The beautiful Tsitsikama Forest is a personal favorite since visiting it for the first time. Nature’s valley as well as Storms River (its camp site was voted a couple of years ago as one of the 5 most romantic in SAJ) are not to be missed.
Jeffrey’s Bay is a must stop for every surfer and the Super Tubers speak for themselves…
The Bavianskloof Mountain range is a pleasant alternative to the coast line.
The highlight of this province, if possible to say is the one and only Wild Coast. What different beauty! Makes you truly wonder if you are still in the same country. Banana trees, humid heat, tropical climate…. Here we had one of the most wonderful cultural experiences in SA. A 5 day 70km hike from Port St Johns to Coffee Bay, accommodation was provided by the lovely Xhosa people in their villages along the way.
The first step of actually leaving the sleepy town of Port St’Johns might be one of the hardest steps to make. Once you arrive you feel at home, it’s as easy as that. The surrounding is beautiful; the climate pleasant, the people act as if you have known them forever and the water is warm! Concerning the latter however, also shark-infested. While having our Christmas breakfast on a lovely veranda with the view of the beach, the body of a lifeguard got washed back, he had been taken 5 days ago by a shark. That was the 4th person in 3 years. And we were getting concerned about Muizenberg?
Once the hike begins, the rolling green hills of this region loose part of their initial beauty after walking up the 10th one on a day with a 20kg backpack.
However, the mealie pap of the previous evening, proudly prepared by the head of the household, the Xhosa mama, along with chicken from the yard, corn, butternut and stew topped up with mealie pap prepared as porridge for breakfast definitely gives you the strength required. Such friendly, self-sufficient people. Integrating an experience like into the South African school curriculum would teach in what a completely different way life can be lived and would give a different perspective to life outside the guarded cities and to the culture and hospitability they bear.
The hike ends in Coffee Bay. A place which seems to have attracted all the mushroomies from Cape Town and backpackers from around the globe. A minibus took us from there to Umatata and with a bus we got to Chintsa where we ‘treated ‘ourselves with dormitory beds (indeed, no double bedroom available) in the famous Chintsa Backpackers to spend New Year’s and recover from the hike on the beautiful beach and relaxed environment. To our pleasure the Backpackers had an improvised Sauna and Jacuzzi, that was the extreme of Luck and we took full advantage of it which was much appreciated by our blisters and sore backs. The next day, a party was planned to celebrate the New Year, we decided to cook in our little kitchen and had managed to find a bottle of sparkling in the convenience store of the village. However, while the food was just digested, the stomach became very upset. Midnight was spent on the toilet, with fevery shivers, extreme nausea and all sorts of nice stuff. Nothing worse of being in such a state in a dormitory bed sharing the room with 3 other people. Well actually, there is, the 20 hour bus ride back to Cape Town the next day.
Beautiful place, beautiful memories, stunning nature and people!
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