Trans the Kei & Over the Uzumvubu: Pt. III

This is the third part of this story. If you missed them, catch up on part one and part two.

I made a new friend shortly after our arrival in Mboyti. I found a baby Black-Collared Barbet cowering in the grass where I was to set up my tent. I tried in vain over the course of the next few days to keep it hydrated, warm and fed, but it refused to eat and drink and died after day three :(

Poor little dude :(

Hiking this area was unavoidable. Even short strolls down to the beach became lengthy treks over hills and around coves as the views just got better and better the more we explored.

No caption needed.

The most epic of these hikes took 10 hours and took us to waterfall bluff: one of the few waterfalls in the world that plummet directly into the ocean. Like a complete rookie, I had forgotten to charge my camera batteries and they were depleted about an hour into the journey. Not only did I have to suffer the shame of this everytime I saw the incredible sights of Cathedral Rock and the Waterfall. But I also had to lug my dead camera around to rub salt in the wound.

Here's a sneak peak of Cathedral Rock, courtesy of wildcoast.co.za.

Swimming beneath the waterfall, feeling it rain down on my head while the waves crashed against my chest was truly an amazing experience. We must have hung out beneath the falls for at least an hour, and you can bet your ass that Bear Shark's name was tossed around more than once.

I swam under that. Thanks Wikimedia Commons for hooking up your boy with the vid.

On our final day on the Wild Coast. Having learnt my lesson, I ensured our next hike had two fully charged batteries and a spare SD card, which was complete overkill – but I wasn’t prepared to shortchange myself again.

We climbed the hill to the west of our camp. It was an easy incline through long, fine grass. As we breached the koppie, we saw the vista below us and knew it was worth saving for last. Cue Group pic.

Behold the glory of the Bay.

Salty had decided to skip this walk so he could spend some alone time with his guitar. Steve's nipple made up for it though:'D

We descended the steep bank towards the ocean, on the far left of the bay was a natural tidal pool that was begging to be splashed in. We hung out for a few hours to enjoy the water and the impeccable view surrounding it.

I've swam in worse places.

We started our way towards the sand, and took a bit of time to admire the rocky textures and formations.

Steve found a stick.

I looked up to the koppie we'd just come down, atop it was a local dude just looking over his homeland. I was truly jealous of him in that moment.

On second thoughts, he could be on his cellphone.

We walked the line of the ocean as it lapped the shore, breathing in our scenery while we were still emerged in it. We met a couple of local kids who joined us on our walk. We stepped on in silence together, trying to push the fact that we'd be leaving this paradise the next day out of our minds.

Steve's nipples were on full show by this point.

When we reached a small river that wound back around the koppie, we peeled off the beach and started picking our way upstream over the smooth brown rocks that lined the riverbed.The kids left us here to join their mates swimming in the river.

My legs were starting to hurt after walking so far, but it's hard to feel sorry for yourself when you're in a place like this.

We had a mellow night that evening. Not just because we were running low on booze, we were in a bit of a weird mood... Happy to have had the experience we'd had, but bitterly disappointed that it had come to an end. Either way, we knew we'd experienced something so special and inherently South African.

When morning came, we were a bit more fired up, we did still have a significant chunk of driving to get through after all.

There was time for one last group pic. We got the gang into one frame one last time before we pulled off for the final stretch.

I finally made it into a group pic!!

We'd traversed along two thirds of our country's coastline. It was an adventure, it was an escape and it was a f***ing party. The members, the music and the memories made were all A-Grade material. I might not remember a lot of those two weeks, but I know I'll never forget them.

Kei Crew: U da bes. I hope we get to walk those hills again one day.

#blogpost #travel #roadtrip