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Published: September 25th 2011
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My Heros! Big Thanks to ....
Checked shirt - O.H Mhandwa; blue jersey - Freedom Nkululeko; Orange T Shirt - L Zwide; Black top - Lulamile Fiki; Mark; Red jersey - Lubabula Fiki (excuse typos - writing wasn't too clear!) K - This week we had our first unplanned travel adventure when, on our way to Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast our car broke down on a very remote stretch of untarred road. Basically a U bracket sheared off and our rear suspension fell off! Mmm…we had a spare tyre and loads of tools but spare suspension brackets – nope, we were all out of those!
Apart from the fact that we were still 20K from our destination this was not an area where we would wish to leave the truck unattended and also not an area where we wanted to spend the night. It was also a road where, in the following 4 hours, we had a mere 8 vehicle pass us.
Fortunately we had cell phone coverage and after a frustrating hour we managed to speak to the right person at our friends breakdown insurance company and an hour after that (it is now 3.40pm) that we were told that a towing truck was on its way and would arrive in 90 minutes - to tow us to Mthatha, a large town 90KM away which we had deliberately decided to bypass. The Rough Guide to South
Africa describes it as “....not somewhere you'd choose to spend the night" stating that most backpackers and motorists avoid it due to "crowds, traffic and fear of crime". So arriving after dark with no accommodation and no transport would not be part of our ideal travel plan. In fact, this proposed tow was more stressful to me than the actual experience of being stranded.
Just then a truck drove up with 5 guys in it. I confess I was suspicious and nervous of accepting assistance and I showed it. However, Mark, who was outside the truck and chatting to them, became a little more relaxed and accepted their offer of help. Thank goodness he did. These guys were amazing. Together with Mark they took the wheel off and using jacks and hammers manipulated the suspension back in to place. One of them then went back to his village and returned with 2 U bolts which they bent in to shape and fitted to the car. They spent well over 2 ½ hours working on our car just to help us.
I apologized in person several times for my initial suspicions and now apologize to them again in writing.
THANKYOU!! The repair they did was not temporary – the vehicle is now 100% OK and can be driven all the way back to Cape Town as planned. We dug around in our emergency funds to say a more practical thank you but I know they helped because they wanted to and because they are the sort of guys who like to fix things not at all for monetary gain. They have restored my faith in human nature and what could have been the worst experience of our trip actually became one of the best.
Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall were both beautiful pieces of coastline and I attach several photos, which speak louder than words. What I could not photograph properly however were the dolphins we watched surfing in the breakers whilst we drank our morning coffee and the many, many Whales who were splashing around. I have never seen so many whales! They were protecting their calves by splashing their tails in the air and half breaching – it was Whale City out there – and we sent a couple of hours sitting on the cliffs just watching them frolic.
After 2 nights we
have continued down the Wild Coast but prudently / cowardly we decided to avoid the back roads so headed instead down the main, tarred Road to Chinsta West. Here we found another beautiful beach and an excellent campsite where we were forced to spend 2 nights as we had to watch the Rugby!
Scroll down for more photos.
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