Exotic Wild Coast village – historical Port St Johns

FFavoured by old-time adventurers, explorers, modern-day Robinson Crusoes, backpackers and even a wandering hippo, Port St Johns is one of the top destinations along the Eastern Cape Wild Coast. In terms of interaction with the local community, Port St Johns stands out as one of the friendliest places in South Africa. 

Port St Johns, the little Wild Coast town in the Eastern Cape, has a reputation of being a haven for backpackers, slackers and those who relish the joys of an alternative lifestyle. 

Almost every country in the world has its 'hippie haven', a gathering place of like minds who come from as far afield as California and the Gold Coast of Australia to enjoy each other's company for a few months and then drift off back home or to some Shangri-La in the Far East. 

That place, in South Africa, is Port St Johns. 

Slumbering next to the brown waters of the Umzimvubu River in Pondoland, Port St Johns possesses two of the most amazing headland hills flanking the river: Mounts Thesiger and Sullivan. They are huge sandstone cliffs, thickly wooded and populated by more than 200 bird species. The cliffs are also called the Gates of St Johns. 

Port St Johns is named after the Portuguese ship, the Sao Joao, which was wrecked north of this spot. Some believe, however, that it bears the name because, on a clear day, sailors could make out the profile of St John the Baptist, naturally sculpted in a nearby cliff face. 

The first people known to have lived in the area were those from the Mthwa cluster of clans. 

The first European residents in South Africa were, in fact, ensconced in Port St Johns for 6 months. They were the Portuguese survivors of the Nossa Senhora de Belem, which went down here in June 1635. 

The first white people to live here permanently were the traders, descendants of the 1820 settlers who set up shop along the banks of the Umzimvubu (Xhosa for 'place of the hippo') River. They co-existed peacefully with the Mthwa and the Mpondo people. (There was a brief moment in time when the district was destined to be a German colony, but in 1884 Britain stepped in and swiftly annexed it as part of the Cape Colony.) 

For a century, Port St Johns gently flourished into an idyllic enclave and minor seaport along the Wild Coast. It became the holiday hideaway of a few in the know; people who returned time and again to their favourite beaches and fishing spots. 

Some very interesting folk came to settle here. They were adventurers, hoteliers, military types and solitary souls, like South Africa’s own Robinson Crusoe, a colourful character called Ben Dekker, who lives in a cave near Second Beach. Ben writes, carves art out of objects found on the beach and eats what he catches from the sea. 

It is the spirit of people like Dekker and another Port St Johns resident called John Costello, a photographer, guest-house owner, guide and local expert, that makes this little part of South Africa so unique. 

At any time of the year, Port St Johns is Backpacker Central. Walk its colourful streets and you will find any number of young people from all over the world in deep and happy conversation with a local populace only too happy to welcome them in their midst.