Our final weekend of travel consisted of nearly 20 hours of driving, and two days of bliss in between. Myself, Ryan, Chethana, Liz and Tucker travelled to the Wild Coast of South Africa, the East side of the country, Northeast of Port Elizabeth. Per usual, we rented a car and took off early Friday morning. The first 7 hours of the 10 hour drive were uneventful; beautiful, but uneventful. The final 3 hours required incredible patience. The government dirt road only stretched 35 kilometers (not that far) but the condition of the road slowed our progress to a snail's pace. Turns out there are potholes in places other than Minnesota, who knew? Though the final portion of the drive was brutal, the reward was well worth the effort. We actually arrived at Bulungula Lodge after dark, but we ate a nice dinner and moved in before crawling into bed and calling it a night.
The morning was absolutely spectacular. As you can see from the photo below, the ocean is right next to the lodge, and we could hear it clearly the night before, but we could not see it at all.
I spent the first morning walking the beach and soaking up the sun. The relaxing atmosphere combined with the stunning hills and beaches created a tranquil setting.
Above are the rondevals that we slept in each night. (Except me because I slept in my tent just behind them).
On Saturday morning we hired a guide to take us on a canoe tour of the Xhora river. We had to walk about a mile along the beach to get to the river, but the reward was worthwhile. The river was beautiful, surrounded by more rolling green hills, and cliffs. Fruit trees and prawn fisherman dotted the shore.
Following the canoe trip we hiked to the top of one of the villages most prominent hills to the local restaurant (a standard rondeval with nothing but benches, a table for cooking, and a shelf. Two women cooked us chicken curry pancakes to die for. We walked back to the lodge along the top of the hills and were treated with Bulungula's consistently spectacular view.
In the afternoon we took a village tour, watched the local soccer game (this was awesome), went to the local bar (shebeen) saw a traditional healer's home (Sangoma) and napped on the beach.
Sunday we left pretty much wide open so that we would have more time to simply relax. The days are very short now, and we felt limited on Saturday. My mother would be proud, I sat on the beach reading a book for the vast majority of the day. There is nothing better. As a result I rewarded myself with a photo shoot of the sand dune semi-forest where I was reading, and was delighted to come away with a photo like the one below. I posted more on Facebook, feel free to take a look.
Late in the afternoon we took a short horseback tour of the area, once again filled with gorgeous views, all from a slightly higher perspective. The people we met at Bulungula, both locals and other travelers dramatically enhanced the trip. Combined with the views, and the overall atmosphere, Bulungula was the second-best place I have visited in Africa, short of only Cape Town.
I am now looking at my final week in South Africa. I have two exams, three papers, and a presentation next week. My final soccer game is this afternoon, and all of our various going away parties begin today with a braii. I'm grilling for 70 (We'll see how that goes). As hard as it is, I also have begun to say goodbyes. I have started to release myself from this place knowing full-well I may never come back. The transition will be bittersweet I'm sure, but I am so excited to get home and see family and friends, I think I will be just fine. Besides, I get to go to camp in less than two weeks :)
Love,
Andrew
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