I've been living on the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape, South Africa for over 6 months now. I can consider myself to be a local, right? It wouldn't be an easy place to adapt to after living in South Africa's capital for 5 years, but I found I fitted in quite easily (probably because I've always been a hippie at heart). It's more rural and beautiful than I expected, and by far the most beautiful province in South Africa.
One of my happiest discoveries this year was all the backpacking accommodation. It's almost a proudly Eastern Cape thing - the Wild Coast map is speckled with them - all lined up for the main attraction: Coffee Bay. And it's exactly what you'd expect: Dreadlocked surfers, dirty hippies and travelling gypsies. Bob Marley is idolised and eco-friendly is not new. The most surprising thing however is that often you'll be the only South African there among a community of Germans. Germans love Africa man. I don't know what it is. But not only is it because it's not marketed well to South Africans, but there's also not a huge amount of information about these places online/ in print when you are interested.
The first thing you'll need to get yourself is a copy of the free 'Coast to Coast: A Definitive Guide to Backpacking Southern Africa' - available at most backpackers. It's really so handy. However, in addition I'd like to feature a rating guideline to review each place I've been. Yeah, for the cynics, to provide you with info that you might not get in print. It's mostly good though.
So first up is Wild Lubanzi Backpackers and Trail Lodge. It was the first one I stayed at and I've been back. It's one of the better ones. This is what the Coast to Coast has to say about it:
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| Coast to Coast reviews Wild Lubanzi Backpackers |
And now for my review:
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| Personal review of Wild Lubanzi Backpackers: Part 1 |
