The South African coast: Eastern and Western Cape

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So after visiting KwaZulu-Natal, I was off to see more of the Coast in Eastern and Western Cape.

Before heading to the coast, I was in Lesotho and I can tell you that the difference between Lesotho and South Africa is HUGE!

In Lesotho, there are mountains everywhere, not so many people, as many animals as people outside, a very few vehicules (donkeys and horses are still used as transport) and very few shops.

That's why, when I arrived in Matatiele after crossing the border and driving on a bumpy gravel road, it was like a shock for me to go back to the bustling South African life there. There were so many people in the streets, so many shops, vehicles, roads were good, drivers could drive fast,...Big change for me!

Another change was the weather and the scenery: it was much warmer in SA and I exchanged mountains against ocean :D

On the coast, I stayed most of the time with couchsurfers -except near Nature's Valley, where I stayed in a very nice backpackers hostel-. All the people, who hosted me were white local people. So it was interesting to see how they were living here: with houses in nice districts and with helpers coming to clean the house and take care of the garden for them.

From what I could see in SA, I was not so astonished to see that those helpers were black people... That's the reality here: I haven't seen any white people here doing manual jobs... At my host in East London, helpers are coming everyday and the cleaner has been working for the family for 25 years now! She took care of him and his brothers as they were babies and children. Even though, they are not anymore so much in need of having people coming 5 days a week at their place to clean, they don't change this scheduling, as they know that the helpers have their own children and need this job to take care of them.

We talked about the helper situation in South Africa with my host Eduard and I learnt more about this. Almost every one has helpers coming to thier home at least once a week -I could indeed notice this point with most of my hosts in SA-. I will not write down here their salary but in comparison with other jobs, it's not that bad. According to my host, white and black people from middle to high class have helpers. However, helpers prefer working with white people, as they are more respectful with them and pay them better.

Another reality here are the townships:

I was shocked when I noticed the difference in living conditions between white and black or coloured people here. I could see it clearly in Plettenberg Bay for instance.

When I first visited the city centre and the beachfront I thought that it was a rich city. But that's until I got a ride on the national road there and I could see the townships on the other side of the road... such a huge contrasts.

And townships are still better than the squatters here: in those squatters camps people have nothing (no electricity, no water, ...), their camp could burn in 2 seconds... that's the after Apartheid reality here.

However, the government is trying to solve this problem now by building new houses for such people. This will however take years to really improve the situation!

And even, when it's not between townships and nice residential areas, the differences is also big between poor districts and nice residential areas in the city center. I saw that for the 1st time in East London, as I arrived with minibus/taxi in a poor district and my host was living in a nice residential area. So, in the poor districts, you will see a lot of people in the streets, street vendors, a lot of small shops and in the residential area, it is much quieter with fancy restaurants, supermarkets, malls and nice houses. The life is those two districts is so different. I like both those districts: I like the bustling and lively life in the poor districts 😊

To come back on a more positive note, the coast has an amazing scenery: rocky cliffs, nice white sandy beaches, mountains, forest. The coast is ideal for hiking.

And that's indeed one of the things I did mostly here. I hiked along the coast in Nahoon Nature Reserve near East London with my host Eduard, in the Nature's Valley and on Robberg Peninsula near Plettenberg Bay. Those hikes were nice as the scenery was great and for all of them you could stop at some point to go swim in the ocean and rest for a while! What could I dream better of :D

In all of those places, you can enjoy crystal clear water and nice white sand beaches! There are also a lot of sandy dunes.

The hike in Nahoon Nature Reserve was really nice with the cliifs, rocks, big waves, the shells on the rocks,.... We walked on the beach, climbing rocks and in the forest close to the cliffs. Eduard was doing this very quickly barefoot and I was also barefoot but as I am not that used to walk barefoot on sharp rocks, I was following a bit more slowly 😉 On that day, I went inside the ocean for the first time this year 😊 And I am happy to know that it will be not the last time. In fact, almost everyday since that day, I went to the beach and I could enjoy the water 😉 And a bit more each day, I tell myself "you are very lucky to be able to lead such a lifestyle for a year!"

So after East London, I headed to Plettenberg Bay and I could test how my patience skills were doing. In Africa, you indeed need to be patient and not to live on a timetable 😉 For instance, on that day, I waited more than 2 hours at the taxi rank for my vehicle to be full so that we could leave to my first stopover -Porth Elizabeth-. And arriving in PE, I had to wait at least 1,5 hours for my minibus to leave to Plettenberg Bay. This minibus ride was quite an adventure as firstly, I had to sit next to a guy drinking strong alcohol the whole drive and becoming quite annoyingwhen he got drunk and secondly, I did not know where my hostel was so I got the minibus driver to make a 25-km detour to get me there following the hostel's employee indications... For your information, minibus here are definitely not supposed to do that but I am lucky he had otherwise I would have had to walk all the way from the highway to the hostel at 7.30pm in the dark... I thanked him with a tip obviously!

My hostel there was situated in the Nature's Valley. This hostel was great with very friendly people -most of them volunteers-, good food and an amazing view from the terrace deck! It was also convenient from there to hike in the Nature's Valley. It was a very diverse 6-km hike in the countryside, forest, along the shore, near the river mouth, the beach, the rocks! I especially enjoyed the arrival at the river mouth: there was a little beach there, very remote with noone elsa than me!! I could enjoy the scenery by myself :D

After Nature's Valley, I went to Plettenberg Bay, where I could experience different things: the beachfront with the touristy city center, the very community based evening parties -with my host-, the wonderful hike on Robberg Peninsula and the nice old city of Knysna. As I said earlier, I also experienced the differences between townships and residential areas there.

The hike on Robberg Peninsula is great as everywhere you hike you can look down at the ocean, see seals and dolphins, relax at the beach, walk on the rocks. I did the longest hike there -9-km hike all around the peninsula. It is a really nice and not difficult hike. I would advise it for anyone, even to the people, who are not big hikers! If you follow the hiking trail and don't do as I did -not following the path and discovering other more difficult places to walk in-, you should be able to complete the hike easily.

The party in Plett was an experience in its own for me as I could see how everyone knows everyone here, it is really community oriented (a bit like in Desperate Housewive :p). Everyone was very friendly, down-to-earth, enjoying their life and having fun dancing. My host Sean was DJ at the party and he was a really good one! The music was amazing and very different than from the one in normal commercial nightclubs!

I got lucky to meet a very nice guy -Jonathan- at the party that I met by chance on the next day when I was going to buy my bus ticket to Cape Town. This guy had free time on the next day and he took me to a lot of nice places around Plett where I wouldn't have been if he wasn't there! He and his wife are really nice people that I was happy to have met and to talk to at that party and on the next days. As my host Sean was pretty busy during my stay, it was nice to have someone to take me around!

From Plettenberg Bay, I took a night bus going to Cape Town. Before finishing this post, I would like to tell you about another thing that black people told me while I was waiting at the bus station on that evening. Two black girls my age asked me whether I was South African and when I said "no, I am French". they told me that they were almost sure I wasn't from here from my behavior. They said that white people here would never wait for a bus so close to black or coloured people and wouldn't talk to them so friendly as I was doing... I was quite shocked by this comment but it seems that it's another reality after Apartheid: there is still this difference between the communities! For me, during my trip, as I am always taking the cheap local transportation and I could notice how friendly everyone -mostly black people in those transports- was with me. That's why I don't see why I should make a difference in my behaviour with white or with black people!

Hope you enjoy this post, it's difficult sometimes to write exactly what I feel during this trip but I can just say that I am having a blast, loving my trip and enjoying every day the fullest :D

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Photos

Robberg Peninsula
Hiked there from the right end and all around it :) 9-km hike

Comments

[Valérie]

Coucou!
Chère Natasha, Je viens te faire des bisous! Merci pour ton blog! C est vraiment une excellente idee ce voyage !!! Toutes mes félicitations! J aimerais bien être avec toi :o))) Valérie