Durban and Maputo · ~560 km · a full day
Durban to Maputo transfers
A Durban to Maputo transfer is a private, door-to-door car journey from KwaZulu-Natal up the N2 and through the Kosi Bay / Ponta do Ouro border to the Mozambican capital — your own vehicle and driver for roughly 560 km, a full day on the road including the crossing. It works the same in both directions, and the fare doesn’t move whether we collect you at King Shaka airport, your hotel, or a house in the suburbs.
$535
Request your transfer on WhatsApp- A private car with driver — just your group, Durban to Maputo
- Any pickup point, same fare — King Shaka airport, hotel or home in Durban, the price doesn’t change
- Both directions, same $535 — Durban to Maputo or Maputo to Durban
- Fuel, tolls and the Katembe bridge included — the fare we agree is the whole fare, nothing added on the road
Staying somewhere that needs a 4x4? You must tell us when you book. Our standard transfer cars aren’t 4x4s — we have 4x4s and will gladly arrange one, but we don’t run the lodges, so we can’t know which access roads need one. Check with your accommodation and let us know.
No changes, no timetable
How the Durban–Maputo
transfer works.
Booking the Durban–Maputo transfer takes one WhatsApp message — no terminal, no connections, no changing vehicles at the border. Here’s how it goes.
- 1
You tell us the date and direction
Your travel date, which way you’re going, where to collect you, and the address at the other end. A sentence is enough to start.
- 2
We confirm and quote it
We check availability and send a fixed $535 fare — the same price from any pickup point, with no per-seat maths and no surprises on the road.
- 3
We collect you early and drive
Your driver picks you up at the door, takes the N2 north past Richards Bay and Hluhluwe to the Kosi Bay border, and carries on through Ponta do Ouro and over the Katembe bridge into Maputo — or the same road in reverse.
The route
How to get from Durban to Maputo by road.
Durban to Maputo by road is roughly 560 km via the Kosi Bay border — around seven and a half hours of driving, plus the crossing, so a full day door to door. There are three ways to drive it, and only one of them makes sense: the coastal route through Kosi Bay and Ponta do Ouro. Going round through Eswatini (Lavumisa, then Lomahasha into Mozambique) or north to the Lebombo crossing at Komatipoort both add well over 100 km and a couple of hours.
The South African half is the N2 all the way: north out of Durban past Richards Bay, Mtubatuba and Hluhluwe, then the turn-off towards Manguzi and the Kosi Bay post at the top of KwaZulu-Natal. It’s a good tarred road through the iSimangaliso country, and it’s where most of the day’s driving happens.
The Mozambican half is short and, these days, easy. From the border it’s a few kilometres to Ponta do Ouro, then about 120 km of tarred road up the coast to the Maputo–Katembe bridge — the suspension bridge that opened in November 2018 and turned what used to be a sand track plus a ferry into an hour-and-three-quarter drive into the city. The two toll plazas on that road and the bridge itself each charge a light vehicle 100 MZN; all of it is inside our fare.
It runs the same in reverse. Maputo to Durban is the identical private, door-to-door service for the same $535 — and if you’re flying out of King Shaka, tell us the flight time and we’ll plan backwards from it.
Breaking the journey? Ponta do Ouro is right after the border and worth a night; from Maputo we also run Vilanculos, Tofo and Johannesburg.
The part everyone asks about
Crossing at Kosi Bay.
The Kosi Bay border post is the coastal crossing between South Africa and Mozambique, known as Ponta do Ouro on the Mozambican side. It is a small post compared with Lebombo, which is part of its charm — but it keeps daytime hours, and that is the single thing that decides whether this drive is easy or long.
Timing is the whole trick. The South African side is open 08:00 to 17:00 daily, per the Border Management Authority’s ports-of-entry list, with extended hours over the mid-December to mid-January peak — and hours are adjusted from time to time, so we confirm them close to your date. What we do about it is simple: we leave Durban early enough that you reach the post well inside its hours, with margin for a queue, rather than arriving hopeful at ten to five.
You’ll need your passport, and a visa for the country you’re entering if your nationality requires one — that part is yours to check and ours to plan around, because no operator can cross a border on your behalf. Your driver deals with the vehicle paperwork on both sides, which is the part that catches out self-drivers in a hired car.
Is it safe? The roads on both sides are tarred and our drivers run them regularly. The genuine risk on this route is a late crossing, not the driving — which is exactly why we plan the day around the border instead of around the odometer.
No surprises
What's sorted before you set off.
- One car, the whole way
- Your group in one private vehicle from Durban to Maputo — no terminals, no changes, no swapping vehicles at the border.
- Any pickup, same price
- Collected at King Shaka airport, your hotel, or a house across town — the $535 doesn't move. No airport surcharge, no zone pricing.
- A driver who knows the border
- Someone who runs the Kosi Bay crossing regularly and handles the vehicle paperwork on both sides, so the queue is the only thing you wait for.
- Fixed $535 fare
- Agreed on WhatsApp before you travel — the same price in either direction, with no per-seat charges or surprises at the end. Fuel, tolls and the Katembe bridge are included.
Before you ask
The questions we get most.
How much is a transfer from Durban to Maputo?
How long does it take to drive from Durban to Maputo?
Which border do you cross between Durban and Maputo?
What are the Kosi Bay border opening hours?
What do I need at the border?
Can we stop at Ponta do Ouro on the way?
Do you run Maputo to Durban as well?
How many people and how much luggage can you take?
Last reviewed:
Tell us your date
and which way you're going.
One message and we'll confirm your driver, your pickup, and a fixed $535 fare — Durban to Maputo or back again. No deposit to ask.
Message us on WhatsApp