How safe is it where you live?

I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago ‘How safe is South Africa’ and I’ve been thinking about it and realised that it should’ve been entitled ‘How safe is Gauteng?’

We’ve just returned from a 17 day road trip from Centurion to Cape Town, via Durban, The Wild Coast, The Garden Route, Cape Town and back to Centurion via the Karoo.

We receive and entertain many visitors, family, friends and colleagues and I’m sure they all think we’re being over dramatic with our instructions/orders on the do’s and dont’s of life here.

A twitter friend who I’ve met and reads my blog asked me to give his parents a few pointers about their upcoming holiday here and my mind went into over drive with the do’s and don’ts till I found out their trip is to Cape Town and the Garden Route only. My advice was to enjoy their holiday and treat the trip in the same way they would when going anywhere on holiday. 

On our journey to Durban, slowly the security disappears, there were still security estates and individual security around houses, but not as evident as it is up here. By the time we arrived in Addo, North West of Port Elizabeth almost all signs of personal security had disappeared.

We drove through Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, it appeared that every man, woman, child and goat was out in the town that day, endless queues at the fuel stops for the bathroom and not once did I consider my personal safety. The biggest risk came from hitting a pot hole or a cow whilst driving. None of the places we stayed in had any kind of security other than maybe a fence to keep the wildlife out, even staying in the middle of the Karoo on our journey home.

South Africa has bad press and most of it with good reason, but it doesn't mean to say it's all bad and like everywhere you go on holiday you should always exercise care and caution. You wouldn't leave your door unlocked while you popped to the corner shop, so why would you do that on holiday? You wouldn't leave your front door open at home for some fresh air while you slept at night, so why would you do that on holiday?

Few people who arrive at OR Tambo, unless they live or have family or business here, just wander out the door with no idea of where they're going or staying, usually met by a tour guide, on a package holiday with a full itinerary scheduled. More people should come here, book their accommodation, hire a car and explore this beautiful country.

Travel The Wild Coast. from Durban to Addo, Nr Port Elizabeth

Road Trip from Centurion to Cape Town and back via Durban and Port Elizabeth

 

 

We’ve been to Durban and the surrounding areas and driven the Garden Route but we’ve never explored the East Coast and have been told that’s where we find the most spectacular beaches.

We spent 3 days travelling from home to reach Addo, North of Port Elizabeth and we did see the most amazing sites, from driving through the homeland of the Xhosa people, where Nelson Mandela is from, and their painted houses to the rugged coast line. Called The Wild Coast.
 

It’s a very long journey with an average of 7 hours a day on the road, but it’s a must. Locals warn you of the dangers on the road, people and animals. It is constant, from goats wandering across the roads to cattle delaying the traffic and not just the side roads but the National roads also.

 

I was told in advance about the Xhosa peoples green houses, today I’m assuming they’ve got a job lot of various shades of green paint, but originally their houses were decorated by extracting the green from copper in the mud.

 

We didn’t spend a lot of time in any of the places to explore but what we saw from our brief stop over in Ramsgate, Coffee Bay, visit to Port Alfred we really liked it and plan to return another time.

 

The coast line down here is peaceful and tranquil in terms of activities and visitors. If you enjoy chilling out, reading, walking and bird watching then I can’t think of a better place to visit.

Coffee Bay involved a 2 hour, return, drive on an unpaved road for 75kms. I think they should put signs up to say ‘no pot holes for the next 100 yards, otherwise they’re everywhere’

 

Thankfully the hotel was ‘All Inclusive’ as there was no village centre or local shops, the hotel owned what appeared to be the only Fuel station and banking facilities in the area.

Coffee Bay took its name after a ship carrying a cargo of coffee beans was shipwrecked in 1893, some of the beans took root but none survived the salty soil.

There is so much history to explore in regards to ship wrecks and fascinating to discover that 8 years after the English ship The Grosvenor sank in 1782, an expedition to find the survivors uncovered over 400 people of non-African descent living along the Mngazi River, believed to be the remnants of various ship wreck survivors along the wild coast.

The trip to Port Alfred took us on a detour off the N2 of around 40 minutes. We drove through a range of small villages full of bars, restaurants, craft shops and small cheese and dairy farms, to the coast. It’s obviously quite windy there judging by the size of the sand dunes and despite the constant drizzle we’d had for the past 3 days, the air was warm and we took a walk on the beach collecting shells from the Indian Ocean.

 

Back in the car for another 2 hours and we reached Addo, where we are staying for 2 nights to explore the Addo Elephant national Park.