Best kitesurfing spots in Africa and the Indian Ocean

The winter half of the calendar, and the half where the tide table matters more than the forecast.

Cape Town, South Africa

The Cape Doctor, a south-easterly, blows through the Cape summer and makes Table View, Blouberg and Big Bay the sport's big-air arena; the King of the Air runs here.

November to March is the season: 20–40 knots on strong days and 25–45 quoted at the peak, cross-shore, over Atlantic swell of 0.5–3 m in 14–18 °C water that wants a 4/3. Advanced Local marketing sometimes calls Big Bay family-friendly; the spot page says why it is not: strong gusty wind, cold water, shore break, rocks and a crowded lineup.

Learn at Langebaan and come here when you can get out through the break on your own.

Zanzibar (Paje), Tanzania

Paje, on Zanzibar's south-east coast, is a reef lagoon with two seasons. The Kaskazi from the north-east runs December to mid-March at 12–18 knots with the odd 20-knot day: lighter, warmer, the easier of the two for a first trip. Beginner The Kusi from the south-east runs June to September or October and averages 18–22 knots, pushing past 23 in July and August, and that is the jumping season.

April, May and late October to November are the rain weeks. The tide sets the timetable: the water is flattest and shallowest on mid and low tide, which is when the schools teach, and on the lowest tides the inner lagoon drains and everyone moves out to the sandbanks.

El Gouna and Ras Sudr, Egypt

The Red Sea is Europe's most dependable short-haul wind. El Gouna, a resort town north of Hurghada, is a beginner factory in the good sense: shallow standing-depth teaching areas, marked school zones, sandbar islands offshore.

Beginner The wind is north to north-westerly, side-onshore from the left, 15–25 knots on a main-season afternoon gusting near 28, and March to November is the reliable window; winter sits nearer 12–18, and the rare winter south-westerly is the one direction that blows offshore.

Ras Sudr, on the Gulf of Suez two hours from Cairo, is windier: 16–25 knots over the same season, a working average nearer 17–18 on the roughly eight days in ten that are rideable. Wave riders should look elsewhere.

Le Morne, Mauritius

Under the Le Morne mountain, a reef lagoon gives flat standing-depth water inside and, out on the pass, two famous waves: One Eye, fast and hollow and for expert wave riders only, and Manawa, softer and bigger and workable for a strong intermediate.

The south-east trade blows 15–25 knots through the April-to-October winter, strongest June to September, under 24 °C air with a shorty. Advanced The tide is a gate, not a detail: Manawa wants high water, One Eye is mid-to-high only because the reef there nearly dries, and 20 knots of settled trade is the minimum before the wave works.