Blogs from Coffee Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa

We left at 06:00 on Saturday morning and wasted no time because the Tracks4Africa planner indicated approximately 09hours of driving from Kei Mouth to Mdumbi. The weather forecast predicted a 60% chance of rain, increasing as the day progressed. I have to congratulate the South Africa weather burro. They were spot-on and we did get a little wet during the last 2 hours of our trip. Here is the address: http://www.weathersa.co.za Shortly after crossing the Kei river with an innovative ferry, we turned off onto the "Wild coast 4wd Trial". There is a small rocky river crossing and thereafter a real rocky challenge, not meant for the bigger adventure motorcycles with small riders. This first obstacle is... read more

The Silver Bullets on tour - part one, take two! Day 1: Sedgefield Myoli Beach We had planned to leave at 6 am but due to a late Friday night – what with Shabbat and then popping in to wish Carla (my friend from Johannesburg) a Happy Birthday as she came too Cape Town for the weekend to celebrate and that was the only time we could see her – we put back our departure by an hour so and we only left at 7. Our drive was lovely especially once we got past Mossel Bay. We were aiming to get to the Sedgefield Market before it closed but we got there as it was closing and most of the regular clientele had left. We didn’t find anything to buy which was probably a good ... read more

The journey to Coffee Bay was long. After a 7 hour drive to Mthatha, we waited for a shuttle bus, which would take a further 2 hours. After dropping us at the Shell Ultra City, our driver seemed to abandon us for about 45 minutes, which was slightly worrying, but he did eventually return. While swapping busses I bumped into Albjon from Kruger, who had just come from Coffee Bay. He assured me that I would have a good time there, so I was pretty excited. The shuttle was fairly uncomfortable because it was packed full of people (as Coffee Bay was so popular), and there were a ridiculous amount of potholes in the road. The driver did his best to avoid them but it was a fairly pointless venture. I also met the guys who ... read more

Taking the 7 hour flight on a Boeing 747 Malaysian air flight I left my journey of nearly 5 months in South America for Cape Town, South Africa. Landing on the continent of Africa has been a big dream of mine for years. The wildlife, the people, cultures and most of all the wide open spaces with limited modern technology. A place with pure unspoiled landscapes with potential to apply renewable energy systems to already sustainable lifestyles. I have timed my trip here in Africa with another dream of mine, attending the World Cup of soccer/ futbol. Starting in less than three weeks from now. Landing in Cape Town South Africa on April 8th 2010 I checked into Long Street Backpacker in the main trendy area with restaurants, shopping and nightlife. A, great hostel excellent location ... read more

Day 50 - Coffee Bay - 17/9/09 The Baz Bus journey was the same as yesterday; long and boring. It arrived for me at the backpackers at 0630, the morning was grey and cloudy and that pretty much was exactly the way I felt about everything!! The same people got on at the various places they had been deposited around Port Elizabeth the previous night. We stopped off at various points to pick up extra people who hadn’t been on the bus the previous night; in fact when we left Port Elizabeth it was quite uncomfortable as the bus was completely full. We continued though the Eastern Cape, dropping people off and picking other people up until we reached the town of Mthatha where we passed by the house where Nelson Mandela grew up, the driver ... read more