At 7am we set off for our 12 kilometre hike leaving Madakeni village after a breakfast of fried eggs with Xhosa Bread and runny corn porridge called Slap Pap.
My husband and son had decided to bail on the hike and go surfing instead so I left them behind at Madakeni Village to wait for a very long and bumpy transfer back to Mdumbi and continued the next 4 days of hiking with the group.
Stu and Val walking up the steep hill
Thorny Lantana - an invasive species from South America which has become hindrance to biodiversity in the North Coast and Wild Coast
Today’s hike was full of hills, due to the rocky cliffs and tides so we had to head inland. We started on an uphill journey of about 4 consecutive hills in the high humidity and hot sun of the early morning. Heading inland meant that we had absolutely no breeze off the sea to keep us slightly cool and this was the toughest part of the hike.
Some of our group weren’t too happy about the amount of dirt road walking but eventually we turned off onto a narrow single track between a couple round village houses (rondawels) which lead down the hill and into a beautiful rain forest.
The forest was muddy and slippery making for slow progress (or fast dirty progress if you chose to slide your way down the slopes 😂). But is was so good to be in the solid shade of the trees and see a whole new aspect of the Wild Coast.
Most of the kids walked bare foot and enjoyed the combination of sloppy mud and cow patties squishing between their toes.
We stopped under for a break under one tall tree and caught our breath.
Looking down at the beach and Mpande Village on the other side
The path led back up and through another village before we finally made a very long descent through a coastal belt of forest down to a large beach.
As we took of our shoes and then kept moving (gaping at the gorgeous waves) we came across bulls head butting on the beach seemingly competing for a female cow.
We quickly diverted the action and crossed a shallow river before stripping off and going for a LONG swim. It was such a good thing that we took this time to enjoy the beach and waves because 45 minutes later as we were getting dressed for a short 10 minute walk to our new huts, the wind suddenly came up and blew in the clouds.
Just as we were arriving at Tsweleni village in Mpande the large rain drops started to fall.
Florentine (my new roommate) and Valmer
The rush for a room with a bed was on! I was now a single with lout my family so a lovely fellow Dutchy found a lovely rondawel at the back. The others had all dashed for the closest twin rooms but we happily found out that our rondawel had its own toilet, sink and shower with running water and a working plug point!!!! Woohooo!!! The others had to share a communal bathroom so we were so happy 😁.
Mpande is the villlage known for fresh seafood and boy did it live up to that expectation. First we had a huge bucket of mussels, steamed…. R50 per bucket.
Followed by crayfish… R15 per crayfish, so Stu ordered 20! I’m allergic to shellfish so I stuck to my crackers and snacks.
Followed by fresh fish that was boiled and cut up.
It felt like we ate all afternoon and still had dinner to look forward to.
A few of us headed down to a shell beach just below our village to collect shells and the kids swam. We were starting to realise that this was what we should expect every day on our 5-day hike. Walking, swimming, humidity rain, more walking, more swimming and then eating lots of Xhosa bread.
Ella (13) came up to me asking if I had an apple? I got up and fetched it for her and then as I gave it to her she said, “Can I feed it to the pig?”
Well I laughed and then said yes… fruit is heavy to carry on a hike and so usually a luxury, but I had a few more and it was fun watching her try to feed the little black pig that had come to visit us.
It was also at Tsweleni that we met our new furry friends. A few dogs had been hanging around while we had food and they had managed to get some leftovers and scraps from the kitchen that evening. Little did we know that they would
Follow us for the next 2 days of hiking. You can read more about their journey in my next blog.
We had a fun evening of banter and games before heading to bed early. The next day was going to be a long one.
I didn’t manage to get a map recording of this days Hike due to a dead phone and no electricity the previous night, but the following days we managed to get it right.
Read my previous blogs leading up the Wild Coast Hike on my profile and watch this space for the final 3 days of the hike too! It just kept on getting better. 😃
[//]:# (!pinmapple -31.753058 lat 29.367254 long The Wild Coast Hike: Day 2 Madakeni Village to Tsweleni d3scr)
Fantastic, this looks beautiful!
Fun, fun, fun a mishap or two and on we go. Beautiful sights and interesting new people along the route. All friendly faces and and warm hearts. This is the soul of Africa,.
Far away from the pulsating cities loaded by rat racers to get ahead in fierce competitions to score the mighty buck and power.
I hiked every step on the way with you guys here mentally and it was a great experience.
!PIZZA
So glad you enjoyed it! There are 3 more days of hiking coming this week so watch this space 😃
Thank you and yes, I will be keeping an eye out 😊
!PIZZA
just a beautiful post
Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
Support Ecency
Vote for new Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more
The seafood looks amazing!!
Loaded with fresh catch on the day what a treat! Little black pigs are too cute not to give a treat.
Forested area still looks magnificent, a hot time of the year for hiking to say the very least. Also sudden change in weather during summer months with ferocious electrical storms suddenly appearing.
Happy Hiking!
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 73/93) Liquid rewards.
The weather changed so suddenly that day. We had thought we might head back to the big beach for more fun in the surf, but it just got so wet so fast that we huddled on the deck and ate food instead.
We LOVED the forest. Just wish I got more photos but my phone died.
The next day was my favourite so I’ll do another post tomorrow on that day when we walked through Hluleka. SO BEAUTIFUL!
Walking the paths you learn and see a lot more than driving through, we stopped off in different places, would never see what you have managed hiking.
So true! And I’m loving reliving it through my blog. We are already planning an exciting Karoo Hike in March. It will be completely different 😄
Karoo is a big place with some stunning views, hopefully you hiking Karoo National Park region a place I enjoyed for the beauty offered, March should be a good month!
Nature at it's best.. Oink!
Beautiful photos, looks like your having a great time, thank you for sharing :)
p.s. Those rocks look perfect to transform them into hiverocks!
Ha ha! Thanks. We had a brilliant time! Only a few more days to go.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Very cool post and great photos! I love the wild coast!
Reblogged and followed ;)
Wow! Thanks! Where you from?
I'm based in Cape Town
Oh us too! We’re in Kommetjie.
I love hiking and have really enjoyed your pictures and anecdotes. Thanks for sharing your experience
Aaah thanks so much. There are still a few more days to come so watch this space for more tomorrow. 😃
I am already connected and tuned in for more of your trip in south africa. 🙌
Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1447.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Woohoo! Thanks so much. What an honour!
the food look amazing
very nice pictures, I would like to go on an adventure in those beautiful villages, greetings!
Hy, the post is amazing!
Cheers!
It looks like a fun hike. 😂
I love that the whole family was doing it together.
Thanks for sharing.
It was so good! My husband and son lasted just the first day and then went surfing 😂. But I completed the 5 days and met them at the end. It was awesome though. I’ll post another one tomorrow.
This sounds interesting and fun. At a point during the read, I actually wished I was part of the adventure... Lol
Hermosa aventura, Muy lindas fotos. Felicitaciones!! 😊
good place, good people, good seafood, good surf, nicest moments! i love it!
Thanks! I just posted the next day of the hike. You should check it out 😄
UNAS VACACIONES DE SUEÑOS MUY LINDAS LAS FOTOGRAFIAS::::