I’m writing this post with quite a bit of nostalgia because this trip is certainly one for the books and absolutely needs some detailed recording.
You’re welcome to visit my blog to see the previous posts on the trip thus far from Cape Town to East London, but today we bid farewell to our friends and got back on the road headed for a part of the South African Coastline that we have never visited before - the Wild Coast!
This area was previously a homeland for the Xhosa tribes and was known as the Transkei (over the Kei River). But post apartheid it became an official part of the Eastern Cape Province and is now affectionately known as the Wild Coast. It’s definitely wild and lives up to it’s name.
Our destination for this short leg was Coffee Bay. It’s a surfing and hiking destination for those willing to live a little rougher and do without some of the luxuries (electricity is intermittent). But the surroundings are incredibly beautiful and highlight the “wild” in the Wild Coast.
We bid farewell to our home for the last 3 days at Driftwood Studios (loved this and you can see more in my previous post) and got on the road for a last chat with our mates at Queensbury, only 15 minutes drive away.
@m8duck had been hoping to fit in a quick surf but the wind wasn’t in his favour this time. On shore surf ain’t gonna cut it!
But a coffee at Chintsa wasn’t out of the question so “Hello” Chintsa Deli. It was so worth it and this little village is really sweet. It’s worth popping by these smaller spots because you just never know what you’re going to find hidden away behind the trees. It’s also home to a pretty cool Clay cafe for those aspiring ceramicists out there.
The sun came out as we drove the highway headed for a refuel in Butterworth. It’s a busy little town about 4 kilometres in length, but luckily due to it being New Years Day the roads were clear and we passed through quickly. My son filled up with a Chicken pie and Coke.
The environment had already started changing as the rolling green hills spread out in front of us and our awareness of livestock crossing the road heightened. The broken Coffee Bay sign came into view after about 2 hours of driving and we hung a right, leaving the N2 highway for the only road that leads to Coffee Bay.
We still had 60 kilometres to go but the map said 1 ½ hours!!!! That gives you an indication of the quality of the potholed road ahead. The first 30 kilometres weren’t too bad, but the invisible speed bumps were a jolt to the system. The next 30 kilometres were slow and tedious. Between the cows, sheep, goats and pigs, we crawled along dodging holes in the road trying not to get a flat tire.
Along the way I did my best to capture the rondawel dwellings (round huts with thatch roof s) but the constant bumping made it a little difficult.
Finally we made the final approach into Coffee Bay around 11am on New Years Day. We had been appropriately scared to death by a friend who warned us about being in the area on the 1st Jan because the parties, noise and broken glass in the streets would be too horrendous to negotiate, but to our surprise we had arrived before the hoards had reached the beach and it was a bit like the calm before the storm. Police were out in force blockading roads ahead of the revellers and prevented us from getting to a neighbouring hotel for lunch.
We parked in the shade under the Frangipani trees at our BnB and we had enough snacks to keep us going. We headed to a secluded beach instead.
This beach was more secluded from the general public and surrounded by green hills, cliffs and a river separating it from the main beach.
It was also our first sighting of cows on the beach! We had heard about it from various friends but it’s quite something to see the cows wading through the mouth of the river and resting on the white sand of the beach along with the human visitors.
The water is warm (much warmer than Cape Town’s oceans) so we jumped in and played in the waves for a while. We happened to meet our friends walking along the beach and had a quick chat about the upcoming hike.
We sat and chatted and took in our beautiful surroundings.
From lunch time onwards we holed up in our self catering accommodation hiding from the hoards of people that had begun arriving. We could hear the music and partying from our room, and did our best to read a book and rest before the next few days began.
We had no idea what lay ahead and it’s probably a good thing too.
Here a map of our route from East London to Coffee Bay:
Join me tomorrow for another instalment of the Summer Road trip when we transferred in a hair raising fashion from Coffee Bay to Port St Johns.
What a trip!
Oh the best part is still coming! The next day we transfer to Port St Johns and then hiked back to Coffee Bay for 5 days! I’ll do day bu day blogs to do it justice. Too much to. Cram into one big blog. And that way they will all be on pinmapple by location too. 😃
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All road leading down to the coast from the main road are hair raising event, careful driving loaded with nerves never knowing what is around the next corner.
Wonderful wild coast to enjoy, pity people are so noisy since this tranquil place really calls for quiet to fully enjoy the bird life, breaking sea along shoreline, stunning views!
Look forward to next installment.
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Aaaaw! thank you! It’s our first time visiting the Wild Coast and now we are already planning to come back in June/July for an extended road trip from Cape Town to St Lucia stopping every 4 hours or so 😃. It will take a while to get there and then home again (via Drakensberg- another place we have never visited) and then to the N1 to get home.
I was woken up by birds every morning although I didn’t actually see many. I’ll be posting a day by day account of the Wild side hike over the next week so watch this space 😁
From May through to October you should be good to go in cooler conditions, Wild Coast is exceptional, well everything except the roads!
St Lucia there is much to do plan minimum of three night stay with East and West Banks on estuary, close to Hluhluwe/uMfolzi National Game reserve a lot to squeeze in, if not the National Park possibly make inquiries to get to the bat caves which is good hiking but have to have a guide due to timing on tides.
Drakensberg an exceptionally long range try middle to Giants Castle area let me know if you need suggestions closer to the time 😁
Wow! Thanks so much. I’ll pop you a message!
Anytime I am on Discord and in the Hive SA group on WhatsApp, that is when I look so never fear I do get there periodically 😄.
Oh how do I get added to the hive Sa WhatsApp group?? My number is 0823693266
Have put in a request to the Admins will have to see if someone responds 😌
Wow this looks like quite the trip! Cows on the beach?! That is a sight to see. Thank you for sharing this awesome experience.
I’ll post the start of the hike tomorrow and then we hiked for 5 days along the coast. Each stop had its own charm and beauty.
Wow nice view 🥰
Thanks! It’s pretty incredible. Much more to come during the week.
Wow enjoy 🥰
I am now so wanting to go on a roadtrip of my own. As soon as it warms up just a little I think I'm going to stuff a child in a car and be off.
That beach with the reclining livestock is pretty epic!
Ha ha! Our next roadtrip will be child free! We left my 18yo daughter at home and my 16yo son was along for the adventure but he has now vowed that he is never going on a road trip with us again 😂. We’re already planning for June/July - winter here is beautiful up the east coast (but cold on the South and West coast)
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Looks like a great trip, I have never been to Coffee Bay before and would still like to visit it one day. I however did go to Port St Johns a number of years back (Must be around 15 years back) I also found cows on the beach there!!
I hope the rest of your trip went well, I suppose I will see in the next few days!!
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BEERKING.Coffee Bay is such an amazing place to stay and just walk along the coastline. Thanks for sharing 😀
Coffee Bay is such an amazing