSTV and tea & coffee making facilities. We also offer a laundry service. There is off street parking (night watch) on the premises and generator back-up for undisturbed quality time and comfort. WIFI on request. Enjoy the home from home comfort with picturesque tropical garden and river views.

Dieu-Donneé Conference Facilities

The discreetly situated Conference room is the perfect venue for “getting down to business” undisturbed. With an elegant relaxed ambience it is ideal for small gatherings and weddings.

To ensure that your stay with us is comfortable and business functions are uninterrupted we have a power backup generator ready for use when necessary.

Dieu-Donneé Services Excellence

Three star and AA highly recommended Bed & Breakfast or semi-self catering accommodation venue. (Dinner and lunch by prior arrangement).

· Rooms are en-suite, daily serviced and have private entrances and balconies or patios overlooking the garden or pool.

· DSTV in all rooms.

· Tea and coffee facilities.

· Laundry service.

· Large solar heated crystal clear pool.

· Conference and function hall.

· WIFI on request.

· Off street parking (night watch).

· Shuttle service on request

· 800 meters from a clean, uncrowded ‘private’ beach.

· Bird watching (Thousands of Barn Swallows).

· River fishing.

· Convenient location with easy access to R102 / N2 / R61. 7 km north of Port Shepstone in Southport.

· Generator back-up.

Attractions and Activities ~ Beaches and swimming

Dieu-Donneé is situated only 800 meters from a ‘private’ beach and just one and a half km from the blue flag Southport public beach. Our local public beaches have well trained Tower 13 Lifeguards on duty and shark nets in place.

Our ‘private’ family beaches are clean, un-crowded and perfect for long strolls and lazy sunny days, or if you prefer just soak up the sun on the lawn surrounding our magnificent swimming pool with braai facilities to suite the outdoor enthusiast.

Dieu-Donneé Bird Watching

Birding in and around our premises is extremely prolific. Species found here will appeal to the experienced, but also to the novest birder and eco-tourist.

The Barn Swallows

Thousands of European Swallows (now called Barn Swallows) takes bird watching at Dieu-Donneé to a higher level. Watching them circling and darting down at dusk to the reed beds in our Umhlangamkulu river to settle for the night.

Their taking off the next morning at dawn is even more spectacular, when they as if at a given signal, take off and circle above Dieu-Donneé and then fly away up to 60km
inland to feed and drink in flight. Just to return again at sunset, where up to eight birds roost on a single reed.
These summer visitors find their way to Southport every year from October to April. The swallows do not breed in the southern hemisphere, but have one or two broods during their European summer sojourns.

These extraordinary little birds weigh up to 30.5g when they leave Southport for their grueling journey to Europe. On arrival there, males might weigh only 11g and females 14g. According to recapture data, the greatest distance traveled, as the crow flies, was 11660km, but as they fly hugging the east Coast of Africa, their flying distance is probably nearer to 15,000km

The fastest migration recorded is that of a swallow ringed in Umhlanga and recaptured in Whitney Bay, Britain, just 27 days later. These birds make their migratory flight nonstop. Living only on insects and rain water as they fly. Scientific studies have revealed that one half of their brains shut down in a sleeping state as they fly. When that half comes to life the other half retreats into sleep.

Come and watch as a little miracle of nature unfolds every evening as between 30,000 and 40,000 Barn Swallows head to their roosting places in our pristine river.

Nearby Ocean Activities

For the more adventurous, Shelly Beach (between Port Shepstone and Margate) is very popular for activities such as fishing charters, pleasure cruises, scuba diving, shark cage diving and for the more experienced diver Shelly Beach is also the home base of African Dive adventures, known worldwide for diving with sharks on Protea Banks.

Nearby Land Activities

For those who want to explore a little further a short drive will include other popular beaches and attractions such as Umtentweni, the ever popular Oribi Gorge, game farms, etc. These places are all less than an hour drive from Dieu Donnee River Lodge.

Finding your way around

With easy access to R102 / N2 / R61 and just 7 km north of Port Shepstone in Southport it’s easy to find restaurants, shopping, places of interest etc.

Dieu Donnee River Lodge GPS Co-ordinates:

S 30 41’ 07.7”

30 29’ 40.0”

Dieu-Donneé for Business or Leisure

This 20-year-old well established South African Guest House is set in a beautiful forest garden with abundant bird life and small game on the bank of the Umhlangamkulu River. Guests can enjoy a braai or soaking up the sun on the pool loungers on the lawn surrounding the solar heated swimming pool.

With accommodation and conference facilities available at Dieu Donnee it is the ideal destination for holidays, conferencing and private events. With ample garden space we can accommodate banqueting guests in the tropical gardens, ideal for weddings, garden parties, product launches etc. We are also able to cater for small and medium corporate or private events in our boardroom/conference room. Max 40 delegates.

Dieu-Donneé Hospitality

Dieu-Donneé River Lodge is a unique place where one can come and relax and be refreshed and enjoy the old fashioned, warm hospitality, comfort and convenience which take you back to a time when life was simpler and service was personal.

Our outside dining room and deck, or private dining room sets the tone for a breakfast experience second to none. Its menu offers a variety of authentic South African cuisine.

Hibiscus Coast – Nearby Activities & Attractions

Private & Public Beaches

Southport, Blue Flag Beach with Tower 13 Lifeguards.

Southport, private beach

Shelly Beach, NSRI

St Michaels On Sea with Tower 13 Lifeguards

Uvongo with Tower 13 Lifeguards

Margate with Tower 13 Lifeguards

Ramsgate with Tower 13 Lifeguards

Places of Interest

Oribi Gorge is situated along the spectacular forest-cloaked ravine of the Mzimkulwana river just west of Port Shepstone which itself is 120 km south of Durban. Oribi Gorge is the eastern gorge of two gorges that cuts through the Oribi Flats (flat sugarcane farmlands), southern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The western gorge was formed by the Mzimkulu river. At the base of the cliffs of both gorges there are rocks over 1000 million years old while the cliffs themselves are formed from sandstone deposited about 365 million years ago. Below the gorges is a large surface mine producing cement. The road through Oribi Gorge was built by Italian prisoners of war. Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve is situated in the Oribi Gorge, which is approximately 27 km long, 4 km wide (widest point) and 400 m deep. In 1950 it was proclaimed a protected state forest

Old historical buildings

Port Shepstone was founded in 1867 when marble was discovered nearby and is named after Sir Theophilus Shepstone of the Natal government of the 1880s. William Bazley built a harbour and the first coaster entered the harbour on the May 8, 1880. In 1882 a party of 246 Norwegian immigrants settled here and played a large part in the development of the area. After the opening of the railway to Durban in 1901 the harbour fell in disuse and eventually the river silted up again making it impossible to use. The 27,000 candela lighthouse still stands at the mouth of the Mzimkulu River.