The Feral Magazine #07 | Page 25

Haga-Haga
swimming pool , volleyball court and kayaks offer fun and exercise if the waves aren ’ t working . We ’ re sold , and find it difficult to pull ourselves away from this portion of our trip .
But pull ourselves away after three days we must . To travel from one destination to another it is necessary to detour back to the main roads as there is no coastal road per se . Driving through bustling small towns we meet friendly locals and street side hawkers selling their handmade wares . Colours and smiles all around .

Haga-Haga

Next , we take a short trip to Haga-Haga , a hamlet 60km east of East London . The amazing views of the coast as we drop down from the mountains to sea level are memorable despite the cloudy conditions . The village of Haga Haga has been declared a conservancy due to the fact that a number of rare animal species are found in the area . Notably the Cape clawless otter and the blue duiker . It is here that we get a taste of perhaps the rarest and most wondrous of the areas offerings . The Emerald Vale pale ale . Brewed just down the road from where we had stayed in
Chintsa this micro-brewery is a key ingredient to keeping the locals and visitors in a good mood when the waves aren ’ t agreeable . Which meant we had to retrace our steps and visit the source of the golden liquid .
On the road , again and this time off to Port St Johns . Previously we had visited Coffee Bay and Hole in The Wall so we skipped the turn off and continued onto the Port St Johns road in Mthatha .
Somewhere along this windy hilly road we came across a small brown information sign notifying road users of a “ Double Waterfall .” We took the road . Seven kilometres of muddy off-roading that felt more like 50km , but boy was it worth it . Local village life , stubborn cows and thick green foliage . The advertised waterfalls were wither dry or seriously over exaggerated but the road to the lack of waterfalls was very much worthwhile . On the return trip to the main road we gave a lift to a lady and her little boy that were walking up the hill to another village . The fact that neither of them understood nor spoke a single word of English illustrates how remote these villages are . Simply epic .