The Wild Coast

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July 8th 2009

Published: July 8th 2009

Hello Everyone;
We have been seeing some of the most beautiful country ever! After leaving Buffalo Bay we went to Nature's Valley and stayed at "The Wild Spirit" backpackers. It was great. We went to Monkey Land, a sanctuary for monkeys from all over the world that have never lived in the wild, but are getting as close to it as they ever will. Some were peoples exotic pets, some came from movie studios, over-crowded zoos and believe it or not, quite a few were organ grinders monkeys taught to be pick pockets, they were confiscated from gypsies all around Europe and Russia. It was really cool. Right next door to it was the largets free-flight bird sanctuary in the world. Same thing, exotic pets and movie birds that needed a home. It was so beautiful. This group of 4 giant blue Amazon Parrots were swooping back and forth and finally landed in the trees right by us. One flew down and started following Aaron around. Aaron took his picture and we started to move on and he just kept following Aaron, finally he started saying "Hello" and talking to Aaron. It was neat, we'd almost forgotten that all the birds in there had been someone's pet once.
After leaving Wilderness, we went to Storm's River Mouth. We had reservations at the Tsitsikamma National Park for a tent site to pitch our tent. Upon arriving they told us no camping that close to the water and they put us in a log cabin. One of the biggest storms they've had in years was moving in. When we got there we stopped and took pictures of these giant crashing waves coming in on the rocks. It was spectacular. They have a really long suspension bridge that spans across the river mouth where it empties into the ocean. We were watching the waves rolling in and walking across the bridge when I looked up and said to Aaron "Wow, that's a really big wave coming in". Luckily we were at the other side of the bridge. I had wrapped my arm around a beam and Aaron had just stepped off the bridge when this wave hit. It completely drenched us both and it actually knocked Aaron about 10 feet up onto the back. Luckily in the direction of land. It was very shocking. After collecting ourselves for a few minutes we watched the waves and then beat feet back across. We were there for 2 nights and it stormed almost the whole time. It is a beautiful area but I'm glad we got to experience such a powerful coastal storm. The waves looked like they were 100 ft. high. They crashed into the shore so hard that our log cabin, which was set back in the woods, would vibrate and it sounded like cannons going off up and down the coast. It really was awesome. It completely wiped out the area they have for tent camping. It ripped all the grass out of the ground, washed away the fencing and some of the brick bbq pits each site had. It really was a powerful experience. The attached picture looks like clouds but it's actually a wave.
Next we went inland to Addo Elephant Park. We did one night in a luxury safari tent set by a watering hole so you can watch animals come in at sundown to drink and the second night we camped in our tent. We saw quite a few animals, different types of antelope, meercat, mongoose, lots of elephants, and my favorite, the warthog. We witnessed 27 elephants at one watering hole. There was really alot of interaction between them. The way they greet each other and carress each other with their trunks, or tell others to stay back from their babies. There were 3 little babies, one looked like it could'nt have been more than a week old. It was very protected by it's mother and other close family members.
Next, we spent a week at Chinsta, at Bucaneer's Backpackers. We did a mountain bike ride that included a village tour of the local people. They are Xshosha, pronounced n-click your tongue-cosa. It was very cool. There's a picture of Mama Tofu, 90 years old, who gave us the tour. She taught me how to grind corn. It was so cool. She was born in that village, married there, had 10 children, and is now the matriarch of the village. Bucaneer's was a little to much of a party atmosphere for us. It's spring break from school here so there were lots of college students coming and going and partying hard. But the beach was nice and actually warm enough one day to swim in the ocean.
Our last stop in this posting was Coffey Bay. So laid back. Very small backpackers, safari tent with bed in their yard. 5 star chef, breakfast & dinner included. Food was awesome, owned by surfers, lots of surfers coming and going. It's right in the middle of Xshosha land, so lots of village life going on all around. They took us to a really nice, deserted beach one day. It was really warm, they surfed, we swam and Aaron discovered oysters on the rocks and you can bet he found a way to get them off the rock and open. Freshest oysters I'll ever eat, literally 15 seconds after opening. We had a great, relaxing time there and kind of hated to leave.
We arrived in Port St. John's today, staying at the Jungle Monkey. The owner has already recruited Aaron to sit in with the house band on guitar tonite. It should be a blast. Until next time, take care and let us hear from you.
Carolyn and Aaron

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