White Clay and the trip to Port St Johns

White Clay is a private lodge with some chalets and a small campsite midway between Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall. The name  comes from the fact that the white clay used for “sunblock” and for initiation is found there, amongst other places, I am sure. The whole concern sits on the hill side with the sea about  vertically below it on a beautiful bay with waves of about 100 metres long breaking right there all the time. It is a magnificent setting. Both mornings we saw a huge pod of dolphins surfing in the waves.

On our full day there we walked towards Hole in the Wall all along the footpaths that criss cross the hills. All of this is part of the Wild coast hiking trail and lots of people walk along the hills all the time. We walked as  far as the waterfall, which is about half way to Hole in the Wall and then back to our spot. It must have been 6 km in total. The walking is easy and it is just that, walking. All along the way there are little beaches all covered in big pebble like stones that are dark grey or black and if there is sand, it is dark brown. I find it really different, however the waves are also something different. They are hundreds of metres long and they just roll onto the beach endlessly.

We rewarded ourselves with lunch at the White Clay restaurant and had the best Hake and Chips that we have ever tasted. A few places in Cape Town can come and take a few lessons. The restaurant is open to the general public and clearly is very popular with the passing trade, especially at lunch time. The campsite is pretty small, I think there are only 6 sites and they are precariously perched on the “hanging slopes” of Clay lodge. We made a few adjustments to our normal camping set up to fit in. (On the attached photo it is the vacant site directly below the reddish coloured chalet and above the site where the guy is walking and the wife is standing at the trailer.)

When we left there we followed the slow route all along the smiley route to Port St Johns. Again up and down, crossing rivers, checking the GPS coordinates and not getting lost this time. At one point we had to turn back as the bridge that had been washed away in 2006, was still washed away. We were stopped by a friendly, well spoken in English, guy who informed  us of this and pointed us in the right direction. Another time we stopped to consider our options, road wise and again a young woman came to us and asked where we were going and if she could assist. Well spoken and friendly and she in fact gave us good advice in terms of which road to take.

One thing that was noticeable on this day was the distinct change in vegetation. It was far more foresty, the house/huts were more simplistic and no more corrugated roofs, now all thatching grass. We also noticed far more young men walking along the road and many more children.  Clearly the cell phone companies have not infiltrated this part of the country either as we saw very few cell phone users and  once we got to little towns or villages we observed some of these cell phone use shops where you pay 90c per minute to use the facility. I suppose this is the modern “pay phone”. No more “tickey box”.

Now we are in Port St Johns, another place that neither of us has ever been to. The camp site is on the banks of the Umzimvubu river, one if the many huge rivers  in this part of the world. We must have crossed a dozen or more in the last day or so and all are wide and muddy and magnificent.  Yesterday the weather was great and obviously it was washing day all along and when we crossed one of the rivers on the road we were advised to take due to the bridge wash away, where the bridge was also washed away, but the river was passable, there were 2 ladies doing washing.  All the bedding was draped over the remaining bits of bridge. What a lovely picture that was and they were so cheerful as well.

Port St Johns is a real African town. We arrived on Friday afternoon and set off to do some replenishment shopping at the local Super Spar.  It was a choice between Super Spar, Boxers and U Save, so we chose Spar! It was a bit of a struggle as we are buying small quantities and bulk shopping is clearly the order of the day. The informal market outside the shops offered all of that, but we made do with what was available inside the shop.  This Spar does not have a Tops, the booze store, and we had to stop off at one of the many bottle stores in the town to get some wine.  All the booze is behind the counter and there is no browsing. When the guy saw me looking at the wine he said that I could go behind the counter to make my selection. Well the choices were Chateau Libertas, 4 Cousins Semi sweet and Tassies. One heck of a choice!!!

When you move out of the shopping area of the town you get into the alternative part, which clearly is where those who got out of the rat race and made a life choice to stay on the fringe have settled. We had breakfast at Jester’s Coffee shop. Great coffee and evidently the place where the local “fringies” go. Heather, the owner, looks like somebody that you will find in a upmarket coffee shop in Cavendish. Thin, well dressed, efficient and professional.  Amy, who has been living here for 20 years runs  the little shop and says she would not swop this for anything or anywhere. From the guests that arrived while we were there, I am sure there is many a story.  Maybe next time!

Tomorrow we are off to our next and last destination on the Wild Coast.

Our time at Dwesa

What a wonderful time we had at Dwesa. It is a lovely bush camp situated in the most beautiful part of the country. As we arrived in the dark, I had no idea of where we were and what the area looked like, in fact, when we stopped at the gate, I asked Dick what the noise was that sounded like earthmoving machinery and he said it was the sea. At that stage I did not even know that we were close to the sea, so wonderful was the surprise the next morning when we went for a walk and we were in fact a hill away from the sea. Awesomely awesome it was. The sea is so different from Cape sea and the sand is brown and there are rocks right into the sea and the hills run into the sea as well. 

The first morning we walked along the beach and on towards the mouth of one of the many rivers in the Transkei. We took a little backpack and water bottle with 2 G&T’s in and picked up some oysters on the beach and then had a “chill moment” on the beach where we enjoyed this. These are the moments in life that adds the real quality.  When we got to the mouth of the river we were met by a herd of cattle, lying on the beach and on the rocks, chewing the cud. What a life that must be for a cow. It is really difficult to describe to anybody what this coast is like, especially if you are talking from a Cape coast perspective. It actually just has to be experienced to appreciate it.

The following morning we went for a walk through the forest. As it is a Nature reserve the forest is protected and there is quite a bit of it. There are lovely old trees and several Yellowwoods amongst it with lots of bird life and apparently wild animals as well. We were unaware of this, but we were stopped by the local guide who told us that we are not allowed to walk alone in the forest, due to the fact that there are dangerous animals. The most dangerous that we saw was a little green snake. We also found out that we were only allowed to walk to the Khobolo river on our own. We never observed a sign indicating to the wild animals that they were not allowed to attack anybody before that, but then again, maybe they knew that already all by themselves.  Obedient as we are, we walked back along the beach.  We stopped on the way to have a rest and just to enjoy the wonder and beauty of the environment, when we spotted movement on the beach. It was a big ghost crab trying to open a mussel, about the same size as it. It was fascinating to watch. Dick slowly tried to make his way closer to take some photos, however this is quite difficult as the crabs have really good eyesight and detect any movement and within a flash they are into their “ghost crab hole”. Anyway Dick waited him out and was lucky enough to get some really good action shots of the crab eating out of the mussel shell. What an experience that was and I would think quite rare, as these crabs are extremely fast moving and whenever you see them they are disappearing into their holes. And as Dick always says: “Another day of hell in Africa”.

We left Dwesa  with sad hearts and wished that we could have stayed for longer, but on Wednesday morning we were off and on our way to White Clay lodge where we were booked to camp for 2 nights.  Again the road was typical Transkei with little, if any difference between major and minor roads.  There is not a great deal of local traffic on the road, however what there is, it is mostly Toyota bakkies and if anybody ever wondered about what had ever happened to all the Toyota Ventures, let me tell you, they are gracing the Transkei roads proudly .The scenery is picture book pretty, with undulating hills with brightly coloured huts that are scattered all along each and every hill. Cattle and goats and wondering, cell phone carrying people everywhere, however each and every hut and patch that we saw were well kept, clean and obviously proudly owned.  Never saw a man doing any work, but many a woman working the fields and carrying things and generally being productive. I suppose the men are all in the major cities, like Cape Town to earn money to build the houses here in the Transkei.

We stopped off at a rural shop to purchase a loaf of bread and were greeted with such hospitality and very friendly people. The fact that we could not understand a word of each other’s language was irrelevant.  We also stopped at the famous “hole in the wall” for some photos. It is another of the peculiarities of creation, with this huge “rock” that has this big hole in it where you can either see the horizon on the other side or huge waves breaking through the hole. It is really spectacular. A short few kilometers later we were at White Clay lodge, home for the next few days.

The road to Dwesa.

Our next destination was Dwesa, a Nature reserve on the Wild Coast. When we left East London on Sunday morning we headed out on N2, shortly after that to turn off to Morgan Bay and then Kei Mouth.  The reason for this was to cross the Kei river by Ferry and then to follow the “smiley” route to Dwesa. We had now moved off normal maps and were on the Slingsby map for the Wild Coast. Wonderful maps these are as there is so much detail on them. This particular one indicates scenic routes with a “smiley” and difficult routes with a “jeep”. These are serious 4x4 routes, not to be tackled in your own, or so we were advised. After some of the scenic routes, I am very grateful that we did not.

Anyway, we stopped in Kei mouth for a quick lunch at the Green Lantern. Best Burger on the way so far and fantastic value for money. Then the ferry, which still looks like a design from the late fifties but still working very well. It is now powered by a Suzuki outboard engine and the trip takes all of 5 minutes. R60 a trip and free for pedestrians, of which there were a few. There were even onboard curious for sale!!Not sure if it was duty free or not. On the other side of the Kei river we were in the Old Transkei. What a beautiful part of the country this is. It is GREEN and hilly, with all these traditional houses scattered all over the hill sides. Mind you a traditional house is no longer as it used to be. It is now a brick and mortar building and mainly painted in bright colours.  The roads are rough and even more so when wet. We were happily travelling along with our Slingby map and I was quite chuffed that we were following it and that we were on the correct route. I have to add that there are ZERO indications along the road to tell you where you are. It is you and the map and then of course my interpretation of the map. I had just said to Dick that I cannot think that one could travel in this part of the country without a map, unless you were a local and knew where you were. Well “murphies law” struck at that very moment. Dick remarked that we were travel south and that we were supposed to be going north. This caused some heated discussion and e release of some unvented frustrations!  Well back to the GPS and the coordinates and half an hour later we were back on track. We are still not sure where we went wrong and we have buried the issue now.

The roads are mostly rough and it is shared with animals, people, dogs and other cars, so travelling is slow in daylight and we were rapidly running out of that commodity.  So the last hour of the scenic route was done in half light and later in no light. Conversation was cancelled and prayer engaged. We made it to the gate of the camp site just before 6.30. Now it was check in and all that goes with it and it is all slow. Arriving at a camp site in the dark is difficult, but to find the correct place to camp is nearly impossible, especially if there is no light at all. We had no idea of where there was an ablution block or anything, but we saw a long drop and a vacant place and we parked right there.  Luckily the guy next to us came along and informed us on some basic’s, like where to find water, etc. In no time we had sorted our place out, had a glass of wine in the hand , some left over Warthog fillet from the night before and the spirits were back to where they should be. Amazing how quickly one can do an “about turn”.

Nahoon Caravan Park and East London

On our way to East London we stopped off at Bathurst for a cup of coffee to wake us up after the previous night of little, if any sleep, thanks to our young neighbors after their night on the town.  Bathurst holds many memories for us as we had spend many a great time there with our friends Carl and Toti as Carl’s folks used to live just outside the town. Carls dad, the Brig, was quite a character and well known in the Bathurst area. He bought and restored many houses and also the one where we stopped to have coffee, called Bleak house, now owned by a lady called Sue. She was ready to share the history of her life and that of the house, however, luckily for us, she was interrupted by some friends arriving. What made both of us giggle when we left, was the fact that she told us that in the late eighties or early nineties, the house was bought by “ Brigadier Nauhaus, who made a real botched job of it”. We did not let on that we knew him and we did not enquiry about the botchiness of the job either!

Well Good Friday in East London meant no or little traffic and with the assistance of the GPS we got to the camp site in the roundabout way that a GPS has the ability to take you. I am convinced that our GPS is a true blond. The camp site is situated at Nahoon beach, which is one of the most famous surfing beaches in the country. It is indeed a beautiful beach. The campsite clearly got stuck somewhere in the late eighties. Communication at the gate was a challenge, however we got through that one. Not sure if the lady could not understand why we were there, or how come we had booked to be there. We could choose our own site, which is cool, but the warning lights should have gone off when we spotted 2 sites on either end of the camp with quite extensive camp setups, plus a marquee tent on each.   Well the reason for this was extremely clear on Saturday night. The one group was celebrating the 40^th birthday of twin brothers and the other group was celebrating the birthday of somebody on the Sunday.

The twins’ celebration started early in the afternoon and the braai fires were on and the chops were on the fire by late afternoon and then the guests started arriving and many there were. A bit of a new experience for us in a camp site. Well they had eaten early and by 8 they were washing dishes already and we thought that it was all over. Big mistake, as the party was clearly only in its infancy.  Our friend with the Sunday birthday was only warming up at about 5 when the sheep was going onto the spit. This party had not even started at 8. Not to worry, the guests arrived fast and furiously. The gates were left wide open and people arrived and left at random. A the evening progressed the music got louder  and it was “doef-doef” until the early hours of the morning. At midnight mr Sunday birthday was sung into his new year of life, in various levels of “out of tune”. No problem, a few more cheers and off they were for more celebration. The music was turned down slightly after 1 am and then an amateur guitar player took over and it was a tossup as to which was the preferred music!!

By 2 am the last guests left and the camp was quiet.  I eventually fell asleep next to Dick who had slept through all of the noise. He assessed the scene early in the evening and took a sleeping tablet. Very wise that was.  Anyway we survived again and maybe next time we will think twice when we see marquee tents  in a campsite or maybe I will also succumb to the sleeping tablet. Camping in Municipal sites clearly has disadvantages, however we chose this one specifically as we wanted to be within walking distance of the city. That was actually also a bit of a miscalculation as the city was about 6 km away, but we walked along the beach and it was fun. Amazing how differently we experienced East London and Port Elizabeth and they are so close together. The whole vibe of the 2 places are completely different.

What was great though,  is that we met another couple who live in Hoheizen, barely 2 km from us and we shared many a moment about our experiences in the camp site

Grahamstown

There is no real Gravel travel opportunity between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, so it was up on the N2 , with the only stop and at Nanaga, where there is an absolutely out of this world “farm stall” that sells fantastic home made pies and Roosterkoek, warm off the fire. From Nanaga the scenery changes dramatically and you are surrounded by those typical Eastern Cape rolling hills and many game farms and lodges all along the way.

We were in Grahamstown about lunch time and took a stroll around the city which has a huge number of churches and a beautiful Anglican Cathedral and in fact the city is known as the “City of Spires” . They are all from the mid 18 hundreds. It really is a beautiful city. We also walked around the streets where some of the old houses are and luckily many are restored and  lived in. That was one of the sad things about P.E.  A lot of the old historical buildings in and close to the city centre are so badly run down, even the Step houses, which used to be such a land mark.

We were a little apprehensive about the campsite before hand, as Dick had some difficulty with the booking and it is a Municipal campsite on top of it, but what a lovely and pleasant surprise that was. Beautifully kept, lovely sites and each camp site have its own little ablution block with a big shower, a separate loo and a basin and general area. Outside there were a sink and a work area and a braai place, all under cover.  It was great and definitely another site to stay on the list.  There are some lovely walks in the area and as it is sort of on the edge of the city you are close to several of the walks, of different distances and all very well indicated. There are also nice looking chalets and the whole area is very well maintained.

Anyway, enough of the commercial. We set up camp, went for a walk and lit our braai. Before we had finished eating a group of guys arrived and pitched 3 tents on the site next to ours. Student  type guys it looked like, all well spoken and decent looking. They went off to what we assume was to have something to eat and were back an hour or so later and went to bed.  The rest or some of them went off in their Corsa bakkie to where they were staying, or so we thought.  We were off to bed and fast asleep when we were woken up by a sound from heaven knows where. It sounded like something had crashed into the building, us or who knows what. We both sat bold upright and “bleek geskrik”. It was 1.30 am. Then we heard the cause of the commotion. 3 guys had returned from a “night out drinking” we have boys and we know the music!! I am sure the people in the furthest away chalet could hear them and they were maybe 20 metres away from us. Not to mention the language and the descriptions of the evening and the “ one Black label, one Hansa and one Castle light” and the laughter that accompanied that.  Dick took slightly longer than me to take action, or maybe he was just thinking about what he was going to say, but I leant forward, opened the tent and shouted to them:  “Hi, you guys, can you SHUT UP, please”, nogals please. They went quiet and immediately said “Sorry” and then continued to whisper loudly! The 3 then walked away, no doubt with another Black label, Hansa and a Castle light to return some time later and then to be “shut up” by the  other guys that were also trying to sleep.

That was the night done for us. The sleep fairy had disappeared. Luckily I was planning to get  up early to go to the Good Friday service at the Cathedral at 8.00, so I was up and on the go and walking to the Cathedral at 7.30. There were only a handful of people and it was so special. I even had an opportunity to do a reading. The Priest asked for volunteers to do a reading and nobody volunteered, so I did. Probably the only time I will ever have the opportunity to read from scripture in a Cathedral.

When I got back to the camp, Dick had packed up everything and we were off to East London.

P.E., indeed the friendly city

From Addo , on Monday morning,  it was a quick ride through the Park and then into P.E. I must say that is now an easy city to get around in. It is a long city with one major hub at Greenacres and then many shops all around major roads. On day 2 we wer like we had been  living there for years. We knew where to get food, shoes, electrical connections, CD writers, where to get the Terracan washed and where to get good coffee and where to get money.We were so cool, it was painful/ We enjoyed the time there tremendously.
We were only scheduled to spend Monday and Tuesday night there, but on arrival it was very quickly clear that you don't spend such a short time with people as you then hardly had time to "warm up" to the unique brand of hospitality in P.E. When we arrived at our friends' home, we were informed that the hostess was in fact in hospital where she had had an operation on the Saturday, but not to worry she will be out on Tuesday and all will be well, regardless of the fact that it was a rather significant operation, . Most people that I know that has had this op was out of action for at least 10 days and then still on sub performance for another 4 weeks. Not our hostess. She was out on Tuesday, making food, doing washing and looking like she had gone in for rejuvenating surgery.
The first night we "kuiered" around Kevins pub and we had a braai later. What a lovely evening it was. We all went to bed many bottles of wine later and with a firm commitment to stay for another day as we just had to attend the weekly  meeting of their 4X4 club on the Wednesday evening. Dick was requested to put a few slided together ad to do a short talk on our trip. Well, the slides happened and the talk sort of became personal chats, as the club has such a wonderful vibe and there was so much socializing that the evening was over before we got to a formal talk. I have to say that we were a little apprehensive about the club, as it is known as theAlgoa Toyota 4X4club and there we were arriving with a Terracan, but we overcame that one by travelling with Lorinda in her Merc!!!
It was with heavy heart and a sense of loss that we left the Slabberts on Thursday morning. We had had such a wonderful time, the hospitality was unsurpassed and we enjoyed our time, both with them and in P.E. Dick even took me on a historical walk through the city.
We were off to Grahamstown after a hearty breakfast on Thursday.

R335

We booked into Somerset Lodge last night and what a gem that turned out to be. A lovely room, a hot shower and a very comfortable bed and a super hosts in Deon and Celeste du Plessis. Passionate about there town, know there surroundings and keen to share there passion and  knowledge and wants you to experience this as well. Not to mention the very affordable rate this came at. We will definitely be back there when next in Somerset East. Camping at Bestershoek is fresh off the menu!!!We went for a superb pizza at Somerset on Main. This is an old house converted into a restaurant and it is beautiful. Both of us thought that it reminded us of  Bacardi's in Kloof street. It was not as busy and bussling, but it had the same sort of atmosphere.
Today we travelled the R 335 from Somerset East to Addo, which was not on the travel plan, however with Besterhoek not materializing, we decided to take a chance and see if we could not get a camp site for the night at Addo and , by the Grace of God, we got the last site for the night.
Well again we travelled off  he beaten track. It was the road less travelled and thus the beauty of it was excessive. It is like the less people do the route, the more beauty there is for you to experience. We travelled up the passes and down the passes and wished that it was not all ' in the cloud" travelling, but as we gpt over the top of the Suurberg mountains the mist lifted and we could see the never ending rolling hills of the Eastern Cape. The Suurberg Pass is one to put on your "bucket list " if this is your sort of thing. As we got closer to Addo  a few commercial operations showed up. The one was the Elephant Backed Safaris and the other was a rather new looking lodge with Ice cream coloured chalets, largely visited by hired Corollas and the odd Spark.
We arrived in Addo at about 2pm and immediately went to "stake our claim"  and then went off to do a trip through the park. The park is GREEN and LUSH and totally different to the last 3 times we were here. Not an elephant in sight, but hundred of birds, herons in large numbers, Blue Cranes and Korhaan and lots of Kudu and plenty of Warthog. Hopefully we will see some Elephants when we travel through the Park on out way to PE where we are going to spent 2 nights with family/friends.
It remains to me a special  treat to travel through Addo and experience the difference every time. (sound a bit lke a Woolies ad) It just is such an humbling experience to know that nature is just always there and doing what is right at the right time, while we all stress and strain about stuff we can do nothing about.