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Sunshine Coast
We checked out of the timeshare and walked up the steep hill to the taxi station looking for transportation to Storm's River. After negotiating for a little while, we agreed on a price and took off. We were going the opposite direction that the mini bus's were going so we had to pay a little more, but had a private bus to take us to our destination through Tsitsikamma Coastal National Park. After getting lost once, we made it to Tube 'n Axe Backpackers in Storm's River, just outside of the park. We checked in for one night. I got a dorm bed and went to bed early, as I was recovering from the previous night, and had a big day ahead.
We got up the next morning and got a shuttle to Bloukrans River Bridge, home of the worlds highest bungee jump at 216 m. There were only 3 of us on this shuttle, one being an Israeli named Hanan, who has been traveling for the past 4 years ever since he finished his army commitment. The jump was a rush that I had experienced once in New Zealand, and easily rivals skydiving. After the jump,
we went back to Tube 'n Axe and waited for our transportation to pick us up to take us to Jeffrey's Bay. We had about 6 hours to kill. This time we had to take the Baz Bus. The Baz Bus is fairly pricy, but it is set up for backpackers and is very safe and convenient as it only picks up and drops you off at different hostels throughout South Africa and Swaziland. A lot people purchase 30 day passes on this bus. We like to take the mini buses/taxi's when we can because they are cheap, a little more challenging, and it's an experience in itself.
We rode on the Baz Bus for a couple of hours until we got to Island Vibe Backpackers in Jeffrey's Bay. This spot was amazing. It was elevated on a small hill overlooking the ocean. Jeffrey's Bay, or J Bay as it is called by the locals, is a small surfing village and is world renowned for its 'supertubes'. The next day we hiked to the spot were most of the surfers were. The huge waves were nonstop, as were the surfers catching them. A few of the surfers looked like
they were being completely destroyed by the waves. It was quite a show, and fairly close to the shore so we had a good view. We hung out that night at the pub in Island Vibe.
The next morning we took off hoping to get as close to Hogsback as possible. Our friend Hanan wanted to go, but he had a Baz Bus pass, and the bus didn't run that direction on Wednesdays. He wouldn't be able to get there for 2 more days, so he said he would meet up with us then. We hiked to the mini taxi stand, but there weren't many taxi's around. Eventually we got one to take us to Port Elizabeth, called PE by the locals. This 'taxi' was an unmarked little white car. We drove around some slums until we found one more person to go, and then the 5 of us took off for PE. A few hours later we got to PE, and decided to keep on going. We had the car drop us off at the taxi stand and found a mini bus going to East London. We were one of the last ones on so we didn't have
to wait long to take off. This mini bus even had some storage space for our backpacks so we didn't get charged extra for them. We stopped in King William's Town, and the driver told us to get out of the mini bus and get into this unmarked Volkswagen that was to take us the rest of the way. That ride was a bit cramped as there were 4 of us in the back seat. We finally made it to East London, and by this time it was night. We tried to get the driver to take us as close to Sugar Shack Backpackers as he could, but eventually he decided he had driven us far enough and dropped us off next to the beach. Fortunately, he dropped us off close to the Sugar Shack.
The next morning we got up and the receptionist took us to a shopping center in town so I could splurge on a sleeping bag and mat. I knew I would be doing a lot more camping and wanted to be comfortable. We went near the grave site of Steve Biko. A local told me Biko would have been president instead of Nelson Mandela
had he not been tortured to death in the 70's. After loading up on supplies, a shuttle came to the Sugar Shack to bring us to Hogsback and Away with the Fairies backpackers. The owner of Sugar Shack, Away with the Fairies, and Coffee Shack (located in Coffee Bay) drove the shuttle, which was a small car carrying 5 of us. I asked why it was called Away with the Fairies, and he said that was its name when he bought it 12 years ago. Apparently it means you've lost your mind, you've gone away with the fairies.
Hogsback was very interesting to me. I'm a Lord of the Ring's fan, and apparently J.R.R Tolkien traveled to Hogsback and the locals like to believe that some of his influence for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring's trilogy came from Hogsback. The scenery was amazing, with mountains and valleys and waterfalls. Everything was green with the exception of a few of the trees leaves having changed colors as it is fall here. Winter is right around the corner. The town has a very unique feel to it. There were monkeys jumping from tree to tree around our campsite.
These moneys were so smart I was told they have figured out how to get into tents to get your food, so we had to keep our tent locked. We had a tree house a few meters away from the campsite. On the edge of Away with the Fairies there was an isolated bathtub on the edge of a cliff overlooking the valley and Hog1, Hog2, and Hog3, the three mountains that are well known in this area, as they look similar to the back of a Warthog. While we were there, we did a 3 hour hike and a 6 hour hike. Hanan caught up with us on the second night. We ended up spending 3 nights there. I would have liked to stay longer, but we have a lot to see and are running out of time. When we drove down the mountain away from Hogsback, the tops of the misty mountains were consumed by a thick white haze.
Wild Coast
From Away with the Fairies, we took a shuttle directly to Chintsa, the beginning of the Wild Coast. It took a couple of hours. We stayed at Buccaneer's Backpackers. We only booked for one night
and set up transportation to Coffee Bay for the next day. Again, we should have stayed here longer as well. Buccaneer's was basically a bunch of small cottages on the side of a big hill just up from the ocean with the camp ground at it's base. They organize free daily activities. That night was drank free wine and played volleyball. The losing team had to jump in the pool. Our team won but I jumped in anyways because it was hot and humid.
The next day we jumped on the Baz Bus again (mini bus's didn't go to Chinsta) and headed towards Coffee Bay. On the way we stopped just outside of Mthatha (sounds like mmm-tata) and took a picture of Nelson Mandela's house. If the flags are up at the house, he is home, but the flags were down. In Mthatha we jumped on another shuttle to Coffee Shack in Coffee Bay.
We ended up spending 5 nights total in Coffee Bay. It is in an area that was formally part of the Transkeai before it became part of South Africa. Coffee Bay and the Transkeai/Wild Coast is an underdeveloped, untouched area of some of the
best coast line that I have ever seen. The whole area is home to the Xhosa (pronounced 'click'- hosa). I've tried to learn a few words, but it is difficult with the clicks. We spent the days in Coffee Bay mostly relaxing with a few hikes and hanging out at the beach. They had nightly entertainment at the Coffee Shack. The best was a local drum band that played up to 8 different drums at the same time with vocals. The hostel had a jungle feel to it, especially when they were playing the drums. One member of this band owns a company that makes these local drums and offered lessons for those interested. I've found the Xhosa people to be very relaxed and friendly. A lot of times walking down the street, we will pass by complete strangers and everyone will smile, wave, and do a local handshake with us that took me a little while to learn. You shake their hand then flick your thumbs together, then usually follow up with knuckles.
Our next destination we decided to see was Bulungula. Normally you have to take two different shuttles to get there, but we found out that
it was possible to hike there in 8 hours , so we arranged to have our backpacks sent to the hostel, packed up a day pack, and the three of us decided to go for it. It was one of the most scenic and difficult hikes that I have ever done, but some of the most unbelievable scenery I have ever seen.. The coastline of the Wild Coast is basically sheer cliffs with thin valleys in between. Sometimes we would be on sand, sometimes rocks, but most of the time we were hiking up and down and transcending huge hills. There wasn't really a trail, with the exception of the occasional goat trail that locals and cows would also use. We were told as long as the Ocean was on our left, we would find it. More than once, I would struggle to get to the top of a hill, and waiting on top would be another amazing view. Part of me would say, wow, this is amazing, and part of me would say, crap, I have to climb that thing next. We left at 730 am and got to Bulungula around 330. Our bags caught up with us around
6. Bulungula is so isolated and difficult to get to, that it would have almost taken us just as long to get to it if we would have taken the shuttles.
The backpackers in Bulungula is unique to anything I have seen. It is set up as an eco-friendly facility. It uses solar and wind for electricity. There is even a solar cooker. It is really dark there at night. Inside the lobby most of the light comes from candles. The showers there are crazy. If you want hot water, you have to take a small kettle, fill it with some paraffin, dump the paraffin in the bottom of this furnace that is attached to the hot water valve, take a piece of toilet paper and shove half of it into the paraffin, and light it with a lighter that they have in the shower. It will burn for 7-8 minutes. When I got a demonstration, I assumed it wouldn't work and I'd be taking cold showers for the next couple of days, but I was wrong. It worked fine.
After spending two nights in Bulungula, we took a 2.5 hour shuttle on probably the bumpiest road I
have ever been on back to Mthatha, looked around for about 3 hours, then took a 6 hour Translux bus to Durbin, the 3rd largest city in South Africa. Next we plan to head to the Drakenburg for a couple of nights and maybe check out the mountain kingdom of Lesotho real quick. After that, we are heading up to Swaziland to go to a 3 day world music festival.
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JB(H)
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A’jabani haqqan!
Wow Justin! From jumping w/ an IDF member to seeing Mandela's estate ... your adventures just keep getting better and better! I'm still telling stories of your last installment when the rental had a blowout and you guys got to experience the wild - those were some nice desert pics. Can't wait to hear what you think of the World Cup! Sallem ‘ala Jeff men ajlee!