LOVE IN A FARAWAY PLACE

Sometimes you just need to get away from it all and reconnect with the one you love. Here are six of our favourite places to do it without blowing the budget).

- KEITH BAIN

NGOYE LODGE & NGUNI COTTAGE, KZN NORTH COAST

Mtunzini, isiZulu for 'place of shade', is a little patch of paradise some 140km up the coast from Durban. It has everything a nature bunny could wish for: mangrove swamps, estuaries, tall dunes, long stretches of sandy beach, and pristine forests with superb birdlife (more than 600 species) and other animals. Semi-wild zebras roam the streets and are occasionally chased from the Spar. They're also found on the fairways at the country club, where there's a tricky nine-hole course and a restaurant with great views.

The village is up alongside Umlalazi Nature Reserve, where the Mlalazi River spills into the ocean. There's a timber boardwalk that takes you through the swamp forest to a grove of protected raffia palms - humongous, huge-fronded trees whose fruit is eaten by a colony of rare palm-nut vultures. A few barges and houseboats go up and down the river - stray crocodiles and hippos have been spotted, and even the odd shark accidentally heading upstream.

Between visits to the lagoon, the forest or the beach, Ngoye is a charming little guest house in which to catch your breath or laze in docile splendour by the pool, in the garden, on the veranda or in the lounge. It has a down-to-earth homegrown style quaint and unfettered, nothing cookie-cutter nor too slick.

Instead, it's comfortable, colourful and stocked with everything you really need to relax. The main house has five en suite bedrooms and a lovely open living area, while Nguni is completely private, with its own living room and garden - ideal if you and your beloved want total privacy.

COST: From R1 400 per couple per night BOOK: ngoyelodge.co.za

BUFF AND FELLOW, GARDEN ROUTE