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Another place, another city, another abbreviation - PE, Port Elizabeth, the "friendly city". As it was a compulsory stopover for the bus, we had no choice but to stay - however, it was hardly the most inspired venue we've visited. We'd been the only two on the bus and being 2 hours early, we were treated to an impromptu city tour. It was only 8 o'clock, but the undesirables were already out and about and there was a Moss-side feel to the streets - on reflection that is a little unfair to Moss-side. We stayed by the beach - clearly a reasonably desirable suburb when Fedders was seeking his coastal entertainment in these parts! However, a promenade, a boardwalk and performing dolphins are hardly the stuff world travelling is about.
We were glad to leave PE behind us and equally glad to have chosen not to stay at East London, which appeared to have all the same scary mary qualities and arrived in Cintsa.
Cintsa has been a good base for a few days - Buccaneers was a sort of backpacker village arranged in various chalets on a hillside overlooking the beach and lagoon and being further north it's
warm. We ended up in a 3 bedroom seaview chalet to ourselves. After a few days without a planned activity, Miranda was a bit restless and so it was horse riding on the beach. Miranda's horse, Umphiti, had a passion for being last in the field and a desire to lie down in the lagoon water, which was exactly what one horse did despite contrary instruction from a more experienced rider. Meanwhile, John overcame the initial assessment of the guide who thought that he wouldn't be able to "hack it" (which was a bit harsh with all that 2004 Arizona experience) and survived.
The Transkei former homeland was our first taste of real Africa on this trip, leaving behind White Man's Africa (at least for a day). The old South African regime conveniently forgot to build any roads before handing the land over, nor many bridges and so it was an excuse for a ferry over a river allegedly full of 3 metre bull sharks. A different world of mud rondavel houses, Xhosa villgaes, open grazing, 4WD tracks rather than roads etc. The area is full of old folk and kids - the adults all away working in the
John and Kela
Ready for the 1.30 at Redcar - I don't think so!!big cities. A day full of open spaces, gorges, waterfalls and the Wild Coast - seriously wild coast as the ship wreck piccies show. The weather back in Cintsa started to get really warm, the mozzies came out and when we failed to win a free breakfast in a backpacker treasure hunt, we knew it was time to move on - only 10 hours to Durban!!
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alex waring
Alexander Waring
PE and the Wild Coast
Gosh, even nearly 20 years apart, our trips were so similar! I too gave PE and East London a wide berth, and headed straight for Chintsa. I also felt the huge difference heading through the Transkei. I get, and love, your humour by the way - Moss Side comparisons, and "We want to be together!" - hilarious! 🤣