Blogs from Chintsa, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 3

Chintsa (pronounced sint-za, and also spelled Cintza) is a small town at the beginning of the Wild Coast, an aptly named raw and remote stretch of beaches, mostly untouched and stunningly beautiful. History and circumstance seem to have conspired to save the Wild Coast from development but one must assume it can't be too far off. It is an unfortunate truism that land that looks like this doesn't stay undeveloped for long. Luckily for those who live here, there seem to be many rules and regulations regarding development desinged to protect the natural beauty and ecosystems found in the region, and the indigenous populations that have called it home through the centuries. Chintsa marks the beginning of these miles upon miles upon miles of secluded, hard to reach, empty white beaches on the warm Indian Ocean, ... read more

Well we had planned to get to East London and then get the bus to Coffee Bay but we discovered it was quicker to have the shuttle take us to a place called Cintsa and get on the baz bus there. They left us at a hostel called Buccaneers which looked amazing and we were a bit gutted we hadn't decided to stay there. An american guy who works there told us that we had loads of time before the bus was going to pick us up and that it would probably be here at 12:30 - 1pm, so we left our bags and walked down to the beach front for a paddle, however when we got back to the hostel the bus had already been!! It had come at 12pm......so we were a bit disappointed ... read more

We drove down to the "Wild Coast", which meant we drove through large sections of the Transeki - the Xhosa homelands - hill after hill after hill covered in huge numbers of small black homesteads, and many of these hills were far too steep to farm. No idea how the people manage in these areas. The beach at Port St. Johns was lovely, we only had to share it with one other person as we played in the relatively warm waves. No development at all along this section of the coast. Lots of rumors that this would soon change. We then moved onto Cintsa, a more developed area with a few holiday homes on the beach. But the beach was enormous, really really wide and stretching far further than we could walk. Had to share it ... read more

Greetings Peeps, I have commenced my travelling with a short stay in Johannesburg, which I found to be a little daunting for a traveller on ones own… and this because I met a guy from Manchester in my Dorm, soon after I arrived, and he told me how he had just been mugged on his way to the hostel (a road near the main train station)!! That hardly made me want to venture into the centre of the city. But cities are cities hey and girls will be girls or something like that! My first planned stop was at the Drakensberg region between Jo’berg and Durban and good gravy Marie that took my breath away. The mountain range of Drakensberg, which I’d not heard of before researching South Africa (look it up if you’re bored!) is ... read more