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Published: November 8th 2007
Caroline getting her hair done.
Crystal is the hairdresser, I think she calls this room her office!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 largely undeveloped and inhabited by the Xhosa people (one of the 2 major ethnic groups in South Africa, the other being the Zulu people). This is where Nelson Mandela was born and grew up, and what a beautiful place it is. Very similar to the South West of England actually! The Transkei's major attraction is it's coastline, called the 'Wild Coast' which is where we were heading. The bus dropped us in Umatata and from there we got another smaller bus to Coffee Bay. Coffe Bay is a tiny hamlet perched on the cliffs that highly resemble those of Devon!! Apparently it got it's name from a ship wrecked there in 1863 that had a cargo of coffee beans, if you
The Happy Hippy House!
I think this is what we call a living room. want the history.
We decided to stay at Bomvu Backpackers, the Lonely Planet write up rated it as very 'chilled'. Just what we needed after Island Vibe. We soon got our hands on the Djembes and some rythams flowing (or at least everyone else did and I did an excellent base). The next day we took a 10K hike round the coast. We were met at the other end with a fire going for lunch and a cool box full of beers - perfect - oh and a truck so we didn't have to walk back! We spent the next couple of days going for walks and exploring on our own - always with somewhere for lunch on the way.
Then of course it was the Rugy World Cup final. Great - surrounded by South Africans! All the English came to our backpackers for the match, which was a grand total of 7 I think. I watched the match then went straight to bed!! Afrikaans don't need alcohol to be annoying.
By the end of the week we were getting ready to move on. We were doing nothing on our last day when one of the girls
Afritude!
Lucys Dad's T-shirt! Just one of many articles that got stamped. offered to show us around the village. We thought we'd seen everything but accepted anyway - turns out we'd missed heaps. There is a tiny hut that sells a clothing brand called Afritude, unique to Coffee Bay. I had no space for any more clothes but he was happy to spray any of my stuff that I already had, so I got 'new' clothes afterall! Next we got taken to the 'Happy Hippy Hut' as Caroline wanted a hair braid. A family of white South Africans live there, Mum, Dad and 2 kids about 12 and 8. They sleep in tents outside and have a tin roofed house with thier stuff in. Everywhere is painted with massive butterflies and flowers, even the outside walls - all very pretty. The girl Crystal is only 12, she did Caroline's hair, and was chatting away to her as if she was in the hairdresers. Some of the sweetest, well behaved kids I've ever met! Oh and whilst we were there it started hailing, they were the size of golf balls! It was so loud I thought the tin roof was going to shatter!! The little boy came in wondering 'why are ices falling
The view...again
One of the beaches. from the sky??'. Then the sun came out again and it was just beautiful. That was such a memorable day.
From Coffe Bay we went back to Umatat to get a 14 hour overnight bus to Johanessburg. Yay! Good job I love buses!
Byeeeeeeeeee x
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Miranda
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Whereabouts of coffebay
I would like to know where would I find coffeebay in transkei. Please give city or town name as well as directions. Thanks