Driving through South Africa Wild Coast

I didn't drive through wild coast, but the wildcoast...is pretty wild - I mean you will encounter non tared road, and by any means do NOT drive after dark - a lot of people and animals on the road. Coffee bay was nice - there's 2 hostel in coffee bay itself, and the one where I was staying was not busy at all, so I guess if you book a couples days ahead you should be fine.

The N2 is the main road through the area, but it's inland, to get to the coast you have to take the small side roads to the coast. A lot of them are gravel roads and even on the main national roads stray animals are commonplace. For that reason, driving after dark is dangerous.

The journey can be slow as in many cases you get stuck behind slow moving traffic and cannot safely overtake. You need patience to enjoy this area - African time rules here!

Wonderful places along the coast (from east moving west towards East London):
Port St Johns - great place, a couple of good backpackers (I'd go for Amapondo Backpackers - great location), various other accommodation from bed and breakfast to hotels (small, homely, welcoming ones, no glitz)

Umngazi River Bungalows - fabulous place! You'd have to prebook there, it's a legend amongst SA families for the last 3 generations.

Morgan Bay has a great little hotel, the Ocean View at Coffee Bay was the venue for a number of my childhood holidays, the Haven and Kob Inn are both good.

Here's a good starting link wild coast

Link up with the community guiding systems in the different areas if you want to do anything on foot. You will be fascinated and the Pondo are wonderful people.

Hi welcoming2

what do you want to see and do on the Wild Coast? I spent some time there last month. Yes, self drive, but with a slightly higher clearance vehicle - though you don't need a 4x4 (try the Xtrail or even a Condor). Avoid driving at night. Right now, it's raining like mad in the Eastern Cape, but that should be ending by March. However, some roads may be impassable if you have bad luck with the weather.

You can easily self-cater by outfitting yourself with food from the swish mall in East London or the not as swish mall in Mthatha, or in Durban. You will not find restaurants to speak of once you leave the cities. Most accommodation places offer meals because of this...and most locals self-cater because they know what the food can be like!

Highly recommended: Bulungula. Book in advance!

Avoid: The Haven in Cwebe. Dwesa, on the other hand, was recommended by several reliable sources. Stay in the park chalets and self-cater.

Coffee Bay is a bit "backpackerish" for my taste.

Consider Mbotyi (either the lodge or the backpacker/self-catering there. I can recommend the guides from the lodge - local community members with formal guide training and credentials)

The Nelson Mandela Museum is worth seeing if you don't know the story, and there are some interesting side excursions to his home village in Qunu and Mvezo where he was born

Do you want to see the original coelacanth fish? Or walk to see unbelievable waterfalls plunge from towering cliffs into the sea? Or go deep sea fishing? Ride horses? Birding? Volunteer work? Surf?

Leave enough time to see the places you pick -- the Wild Coast is not conducive to quick "whistle stop" style travelling.

HTH

Kurt

We spent September driving thru SA in a Toyota Corolla, including Cape - Hermanus-Elizabeth Town - Durban and St Lucia towards Mozanbique. The main roads were not a problem, all paved; two lanes only, but drivers always move over into the paved shoulder to let you pass.

Unfortunately, once daylight disappears it is dangerous in every way in most of SA towns , maybe roads too but I did not drive at night.

Hi there,

I just did a cross-country drive in South Africa in May 2007. It was amazing. We drove from Cape Town through the Garden Route to the Wild Coast, to Durban, to Drakensburg, to Joburg and then Kruger. Stayed in: Wilderness (Fairy Knowe), Jeffrey's Bay (Island Vibe), Cintsa (Buccaneers), Coffee Bay (Coffee Shack), Durban (friends house), Drakensburg (Amphitheatre) and Joburg (nice hotel). In Kruger we did a safari (Bondu - who has a great private concession in Kruger so you're not staying with a million other travelers)

So yeah we did the drive through the Transkei, and it wasn't so bad. I'd just suggest doing it during daylight because there are a million potholes and people and cows literally in the middle of the road at points. It's slow going, but the views are amazing!! I'd highly recommend going to Coffee Bay, it was the highlight of our entire trip. Just so unique, remote, the people were so friendly. I loved the Coffee Shack. We were there in low season, so there was a good group of about 10 other backpackers there at the time and we had a blast doing the day trips which are super cheap (almost free) and the local guide is really fun.

Since it's summertime when you go I'd call and reserve beds in the backpackers maybe two weeks ahead of time just to be safe.

If you have questions about any of the other locations let me know. I wish we had more time in Cintsa, we basically spent the night and got up early to go to Coffee Bay the next day but Buccaneers is pretty cool so if you have time definitely squeeze that in.

Also Ampitheatre in the Drakensberg is great - we did a day trip into Lesotho which was really unique. It's the most remote, rural place I've ever been in my life. Definitely worth the day trip.

Jess

Hey!

I just got back from a 3 week trip in South Africa and had a great time!

I was expecting really bad roads and it wasn't so bad after all. The highways are normally in good condition. You may find a lot of potholes when there are parts under constructions but otherwise, highways are I pretty good condition. Where you need to be more attentive is on smaller roads, especially in the wild coast. We drove to Bulungula and that was a heck of an adventure! Our car actually got stuck in a ditch but it was definitely part of the adventure. Below are two links to my blog. The first about my driving experience in South Africa and the other on Bulungula. I strongly recommend Bulungula. Make sure to book in advance and stay a few nights. It's magical! I wished I would have spent more time on the wild coast. I would skip the garden route next time.. too touristic for me!

http://offtrackbackpacking.com/2012/04/04/a-road-trip-in-south-africa/

http://offtrackbackpacking.com/2012/04/06/bulungula-is-paradise-really/