Backpacking the Wild Coast

Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast.

© Damien du Toit

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If you choose to backpack along the Wild Coast – an excellent way in which to explore this remote region – you can stay in the heart of a traditional, decidedly non-touristy Xhosa village just above the shoreline, where you’ll bed down in a thatch hut for the night. Or you could opt for a small but comfortable family home, or a hostel right on the beach next to the pounding surf.

The Wild Coast is so-named because of its tumultuous seas, its shipwrecks, its secret lagoons, its splendid desolation and its untamed wilderness.

This is undeveloped rural Africa, and if you’re looking for luxury with all mod cons, then backpacking the Wild Coast is not for you.

What you will find, however, are friendly local communities where the women dress in colourful clothes and smoke long-stemmed clay pipes – not to impress the tourists but because they have been doing so for centuries.

You’ll also find lots to do, from horse riding and hiking to some of the best surf in the world. Whether you’re an experienced surfer (in which case head off to Mdumbi Point, where you can run a wave for almost a kilometre), or, if you’re a novice, take surfing lessons at Coffee Bay.

If you choose the award-winning Bulungula Lodge, you can spend a day with the Xhosa village women learning how to cook and harvest food, or go sea fishing with the men, or pluck fresh oysters and mussels from the black rocks.

Walk with an herbalist in the coastal forest and discover traditional ancient medicinal plants and remedies, or go canoeing up the Xhora River.

The eco-friendly accommodation (don’t always expect hot water or flush toilets) and activities at any of the region’s community backpackers help support the village, so you’ll be doing your bit for rural development as well as having an amazing experience.