Our target was the "Hole in the Wall" which is on the South Coast between Durban and Port Elizabeth. The place is rather remote and some Maps will only show Coffee Bay which is 8km to the North. This is about 1000km from Johannesburg and takes you through the Drakensberg mountains and through the former Homelands of Transkei and Ciskei which is now part of the Eastern Cape province.
Route from Johannesburg via Sterkfontain Dam, Kokstad to Hole in the Wall and back via Bloemfontein
We didn't fancy driving this all in one go so we stopped at a place called the Windmill Cottages in the Drakensberg mountains close to the huge hydroelectric Sterkfontein Dam.
Driving through some beautiful countryside we spent the next night in Kokstad. From there we went into the Eastern Cape province. Quite a change! The people there live in Rondovels made from clay and life seems to take on a much more primitive quality. The people appear quite friendly though. On one occasion Sandra and I stopped on the roadside to argue about the right way to go (Sandra was right of course). Two teenage girls suddenly appeared next to our car and motioned that we should take their picture. I obliged and they shrieked with delight when they were able to see the picture I had taken of them on the monitor of my digital camera. Here a picture that Sonja took where Sandra shows some boys their picture:
Kids love to see their picture after you've taken it
Children in the Eastern Cape province
The Hole in he Wall place is a hotel complex that didn't exist when Sandra's parents visited the place 30 years ago. The Hotel is an OK place with clean rooms but you are asked not to drink the tapwater. The dining room (we had half board) didn't look too sophisticated on our first night there. The lights were very dim which did not prevent me detecting the grease on the plates. They replaced them with clean plates soon enough but it raised questions about the hygiene of the place. Fortunately the next night the food was wonderful: The chef went all out and did a seafood buffet. He had Calamare rings, mussels in 2 varieties and fresh Oysters. On the grill he had delicious Lobsters which they seem to call Crayfish here.
The Hole in the Wall proper is a rock with a hole in it through which the waves flush. It's in a bay round the corner in a nature conservation area. Nature conversation doesn't seem to stop locals carrying collected firewood bundles on their head. It also doesn't stop hungry goats and cows munching away at the grass and the empty beer cans don't tell of a lot more nature awareness in other parts of society either.
Water flushing through the Hole in the Wall
The Hole in the Wall rock
On our way home we went to the mouth of the Umtata river which is quite impressive.
We split up on our way home. Sandra had to work on Monday so we drove back to Johannesburg via Bloemfontain where we spent the night in the very nice Holiday Inn Garden Court hotel. The route to Bloemfontain took us through some amazing hilly country which seems quite inviting for a visit in it's own right. The names of the villages change from ethnic African names to Afrikaans names stemming from the European immigrants that settled there. Sandra has some scheme with her health insurance and can get hotel rooms at discounted prices which made the stay doubly attractive. Her family went to a backpackers place in Port Shepstone which they were not too impressed with. I understand it did have an open air Jaccuzzi but the weather was unbearably tropical and the rooms were pricy for what they offered.