1 week Transkei: Port St. Johns to Morgans Bay...

MR2-Blue · Sat Nov 28, 2009 7:15 pm

We just returned today from our 1 week trip along the Wild Coast - an unbelievable experience for foreigners...the first day we spend on the freeway - JHB to Port St. Johns. Port St. Johns itself is not worth a visit - a dirty place at the coast. We went the next day direct to Coffee Bay - this was a great place. We booked in for 2 nights at the Ocean View Hotel and walked Monday all the way to the "hole in the wall" and returned with a "Mini-Taxi"...On Tuesday we spent 5 hours and 150 km between Coffee Bay and Mazeppa Bay on the dirt roads without doing any km further south - but we saw many nice bays and environment. Finally we went back to the N2 and visited the "Wavecrest Hotel" and it's beach - great accomodation and sea view. On Wednesday we went to the Trellery's Hotel (or so - highly recommended in the travel guide) and the next day to Morgans Bay and stayed for 1 day in excellent B&B direct at the beach. In between we saw the Jacaranda ship wreck and double mouth bay and .....a lot of nice places in the rural RSA. The trip back we cut half and stayed over night in Smithfield to allow slower speed between East London and Smithfield as well as today while choosing the "R" roads rather then the freeways.

Fotos to come soon...

Wed Dec 02, 2009 11:26 am

Glad you enjoyed the trip, now you can see why we can spend a lifetime in this country

4ePajero · Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:55 pm

MR2-Blue wrote:Port St. Johns itself is not worth a visit - a dirty place at the coast.

Knowledge is power (and enjoyment).

The village of Port St John's is not everybody's cup of tea or shot of whiskey.
The (larger) villages are the least of the Wild Coast.

The surrounding area is an explorer's dream, though.

Had you known, you could have made the following short trips:

The airfield on the mountain, overlooking the gorge and the village
Bulolo Dam
Poenskop
Agate Terrace
Mtafufu Mouth
Umngazi River Bungaloes (the best hotel on the Wild Coast)
Umngazana Mangrove swamps
The "water falls"route (Magwa, Plantation, Fraser)
Magwa Tea Plantation
Mgwenyana (the rock of execution)
Mpande
Mthonga River Mouth (one of the most beautiful places on the coast)
etc.

All the above are within 75km of Port St John's.

MR2-Blue wrote:We went the next day direct to Coffee Bay - this was a great place.

It is strange how people differ!
Coffee Bay has to many "aaptwak" establishment to my liking.
("aaptwak" = marijuana Literally translated it means "ape tobacco")

The only place in / near Coffee Bay I like is the White Clay B&B.

Glad you enjoyed the bit you saw, though.

MR2-Blue · Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:58 am

4ePajero wrote:
MR2-Blue wrote:Port St. Johns itself is not worth a visit - a dirty place at the coast.
Knowledge is power (and enjoyment).,,,,,,,,,,,,

Correct - but we did not intend to stay longer in PSJ....

4ePajero wrote:The village of Port St John's is not everybody's cup of tea or shot of whiskey.
The (larger) villages are the least of the Wild Coast.

The surrounding area is an explorer's dream, though.

Had you known, you could have made the following short trips:
The airfield on the mountain, overlooking the gorge and the village
Bulolo Dam
Poenskop
Agate Terrace
Mtafufu Mouth
Umngazi River Bungaloes (the best hotel on the Wild Coast)
Umngazana Mangrove swamps
The "water falls"route (Magwa, Plantation, Fraser)
Magwa Tea Plantation
Mgwenyana (the rock of execution)
Mpande
Mthonga River Mouth (one of the most beautiful places on the coast)
etc.
All the above are within 75km of Port St John's.

We have seen the highlighted places on the next day, the others weren't mentioned in our guide...

4ePajero wrote:
MR2-Blue wrote:We went the next day direct to Coffee Bay - this was a great place.
It is strange how people differ!
Coffee Bay has to many "aaptwak" establishment to my liking.
("aaptwak" = marijuana Literally translated it means "ape tobacco")
The only place in / near Coffee Bay I like is the White Clay B&B.

The White Clay B&B was our first choice as well...but when we arrived, they had only "self catering" available because their kitchen was closed that week. I was glad that we refused to pay a deposit the week before, because we were told, they offer DB&B....that would have been an ugly surprise.... you don't make business with that type of reliability...

We ended in the Hotel Ocean View which has the same nice view but is located a "bit closer" to the small supermarket and petrol station. When we left Coffee Bay again on Tuesday morning towards Hole in the Wall, the White Clay was completetly empty - not a single car left...

You're right - there is a few whites left in Coffee Bay who most like missed "the train" and still live in the late 60's/early 70's - but they are on the other side of the village towards the White Clay - we didn't have any contact with them....just saw a few when leaving towards the hole sitting on the street and waiting for the next kick...

4ePajero · Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:12 pm

MR2-Blue wrote:
We have seen the highlighted places on the next day, the others weren't mentioned in our guide...

Maybe I should start a Tour Operation to take guys from The Big Smoke into the better parts of the Transkei?

MR2-Blue · Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:41 pm

4ePajero wrote:
MR2-Blue wrote:
We have seen the highlighted places on the next day, the others weren't mentioned in our guide...

Maybe I should start a Tour Operation to take guys from The Big Smoke into the better parts of the Transkei?

Might be a good idea....

, but better don't sell your Pajero then....btw. our travel guide is a German version - so for sure less complete as a local one, but far easier to read for us....