Chintsa West
– March 13 - 16
Keeping the driving down to only a few hours a day, we headed further along the coast for East London. We were not planning on staying there, and driving through confirmed this decision. Beacon Bay was a suburb just outside East London that we thought would do for one night’s stay. Without finding camping options in what was a big busy suburb, Jack said we should push on to Chintsa West. Excellent decision! Ciska had recommended a backpacker/campground called Buccaneers. The drive off the N2 was wonderfully rural, but at the same time, billboards advertised million dollar townhomes in private estates. Endless juxtaposition of middle of no-where feel only to drive over a hill and come to a huge shopping complex.
Driving along this countryside, a billboard for new condos would unexpectedly show up and seem impossible to exist in this rural scene.
Our jungle!
The many
traffic calmings (speed bumps) encouraged a slow approach to Buccaneers. This
family run place was friendly and had endless ways to keep everyone busy. The
owner, Sal, was more than helpful with our travel plans and interesting to talk
to about life in South Africa. We ended up staying three nights, but we could
have stayed a week!
By the pool, with ping pong and pizza ovens in front of us. Ahhh... when you can live outside year round.
When we
arrived at this expansive property, we checked out the campground (and its many
grazing cows). Upon learning that there were ticks that spread lime disease, we
opted for a cottage. With only one small cottage available we squished in and
practiced cooking with our charcoal braai. The next day a larger cottage became
available and we were glad not to be in a tent when the fantastic lighting show
with down pours of rain came early in the night. The downside to the cottage
was the incredible humidity. I thought we would be covered in a thin layer of
mold come morning.
Our lovely cottage; a spacious change from the tents, amidst the wild banana trees.
Another part
of cottage living is adopting the pets that come with them. We had Iggy and Weasly,
two hungry geckos who clung to the ceiling. We cheered as they expertly caught
insects with quick flicking tongues. Watching small lizards catch insects as
they crawl along the ceiling and a bed for all at last. Great time to pick a beach
bungalow as the lightning storm was fantastic.
Cows and
geckos were not the only animal life. I saw my first snake, a night adder,
after he gave a loud hiss to tell me I had stepped precariously close to him.
His camouflaged skin blended seamlessly into the dirt path. Good thing for the
warning, as his bite would have caused my skin tissue to deteriorate.
Vervet
monkeys would wake us up in the morning with their tap dancing routine on the
roof. At least 10 one morning swarmed the cottage. They like to eat the seeds from wild banana
trees. Buccaneers is situated in what looks like jungle, so the trees were
plentiful.
Chintsa East
is a short walk along the beach from Chintsa West. We wondered there one
afternoon and realized it was a vacation town. Most extremely large homes had
the curtains drawn and were not inhabited.
