Coffee Bay, South Africa

Another place that a lot of people suggested we go to was Coffee Bay. It was further along the N2 highway and also on the coast. One of the locals told me a ship carrying coffee floundered here hence the name. He also said lots of tourists think there are coffee plantations here and are disappointed to find there are none

The scenery from Cintsa changed a lot. There were less trees and lots of dry grazing land and a few crops, mostly maize. Some of the maize had been harvested and ploughed back into the soil but there were still large areas looking very dry with goats and sheep feeding on the stubble.

We passed lots of sheep, and goats being looked after by herders who were usually older men. It was easy to identify them as they carried a well polished stick that often had a knot at the top. We also noticed a few donkeys and the odd horse being ridden by a herder. Unfortunately we saw a couple of dead sheep that didn't make the dash across the highway in time and we felt sorry for the poor family that had to go without the food from the animal and still had to buy another one to replace it.

There was hardly an area without housing on the rolling hills from Coffee Bay to Butterworth. Most of the houses were thatched rondavels and many were painted in bright colours. They were often in a line side by side and nearby would be a small pen for keeping the family goats, sheep or pigs. The pens would be constructed of dry branches of thorny bushes between poles or there would be fences woven from thin branches and the structure resembled a giant rectangular basket minus its handle. Sometimes there were flat rooved buildings with rocks to hold the roofing iron on. At other times there would be melons or pumpkins left on the roof out of the way of the animals and drying nicely in the sun. Most of the areas around the houses would be treeless. The women could be seen washing from water in large blue barrels and the laundry would be spread out on barbed wire fences or on the animal pens.

We stopped in Butterworth to pick up some groceries and Lil was the only white face in the supermarket. It felt rather strange but not at all dangerous. A lot of the products in the supermarket were in 1kg+ quantities so it was quite hard to get small bags of what I wanted.

Once we turned off the N2 at Viedgesville, the road was atrocious. It was a slow 90kms to Coffee Bay and John had to concentrate on missing the numerous potholes all the way. There were piles of earth beside some of the holes but no one was putting the earth into the holes. He also had to dodge the minivan taxis that raced up and down in both directions. The more runs the taxi does the more money the driver makes so the testosterone takes over as the drivers race each other tailgating and weaving around the potholes. There were the goats and sheep the herders had grazing beside the road to dodge as well as the hundreds of school children walking on both sides of the narrow road. And of course there were the locals with bags of produce and children wrapped in blankets standing on the road waiting to flag down a taxi going in their direction. It was made all the more hazardous by having to drive into the late afternoon sun.

We were told by someone working at Cintsa that it would be a quiet time of the year so we never made a booking for accommodation but knew of two backpackers at the bay. When we arrived the receptionist told us it was dangerous to arrive without a booking as she only had one rondavel left and it was available only for one night. We always knew we could pitch a tent or drive on to find something else so we didn't think it was dangerous.

Our rondavel at Coffee Bay

The area is popular for young travelers as the South African hop on hop off bus has Coffee bay on its route and its a popular surf beach.
The ceiling of our rondavel

No sooner had we got settled in when the local ladies arrived to sell us their beads and the local men pestered us to buy marijuana. There were notices asking the tourists not to give children money or gifts if they came begging. A programme in the community is supporting the children to form singing and dancing groups and then they visit the backpackers and can be given money for their efforts. Another popular thing to do is take the children as a guide around the local walking tracks but everyone was asked not to take a child during school hours.

While here we met Jackie from New York and her NZ friend George from Gisborne, where our families are. After a while we were able to find a link between the people he knew and we knew.

Jackie stood with her mouth open in disbelief that George knew John's nephew Sam. Sam had coached George's soccer team.

A follow up to this story: we later met Jackie again in Durban. George had been in touch with his family in Gisborne and had told them about our meeting. George's family had had some problems with a safe that they had lost the key to and called a locksmith to come and help them- John's nephew Sam was the locksmith!

We met a few people at Coffee Bay who had been in Jeffrey's Bay and at Cintsa so we were able to get to know each other better and swap information.

We left the next morning when we knew all the school kids would be off the road and were better prepared for the return journey on the potholed road. We did find that some workers were at last filling the potholes with dirt and with only one compactor it was going to take a long time to finish the job. We also passed a new mini van taxi that had crashed in to some one or something, as well as a brand new car.

We noticed many police cars at major intersections between Cintsa and Mthatha and were pulled over by one of them. He wanted to see John's licence and he gave him his NZ one but he wanted the international one. When John explained it was in his bag in the boot he told us to carry on.

So we did.