http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , South Africa , Eastern Cape , Coffee Bay en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:19:30 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:19:30 UTC just for those people who are checking my blog to see how i'm doing now i'm fine. my emergency card arrived i can pay my way again. i've left port elizabeth YAY spent 3 lovely days in chintsa and now am in coffee bay. but i don't have solid enough internet to properly post. i will again as soon as i can. but know that i'm happy healthy safe http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-349987.html As I sat on the plane at Heathrow the sky outside was grey and rainy far too many hours and no sleep later I sat drinking a cold beer with Helen in sunny Warner Beach catching up on all the news and excited about our trip ahead that sees us heading north through Southern and Eastern Africa as far as Uganda. After a few days of lazing around we moved further along the Wild Coast to the smaller http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-317839.html The road to Coffee Bay is hideous. DO NOT DO IT AT NIGHT. It is narrow and full of pot holes and animals and people and stuff. The trip takes FOREVERbut it is what you would expect when going to a very rural part of the country.Coffee Bay is VERY RURALit is small and don't expect to find much there other than the backpackers spots and other accommodation establishments.We arrived at the Coffee S http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-294451.html Coffee Bay ist ein Phaenomen... Am unberuehrtesten Punkt in Suedafrika der Wild Coast gelegen aber ueberfuellt bis zum Aeussersten. Ein Geheimtip unter Backpackern... so geheim und so beliebt dass es schon Pflicht ist. Klingt komisch is aber so.Der Bus passiert das Haus von dem grossen schwarzen Mann sowie sein Dorf in dem er gross geworden ist. Der gemeine Weisse nennt ihn Mandela. Jeder Sch http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-293930.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HEREOn Friday after enjoying the sunrise at Bulungula I reluctantly hop on the shuttle that will take me away from this little piece of paradise and bring me back to civilizationor actually somewhere in between Coffee Bay. To my disappointment they don't grow coffee here I've been drinking instant coffee for the past days ugh.... There are several stories http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-291509.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERESeveral people have recommended that I go stay at the Bulungula Lodge on the Wild Coast as it is said to be the most beautiful stretch of coast in the country. I believe them. But man do you have to deserve it Eight hours on the bus from Port Elizabeth followed by two and a half hours of dirt road the last half hour of which would probably be covered fas http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-291500.html Even though the internet is slow and expensive it's raining so I'm going to update since it's been a hundred years.I left Port Elizabeth... a week ago who knows at this point.The drive out of the city was cool because it was like 7am so you got to watch everyone getting up going to work that sort of thing.I also entered the Eastern Cape at this point which is the poorest province in South A http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-284940.html After the Drakensberg I moved on to Coffee Bay where I met up with Jess Tracie and Kerry. Coffee Bay is in an area of South Africa known as the Transkei Wild Coast. The rural region lives up to its name and I loved how different it was than anywhere else Irsquove been. The landscape was dotted with round mud huts most a bluegreen color. And we had little kids lining the road as we pass http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-276349.html One night shortly after I arrived in South Africa I grabbed my iPod and sat out on the lawn in Annie's Cove and looked up at the stars while listening to Paul Simon's Graceland. I know it sounds silly but that album is part of the soundtrack of my childhood and I had the urge to listen to it while trying to experience the stars in the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately Port Elizabeth is just http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-273111.html HelloI didn't mean for my entries to be so few and far between but access to the internet has been a little tough lately. I'm writing from Durban where I'm just spending a night before I head to Swaziland tomorrow. I spent the last week in the Transkei region in an area known as the Wild Coast which has by far been the highlight of the trip so far. It is one of the most remote unspoilt http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-250399.html Hi there.Ready for the next chapter Are you sitting comfortably Then I'll begin On the 18th October I said my farewells to Jeffrey's Bay and boarded the bus at 5.30am with Caroline. Ahead of us was a 12 hour bus ride up the East coast. Just what I needed we were soon into the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape and revelling in the solitude and rawness of it all. This part of South Africa is http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-217811.html This morning we left the Draksenburgs behind and headed back to the nearest town to drop Robert off. From here we drove all day to reach Coffee Bay. I was very excited about a Bay that seemed to scream Java to me but alas it is named Coffee Bay not because there are coffee plantations here which there are none but because so many years ago a boat hauling a cargo of coffee beans wrecked near the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-204320.html Como dicen los beach boyseverybody suuurfing surf in ...Coffee Bay. Coffee Bay es sin duda uno de los mejores lugares para surfear agua calientita olas de buen tamao pero nada mas cuidado con los tiburones blancos y no es broma en las playas ponen redes para que estas bestias acuaticas blancas no se cuelen. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-197466.html It was shite Got up for a long drive to Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast our stop on route to Addo Elephant Park. We had heard good things about Coffee Bay from other travellers and as it was halfway to Addo it seemed a good idea. The first nightmare was the endless drive from the N2 to the coast which seemed to take forever. Rach was kept amused by all the colourful houses and rondavels dotted http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-190332.html After a typical late start we headed east along the coast to a campsite in Hermanus which was packed full with redneck Afrikaners getting their Easter fill of barbecued Boerwors a traditional South African sausage whilst scouring the 'outsiders' with distaste...well that's the way it seemed at the time anyway Maybe it had something to do with turning up late the night before leaving the motor http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-164847.html After JBay I moved on from to the Wild Coast in the Transkei region which is quite a bit further up in the direction of Durban. It was a 9hour bus ridemdashouch But it left so early 530am that only half of it was during waking hours anyway. As usual I had two seats to myself so I was able to curl up and complete my nightrsquos sleep. I reached Mthatha which is a town inland from Coffe http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-160045.html Wed 25th A big drive today heading to Cyntza. We stopped at Graham's town for lunch and stocked up on things for T's washbag that was left in Swellingham we think. Arrived at Cyntza to a really amazing backpacker place. We had our own apartment next to the beach. We were really suprised to meet up with Gary and Nicki from the wine tour and T's trip round Africa so we went and had a few beer http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-155640.html So . . . . we left Swaziland and drove south through kwazulu Natal that's Zululand straight through to Durban. Now we didn't see much of Durban so we can't say exactly what it was like but we didn't like the atmosphere. A big 'gt dirty city we stayed in a nice hostel called the Hippo Hide in the nice subburbs. Having driven through the centre on route we didn't like the look of it and stayed http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-155032.html Chris Fergus and I arrived in Mtata at around 300 and then had to wait until around 430 for the Baz bus from the other direction to get there. She shuttle out to Coffee Bay took about an hour and a half...I thought it would be about 45 minutes but I had heard wrong so the guys were not impressed We got there around six and Fran and Thommo just happened to be there so it was awesome to meet up http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-142565.html I spent the better part of the last week on the Wild Coast in the Transkei. This is a very rural area that wasis very poor and often forgotten in the Apartheid era. Simple local Xhosa farming villages dominates it. The landscape is rolling green hills that come right down to the beach. I stayed at Bulungula. This is a small backpackers that is 40 owned by the local community. I only intended to http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-140812.html Irsquove heard so much about this place and it lives up to its hype. In the middle of nowhere lies lsquoCoffee Shackrsquo right on the sea with beautiful views and amazing sunsets. Done quite a lot of Hiking and cliff jumping Oh and saved one of my fellow jumpers life He jumped after me and he looked up when he jumped so landed on his back knocking the wind out of him and he could not get http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-134089.html After a brief overnight stop in Durban we decided it was time for a 2nd road trip. We picked up a cheap small car and headed down the South Coast. First stop was a small town called Umzumbe the attraction was a cool looking hostel called the Mantis and Moon set amongst banana trees a short walk from a surfing beach. The place did not disappoint we got a small wooden hut and access to table tenni http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-111830.html Here is another Blog as promised.U'd better appreciate this one and excuse the spelling because we've been partying for 2 days solid nowAnyway After dicing with death with Great Whites we spent a couple of days at Plettenberg Bay and then a couple of nights at Port Elizabeth. Not much to report from these places but we met some wkd people and spent most our time sitting around the Braai barbe http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-95502.html Hello again I've done quite a lot since the last blog effort so will try and tell you as much as possible without boring you Well Cintsa as lovely a place as it is turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. On first inpsection the place was really cool right near an amazing beach with a really nice little chalet for us to stay in. We decided we were going to go horseriding along the beach http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-92303.html We arrived in Coffee Bay late Good Friday afternoon to Neils manager warm smile a welcome drink Coffee Shack. After our 9hr hike a glass of red has never tasted so goodCoffee Bay was booked out thanks to the Easter weekend so thank god we had booked We signed up for dinner as we had no provisions it was awsome. Yummy Xsosa bread veg soup med pasta. Poor Deano turned green during din http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-58823.html Seven of us set out from Bulungula with the aim of hiking the thirty km to Coffee Bay via Hole in the Wall. Kris and Laurel were two of our companions and like myself and indeed our trusty guide Simon there were a few hangovers. We were warned to keep Simon out of the shebeens we would pass as we may not make it A shebeen is an illegal pub or someone usually just selling beer out of their hut http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-58591.html We'd heard from one or two travellers about a place called Bulungula that although run by a white guy was owned predominantly by the local community and in addition to only using gas and solar power were 100 eco friendly. We decided to check it out and needed to pre book a shuttle as once again it was in very remote 4wd territory. The shuttle ride lasted a couple of hours and along the way Dave http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-58442.html