Le Petit Provence Cintsa

... Cintsa (horse riding along the coastline is tomorrow). This country really has everything, somebody should tell the French.

After Cintsa I’m heading down the coast to Port Elizabeth before hitting the garden route, Stellenbosch (wine region) and Cape Town. It doesn’t sound a lot in 6 weeks but I’m already having to make sacrifices – 2 months is nowhere near enough to se the whole country, I’ ...

... I didn't of course. Neither of us remembered who had the camera last and neither of us remembered bringing it home the night before. Alan's bags were all in the back so we had to wait until we got off the bus in Mthatha before we could check. We were dropped at the petrol station where the Baz Bus was due to collect us at around 2.30pm shortly after midday. Of course the camera was nowhere to be found. We had a feeling we'd dropped it around the camp fire in the hostel the night before so ...

... South African drivers who never seem too concerned with speed limits or waiting to overtake until there is no oncoming traffic / they are past the blind corner or brow of a hill. 9 hours after leaving Durban we arrived at our lovely coastal hostel (although we had a few stops along the way including the Xhosa village where Mandela grew up and now has a retirement house).

We treated ourselves to two nights ...

... Why can't there be a campsite here?  Think the warm current from Mozambique has now finished as definitely a lot colder than elsewhere we've swum.  Still once you were in it was beautiful so we mucked about in the waves body surfing for a good hour or so. Changing back at the car Oliver dropped R50 on the ground which was quickly picked up by two local bums.  By the time we had realised they were long gone.  It's only US$5 but in African terms ...

... so she didn't go back with us. It was really windy and a bit chilly but the water was nice and warm! It was in this little inflated boat, which has a high-powered engine, and we sped around on the waves jumping off them. I thought I was going to fall out a couple of times but I didn't luckily! I don't know how else to explain it, maybe search wave jumping in youtube or something. We all went separately on our own ...

... The hostel has free activities every afternoon (for example volleyball, walks, booze cruise, etc.) and they supply free wine which always makes things more entertaining. They are very close to the beach and the lagoon too. I had to check out this morning at 10 but I'm not getting on the bus until 6 tonight. I will get into ...

... for a cigarrette and get absolutly mobed by kids trying to teach us games, asking us questions and just generally fighting for attention. So kate gives some of them the camera which there absolutly amzed by and they start taking pics of us. Then back in side dinner was really nice however still not sure entirly what we ate.... Also started knocking back some of there homebrew, the only thing it resembled was when i ...

... We tried to see the funny side of our 3hour detour - at least we got to stop off for a magnum when we filled up with petrol; at least we'd now got some sunshine, as it'd been raining on the coast and more to the point - at least petrol was cheap! The hostel we were headed for in Cintsa was supposed to be one of the best hostels in South Africa but it was impossible to find with the directions in the guidebook. I can confirm that they do sell the best ...

... the hills, some with magnificent views over the entire river valley. Tried real Xhosa food, molo means hello, got rained on a little, barked at by mad dogs... do carry a stick when out venturing through this dispersed village that stretches out over the hills. It's so beautiful there. And let's face it: how many times do you get to see cows and goats lazing right on the beach, donkeys and mules on 20+ meter high ...

... to the area, Cintsa East where the backpackers is and if you walk across the beach you can quickly get to the village of Cintsa West. The west is built up with holiday homes, permanent residences, and some shops and restaurants. Cintsa is a lot more developed than the other places we went to on the wild coast. It is probably because of its close proximity to the start of the garden route and the large ...