Morgan Bay: A Long Way Down Bru

The sun sets over the rolling hills of South Africa's Wild Coast.

           Tracie and I loaded up her little Hundai Gets and took off into the early morning pre-dawn, headed across the country to Morgan Bay. It was a long 12 hour drive across some of the most beautiful countryside I have seen on my travels. We went from town to town, through misty rolling hills to endless plains, through forests and on to the coast. The scenery was pretty, but to be honest, there wasn't too much along our way that would grab one's attention. Small towns dotted expansive prairies that seemed to drag on forever. We both breathed a sigh of relief when we finally arrived in Morgan Bay, especially after a few wrong turns which landed us on some bad gravel roads dodging the occasional monkey and snake, before pulling back on to a main highway and salvation.

          Morgan Bay was highly recommended as a beautiful place to get away on the coast. This little town was pretty incredibly sleepy so we decided to take a long walk along the beach (which was absolutely stunning). We spent the afternoon exploring sea cliffs and enjoying the sound of breaking waves until I had the horrible realization that I had forgotten to put sunscreen on. Realizing that another hour or two in the sun would leave me redder than a baboon's butt, I stole Tracie's bright pink Indian scarf to make an emergency turban. As laughable as I looked, it kept me from getting braii'ed (barbecued) long enough to get back to town.
         It was a great little adventure but Tracie and I both decided that it was just TOO sleepy for us. Every shop closed at 5pm, there was only one little restaurant, and absolutely no other younger travelers that we saw. While this might make a beautiful getaway for those who have been slaving away at work, we decided that we wanted something different.  After we had made our way back along the sea cliffs to our campsite and had a delicious dinner under the stars before packing it in for the night. We decided to head to the Addo Elephant Park reserve in the morning after first light. Time to move bru!

The sky and plains stretch on over the plains.... and this is just the edge of the Karoo grasslands!

Bloemfeild's nuclear plant towers over the little city.

Hmmm an abortion ad on a trash can? Seems totally legit.

The rolling hills of the Wild Coast.

A puff adder that I almost took out on a dirt road as we were making our final drive to Morgan Bay. These guys are apparently so lazy that if 9 guys walk over it,  one might get bitten.

This little guy was my alarm clock.

Walking to the beach from our campsite.

Finally, the beach!

Hand made baskets for sale.

A woman making the aforementioned baskets!

The waves crash against the cliffs and make some epic spray!

An abandoned pump house that we decided to explore.

The view from the pump house.

Tracie poses heroically in front of the light house.

The waves break against the cliffs to the South.

The stars that night as our campfire lights the trees.

Our route is traced in blue (kind of, we took a few detours in the latter half of the drive...