Lesotho and the Wild Coast in 4 days

We recently explored the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape on our 2005 BMW R1200 GS. We planned to leave on Sunday, 20 August 2006. However, because of the snowfall in the district of Kokstad the previous Wednesday and a cold front that was forecasted to reach the Highveld of Mpumalanga on the weekend of our departure, we were obliged to consider warmer pastures in Limpopo.

We hastily replaced a map of the Wild Coast for one of Limpopo and our long johns for short-sleeved T-shirts and decided on a new route.

Sunday was a beautiful spring morning - calm and sunny. We rushed back into the house, grabbed the map of the Wild Coast and took the road to Kokstad. We had a smooth ride and approximately 600 km later we stopped in front of Kilimanjaro - an establishment with comfortable accommodation
(www.utalii.co.za/utalii@telkomsa.net/039 727 4024).

All ladies note: rooms are fitted out with hair dryers. Breakfast and dinner are served at additional cost in an adjoining restaurant. Like all serious bikers we hung out at a Wimpy (Harrismith, KZN) for brunch and that night our appetite was satisfied by pies from the local SPAR.

We decided to give the N2 a miss and we took a left between Kokstad and Mtata and headed towards Port St Johns (PSJ). The road (R61) winds through hilly country past Bizana, Flagstaff and Lusikisiki to PSJ. We took a serious view of the failure of the locals to adhere to the Road Traffic Act ... but the tarmac is in a good condition and eventually we saw the Gates of St John towering above the mouth of the Umzimvubu River.

PSJ is situated on the southern bank of the river and is one of only two towns along the Wild Coast that is linked up with the N2 by tarred road - the other being Coffee Bay.

We celebrated our arrival in PSJ at the Gecko Moon Restaurant on First Beach. The culinary art of the staff can easily be compared with Jamie Oliver's - absolutely fabulous. Try their Neptune and Gecko pizzas - they are loaded with choice ingredients.

You won't find any Baywatch Babes at First Beach, because the sea is inaccessible to bathers. Swimming is allowed at Second Beach. We scouted the northern shore of the river. You can cross the river by bridge or by ferry, but unless you have a lot of guts and do not want to go on a diving expedition, we recommend the bridge. The road to Poenskop is a good gravel road and from the crest of the hill we had a superb view of Long Beach, the river and First Beach.

We spent the night at Umzimvubu Retreat Guest House.
(www.geocities.com/umzimvuburetreat (27823033555@vodamail.co.za/047 564 1741(fax 047 564 1310)).

Dries manages the Guesthouse. He has been staying in PSJ for seven years. His knowledge of the gravel roads was to our advantage, because our main goal was to traverse the distance between PSJ and Coffee Bay by less travelled roads.

The next day we followed the directions Dries gave us - we took the R61 to Libode. After we had crossed the bridge over the Mngazi river, we took a side road on the left to Tombo. Keep a look out for a green mosque on the right-hand side of the road - the turn-off is opposite the mosque. At the time of our adventure the turn-off was signposted.

The road is a well maintained gravel road. We drove-past Mcwebane and approximately 12 km from the Tombo turn-off the road became a very wet and muddy marshland. We had to go back to the R61, because to the left were high dunes and to the right more marshland and we are not experienced off-road bikers.

Before we reached Libode we took a side road to Hluleka Nature Reserve. The road is a gravel road and it is well maintained too. Hluleka is approximately 50 km from the turn-off. It had been a farm once, but currently it consists of the Congwane-Mtombo Forrest Reserve and the Ndabeni Hluleka Forrest Reserve. We went past Nthiza and after a quick stop at Hluleka Bay we headed to Coffee Bay.

The road is not clearly signposted and we relied on our sixth sense of direction. We eventually reached the Coffee Bay/Mtata river-mouth/Ntlaza intersection which amazingly is very well signposted. At the Coffee Bay/Mtata river-mouth T-junction a few kilometers down the road a local dweller advised us to take the road to the right so that we can cross the Umdumbo river and the Mtata river at bridges. We eventually got to a T-junction with the T13 road, which is a tarred road and we took a left to Coffee Bay.


Hole in the Wall

We drove through Coffee Bay and went to Hole in the Wall, which is approximately 8 km from Coffee Bay. The Xhosa name for Hole in the Wall is esiKhaleni, which means Place of Sound. One can apparently walk the distance in three hours, but we chose to drive to a hill overlooking Hole in the Wall.

Only extreme adventure seekers will enjoy a walk in an undulating landscape wearing heavily padded clothes that are probably more suitable for a pleasant scenic drive. The gravel road is in a very good condition and Hole in the Wall must be on every visitor's itinerary. We returned to Coffee Bay and spent the night at the Ocean View Hotel in Coffee Bay (oceanview@coffeebay.co.za/047 575 2005/6).


Coffee Bay

The next day we took the road home. We drove from Coffee Bay to Jojweni/Viedgesville, where the road links up with the N2. The distance from Coffee Bay to the N2 is approximately 80 km. We went via Mtata, Tsolo, Maclear, Ugie, Elliot and Barkly-East to Lady Grey.


Lady Grey's "Dorpsdam"

We were excited to find snow-capped mountains on Barkley Pass. After a tranquil afternoon on the stoep of At Home Coffee Shop we decided to spend the night there. At Home Coffee Shop (051 603 0176/082 975 8921) is not only a B&B, but the owner, Elma Odendaal, also runs the local information centre. Lady Grey was founded in 1858 and is named after the wife of Sir George Grey, who then was the Governor of the Cape.

Elma suggested that we visit the local dorpsdam, which was at that moment overflowing. En route to the dam we passed a new development of Tannie Pam (Pam Golding!) and to quote Weg magazine, if you reach a town after Tannie Pam, you are too late for a bargain. The dam was worth the effort - it looked like a very fine lace curtain.

The last day of our adventure saw us driving through the Free State in very cold and rainy weather. The forecasted cold weather was eventually moving towards Mpumalanga, but it did not put a damper on our spirit.

by Corno and Adri Roos