The Wild Coast :)

We left the Drakensberg to go to the wild coast and it took us twelve hours from Johnny's place to get to Coffee Bay! Maybe because it was a Saturday there was more traffic and again, the only way to access Coffee Bay involved driving on a dirt road for about two hours and our GPS got us very lost as it was set to the 'shortest way'- very stressful! We finally arrived at the Coffee Shack where we were welcomed with a free drink and then shown to our dorms which involved crossing a river! This is Africa. We made dinner and then went to bed as we were so tired.

Our first day in Coffee Bay was lovely. I got my washing done and sorted out my student accommodation online (I keep forget I'm going to uni this year!) then we explored the small town on the beach. It is a surfers paradise, completely secluded with a few restaurants and small independent shops and stunning scenery. We looked in what I called the 'hippy shop' which had loads of cool clothes and I bought some green hippy trousers which are so comfortable but I was disappointed to see the label said “Made in India”. We then went to a pizza restaurant which used the outdoor pizza ovens and overlooked the Bay and then drove to the part of the beach where we could relax. I went in the water which after Cape Town I was happy to go in because it was much warmer! There were ladies selling beads- bracelets, toe rings, anklets and necklaces and we got so harassed by them! At one point two started pushing each other and they were tying beads around our ankles because they were so desperate for us to come to their particular products! We left with buying a few things but tried not to be sucked in again. It made me sad to think that they need the money so much but it also put us off looking again. That night we went to the shack for the free Sunday night 'Potjie' a traditional south African meal that is like a chicken stew and had Xhosa bread with it. Now we were out of KZN, we were in the Eastern Cape (otherwise known as the 'Traanskei) which meant that the tribal language was Xhosa- pronounced a bit like the word 'corsa' with a click at the start. We got chatting to an Australian couple who were nearing the end to their year of travelling around the world, and also a Scottish guy who was doing the same thing. They were all older than us and I thought they were very fortunate to have jobs that let them go for a year that they could return to when they got home. We talked about everything possible it seemed and it was great to hear their stories. The Australians were a lesbian couple and they were saying about how they have not been able to be a couple whilst in Africa because it is not as well accepted here, especially in Eastern Africa where they spent some time. It made me realise how they still very much have traditional values and beliefs in this part of the world and that can sometimes cause problems for the outside western traveller. Another interesting story I heard that night was from a Xhosa girl who had lost her Mum a few years back. She told us it was because her grandfather had been a Sangomer, and after he passed away and her mother realised she had a gift to also become one she refused to accept it because she did not want to lead that life. She suddenly fell ill and started dancing about going crazy and they realised that she must accept her gift otherwise she would die. The girl said that her mother did finally accept but it was too late so the ancestors took her. It was so fascinating and I'm glad we had learnt about Sangomers earlier that week so I could understand. The girl told us she thought she had a gift too and she would accept it because she did not want to die like her Mum did. Hard for us to believe, but she was so serious that no one could question it out loud.

When I woke up the next day I felt really run down and like I was getting a cold so I decided not to go on the surf lesson with the others but stay and sort out my washing, write some letters and post cards and just have some time by myself. We went to the beach for a bit and I read our guide books as we needed to decide where to go next. We decided we would go up to Port Shepstone which was about an hour from Durban where we wanted to end up. In the evening we chatted to an older English couple who were staying in Coffee Bay for two weeks and watched Xhosa boys from a local school sing and dance. They were nothing on the Zulu songs! A lovely few days spent in Coffee Bay!

We set off in the morning for Port Shepstone and arrived at the 'Spot Backpackers' in the afternoon which was in a quiet part just outside of the town. Port Shepstone itself was not very exciting, it seemed like an industrial place with a beach. That evening we went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant and got talking to a couple who had lived in London for over twenty years and had lots to tell us about the area we were staying in. They were surprised that we were travelling along the wild coast instead of the usual places. The meal was nice and we went back to the backpackers and chatted with a British guy and an Australian girl who were both volunteering in Lesotho. The girl had done six months out of two years- two years! I admired her for committing herself to living in Lesotho for so long. They were also on their Easter holidays travelling.

In the morning we took the couple at the restaurant's advice and drove up to a spot called Leopards Rock to have breakfast. We had a full English which was so nice and the views were just incredible of the river and the surrounding mountains. We paid our five rand insurance (less than 50p!) to go onto the rock which is famous for a photo of a leopard lying on it in the sun and sticks out with nothing underneath it. Climbing onto it wasn't scary because you couldn't see that there was nothing underneath but when I watched the others on it it made me nervous! We got some great photos and then drove up to Eland Game reserve where we had booked to go horse riding. We were a little bit early so we drove to the suspension bridge above the Oribi Gorge and walked across it. It was a little wobbly but very much safe but I had to tell myself to keep going for what seemed like forever! I am definitely getting rid of my slight fear of heights over here! On the way back we saw some eland which are almost a cross between a buck, a horse and a cow- they are huge! Horse riding consisted of the three of us, our guide and another girl. I haven't ridden since I was maybe about ten and I never properly learnt so it was like a new experience again. It was a lovely ride as we rode past zebra, eland and even saw wildebeest all running together. In the afternoon we went into Port Shepstone to do some shopping and then spent the evening chilling at the backpackers and had an amazing chicken salad and milk tart. Milk tart is a south African dessert that I can't really describe but I wish they made it in England! We realised that people from Coffee Bay were on the same path as us as we recognised a few of the people that had been there arrive which was cool.

On Thursday we drove down to Durban for midday and stopped in the centre. The first thing that hit me was the strong smell of spices and the heat. We got out of the car onto the bustling street and found Victoria Street Market. This was indoors and consisted of lots of little curios shops run by Indian south africans who all welcomed us in and helped us find something we wanted to buy. Unfortunately, I have a huge liking for the contents of these shops and ended up spending over five hundred rand on a painting and lots of other little souvenirs (presents for people at home!). One thing that made Durban so unattractive was the amount of Chinese shops. There is usually a Chinese shop in every town here and they sell the most tacky, un-useful stuff. In Durban they completely line the streets and they are full of the same things! Afterwards, we drove down to the Northern beach front which was very built up and touristy and stopped for lunch before finding our backpackers on the other side of the city. Due to it being Easter weekend we were unable to find any accommodation apart from in this one where we paid a little bit more than we usually would I think mainly because it had a pool and they gave you breakfast. It was also next to a beach and after checking in there we drove to a friend of Johno's house, Joel. He and Johno had driven down that day from Manguzi and we met them there and had yet another braii and a really lovely evening. Joel was surprised that we had gone into central Durban as living on the outskirts on the city he deemed it unsafe. Sometimes being a traveller makes you totally oblivious to these things!

Friday morning led us to the beach town of Amanzimtoti which was full of Chinese market stalls and a tacky beach front. We walked along the beach for a bit and then stopped for a drink in an overcrowded restaurant. In the afternoon we checked into a different backpackers as the one we had stayed in the night before didn't have room that night but we could go back the next night. Katie and Patrick had stayed in Banana backpackers before when I was in Cape Town and said it was in a bit of a dodgy area but was basically fine so we decided that with everywhere else booked up we would go there. We had to park our hire car on the main road and the place below the backpackers was called “Sonia's escort and massage” which tells you everything! Patrick and I wandered down to the beach front again for dinner and I had the famous “bunny chow” which is curry in a quarter of a loaf of bread! (thank goodness no rabbits!) There were lots of Indian Muslims all dressed up meeting and socialising with their friends and it was a lovely atmosphere at night. I bought some pineapple on a stick from a seller then we browsed the African markets where I held myself back from buying anything! Patrick bought a springbok fur after making sure it definitely was a springbok and not just a goat! We walked back and got a bit lost and I'm glad Patrick was with me as it was not the nicest area to be walking about at night.

The next morning I went down to our car to get something and a man from the car sales room there asked me if I knew the person who's car was in front of ours. It was Johno's and his drivers seat window had been completely smashed and his stereo ripped out. We watched it all on the showrooms CCTV and saw two guys just before six that morning come along and they looked at our car but luckily didn't touch it. One guy smashed Johno's window, ran away then came back and spent a long time in the drivers seat possibly trying to start it and then just ran off with the stereo. It was such a shame because everything else there had been fine but I suppose we should have thought about it more with having to leave our cars on the main street. We went into Durban to return our car to Avis and then I went to the post office and we all went to a mall as I needed to buy a few more things before we came home. We had lunch, went back to the backpackers we had stayed at previously which was much safer! For our last night we went to a restaurant (yes, we ate out a lot this week!) and a had a very chilled evening.

Easter Sunday was a funny morning! Patrick wanted to go to church so we found one near to where we were staying that seemed normal. We were welcomed by about twenty people in a row all asking the same questions... “where are you from? Where are you staying?” and in the end we were trying not to laugh as we constantly repeated ourselves but they were very nice! The service started with a band playing and of course we are not used to this but the service was alright if not very much to do with Easter and we ended up staying for tea and cake afterwards (the fact they had milk tart heavily influenced this decision). We got talking to a few people and then left after what seemed like hours! After searching for proper Easter eggs at a mall and realising they don't sell big ones in this country we settled on four little one's for all of us. We went back to the backpackers and packed all our stuff into Johno's corsa- not an easy job! It took us five hours to get back to Manguzi and we had dinner and went to bed. On Monday it was a bank holiday so we did all our food shopping in Manguzi (much cheaper than here) and came back to Ingwavuma late afternoon. The boys stayed for dinner and we decorated our room with our new paintings, various maps we had picked up and I put lots of post cards on my wall. Our room is looking lovely now!

And that was the end of my three week holiday! I saw so much wonderful scenery, met so many different people and learnt so much more about the culture here. I can't wait to go travelling again at the end of my placement but I am glad to not be living out a bag any more and it's good to be home :) Yebo!