Vacation Part 2: The Wild Coast

After spending an uneventful New Year’s Day in the village (I would say the highlight was washing my bed sheets and pillowcases for the first time since last New Year’s Day), I was off again on another 10-day vacation – this time to the Wild Coast. This is a somewhat lesser known, but really beautiful part of South Africa in the province of Eastern Cape along the Indian Ocean. I had a bunch of other volunteers tell me that it was their favorite vacation destination, so I felt like it could not be missed. I decided to go by myself because I didn’t feel like coordinating with anyone else’s schedule, and it worked out quite nicely. Turns out that lots of people travel the Wild Coast alone or with only one other person and it is quite easy to make friends along the way. Besides, I’ve traveled plenty on my own, and in most instances it makes things easier – this was no exception.

At the Bulolo waterfall in Port St John's.

My first stop was the lazy town of Port St. John’s. Actually, my first stop was Durban, because it was too far to make it all the way down to that area in one day, but going to Durban doesn’t really count. I spent the first day taking an “easy,” guided hike to the nearby Bulolo waterfall. There was a family of four that also participated, which made for nice conversation along the route and at the falls. Before we ate our picnic lunch, there was a chance to jump off a 10-meter high rock at the top of the falls into the water or swing out over the water on a large rope hanging from a tree, but I decided to pass. On the second day, I took an unguided hike to a local nature reserve in the hopes of walking along some of the trails in the reserve and seeing some birds. Sadly, it took so long to get there that I didn’t get very far on the trails and therefore did not see too many birds, which was a shame. My other option was to go to a local mud cave and bathe in mud. From the reports I got later that day, the mud caves would have been a better choice. Ah well – I guess I’ll have to come back ;-) My visit to the area was topped off with a trip up to an old airstrip to watch the sun set and then listen to some great musical entertainment at the backpackers the rest of the night. All in all, a great start to the trip.

Even though my next destination of Coffee Bay was not that far away on the map, there is no direct public transport between the two places, so I had to back track to the local town of Mthatha and get a different taxi to my next stop. This ended up working out perfectly because it also meant that I was able to stop at a grocery store and pick up a few things rather than having to pay to eat every meal at the backpackers.

At Hole in the Wall on the Wild Coast.

My first full day in Coffee Bay started with a somewhat major snag. The backpackers where I stayed was really big and had two areas: one on each side of a little river that rose and fell with the ocean tide. At low tide, crossing the river was the same as walking through some wet sand. At high tide, nearly every rock that you would step on to cross was almost completely submerged. When I went to cross that morning, to buy a bottle of water to take on my hike, the water was pretty deep. I waited for a minute trying to decide what to do when an old Xhosa man WITH A CANE came by, waited as the water flowed out to sea, then scurried across the rocks without any trouble and before the water flowed back in. After seeing this, I thought, surely I can make it. WRONG. I had a hard time keeping my balance, slipped a few times, and at some point, although I could not say when, I cut my big toe on my right foot really badly. As in, a large chunk of skin was hanging off the side of my toe. It was quite gross although not at all painful. The real problem was that it was bleeding non-stop. I hobbled over to reception leaving a rather distinct trail of blood behind me and asked if they had a towel I could use. Clearly I was not the first to have an accident because they whipped out a huge bottle of antiseptic, gauze, and bandages and brought me a bucket of water. I sat for a while to try to stop the bleeding but it was pretty persistent. Probably I could have used a stitch or two but that was not going to happen. I wrapped it up as best I could and then managed to find the “back way” back to my room on the other side of the river. By the time I returned, it had completely bled through the gauze and bandage, so the two and half hour hike that was scheduled to leave in15 minutes was going to have to leave without me. I was pretty upset. Partly for being the most uncoordinated person in the history of Peace Corps, but mostly because I had met a really nice group of people the night before at dinner who I had told I as going on this hike, and now I was not. Anyway, I re-cleaned and re-bandaged my toe and made my way back to reception to make sure they knew I would not be participating and to try to get some more medical supplies. When I got there, the owner was around and she asked what happened. After telling her the story, she told me I could wait about 30 minutes and then ride with the driver who was going to pick the hikers up and bring them back. A nice surprise. So I did make it to the ultimate destination, which was called Hole in the Wall, a really big rock with a small hole: my description sounds lame, but it was neat to see. It actually started to rain just as the group of hikers arrived, so no one got any pictures. Since I had arrived about 30 minutes earlier, I had plenty of pictures. And after hearing about the hike, there’s only a 50/50 chance I would have made it. I think my injury probably worked out for the best.

Jumping into the Bomvu River
near Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast.

Thankfully, my second day in Coffee Bay went a bit smoother. Although I was still a bit weary about my toe, I decided not to let it stop me from going on the hike to Mapuzi cliffs and caves. The hike was not an easy one, but it was a fun day because there were only 12 of us on the journey, and they were all people I had made friends with the few nights I had been there. The last stop on our route was an area of rocks about 10 meters high that could be used to jump into the Bomvu (Red) River below. After passing on a similar activity a few days before, I decided to make one jump off the edge and even got picture to prove it. I’m not going to lie, it was scary at the top. But I’m happy I jumped, and even happier that I lived to tell the tale.

The next morning, I packed up my stuff and headed to my third and final destination, Lubazni Beach. To be honest, I could have gone home at that point. I had had a great time and felt like I did quite enough, but then I figured I might as well see as much as I can. Getting there was

View of Lubanzi Beach from the backpackers.

not much of a challenge. I had thought about hiking (it would have taken about five hours), but then came to my senses and just took public transport. Lubanzi was the most low-key of the three places, which turned out to be a great way to end. There were no organized hikes or specific sites to see. Instead, it was just a few days of sitting in a hammock reading with an afternoon walk to the beach to take pictures. Vacationing at its finest.

As per my usual routine, I arrived back at site (again after spending a day in Durban) the day before school was about to begin. I can’t imagine doing that in America, but here it is the way to go. I unpacked my stuff, figured out what I needed to wash (everything), visited with my host family, and went to bed. Year 2 – bring it on!