Horses, Vistas and more Sharks

Well it's been a couple of days since my last post. The internet in the last couple of places has either been very slow or too expensive.

Since my last post I've traveled through the Garden Route into the Transkei(or Eastern Cape) and finally to Kwazulu-Natal. The weather has been on and off - I seem to get one day of rain and one day of sun everywhere I go.

I stayed in Cinsta on the Garden Route at a hostel that was more resort than hostel. The place is perched on a hill with fantastic views of the bay below. I spent a lot of time on a hammock reading or walking the beach! I did manage to get some activities in though - went horse riding along the beach. Now I've always felt that I liked horses better from a distance and that they felt the same about me. But I was convinced to give it a try. It was great - although I was sore for a couple of days after. We rode the horses from the top of the hill down to the beach and then I actually managed to trot and canter with my horse (look at me - horsewoman using technical terms!!!) :) Lots of drinking and socializing was had in Cinsta - I met loads of people who are in Africa on volunteer projects - makes me feel like a bit of a slacker for being on holidays!

A 6 hour bus ride later and I was in Coffee Bay. Coffee Bay is like the Byron Bay( for those of you who know OZ) of SA. Lots of people end up hanging out there forever. It's in the heart of the Transkei - very poor area of SA where the Xhosa live (pronounce with a click of the tongue) - and has a mix of hippies and surfers. There are two hostels in Coffee Bay - I managed to pick the one where NO ONE was staying. My first night there I ended up sitting at the bar chatting with the bartender all night. Nice of him to keep me company and nice to get a white South African's perception on Apartheid and the ongoing racism in this country. The next day I took a walk over to the other hostel and found out where everyone was hiding. Booked myself on hike to the Hole in the Wall. What can I say about the hike... first and foremost it was stunning, beautiful, amazing views, beautiful weather... But it was a hell of a walk!! The Transkei (or at leat the bit that I've seen) is very hilly - there really is not much flat space. Where one hill ends another begins. We spent 3 hours hiking up and down the hills around the coast. As you can imagine the trail is not a real defined trail - more of a sheep trail (of which we encountered many). Going down was risking your life everytime - needless to say when they offered us a shuttle for the return trip everyone was very keen!!

I arrived in Umkomass last night - home to the Aliwal Shoal, famous for the large amounts of ragged tooth sharks (Raggies) that visit the area this time of year. Awoke at 7 AM this morning, threw on some diving gear and hopped into a boat (the inflatable kind) to bounce our way across the ocean to the dive site. The boat ride was insane!! I skinned my knuckles holding on for dear life. We would hit the peak of a wave and come slamming down at the bottom of it. Very scary - worse than a roller coaster. Once we arrived at the dive spot we all jumped into the water and swan down 18m. It was a nice dive and we did see lots of Raggies - but I have to say that I've been spoiled by Australia. The visibility was so-so and the fish life was not as plentiful as I have seen. We did see a huge stingray - apparently the same kind that killed Steve Irwin - it's body was probably the size of a picnic table (the normal kind - not the kind Keith and Ruth were at in Marystown!!!). The dive is a drift dive which means you swim with the current, but because the weather was a little weird today we spent a lot of time swimming against the current. I was very tired by the end of it and could barely manage to fight the swells and plop myself back in the boat!!

I'm in Durban now, trying to get some was done before I leave - very smelly. On Sunday I start my overland trip so I would expect that my updates will be less frequent. Also because of the cost and speed of the internet I can't add any pics so I will have to do that the next time I get to a computer.

Sala kakuhle (stay well in the Xhosa language)

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