Wild Coast Recce: day 2
November, 2012 | 1 Comment
Day two of this trail is a challenging 44km which starts with a good fast beach ride and cantering through the hills on a dirt road, every rise offering yet another view of this astonishingly beautiful and dramatic coastline. It is almost impossible for me to explain this richly theatrical wild landscape so I am going to let the pictures do it for me!
We were to traverse the Hluleka Nature Reserve, a route that Joe and I had not taken before, and which required us to negotiate a stretch of rocky coast line to get around the perimeter fence. It was rougher going than expected but the barefoot Wild Coast Horseback Adventures horses, used to working on this coastline, handled it superbly, picking their way carefully across the rocks like kids rock hooping from rock pool to rock pool. This rocky jaunt was worth it as the reserve is thick with beautiful coastal forest and the well kept roads were a dream, allowing us to let the horses loose for a long steady canter to the reserve’s main gate.
After 22km we approached one of the biggest swims of the ride, the Mtakatye River, through steep hills and a slushy mangrove swamp thick with sucking black mud. We had planned to arrive two hours after low tide when the estuary had emptied of water and the sea had begun gently pushing its way inland again; the conditions were perfect. We waterproofed electronics and bagged up gear in two bright orange heavy duty plastic bags to float behind me on a 10m floating line. I took Nicky and Victor out of the mangroves on foot to the edge of the river for a quick briefing about how to tackle this swim of over 100m. I would lead, with Nicky and Victor following and Joe coming across last. Instructions to Nicky and Victor were, if things did not go perfectly with their swim to simply let their horse go and swim across alone, a relaxed swim across a beautiful estuary much like we had enjoyed the previous afternoon at Mpande are after our ride. The horses would either follow the lead horse or turn back where Joe would pick it up and lead it across.
We mounted up and rode the horses out across the mud flat, needing to urge them strongly to take the plunge into the deep water channel. Nicky and I had swapped horses as Tamzin was the clear leader of the bunch, but once we hit the water Nicky powered past me and my attendant orange bags with the strong swimming Tara. It was a long haul but was completed with some style by all. We felt a great sense of achievement at having got across, tethered the horses for a rest and to get some grass, and flopped down on the grass to eat our sandwiches. They had been in zip lock plastic bags when I had seen them that morning but some wise soul had taken them out to fit them into our non sealing lunch boxes! I gently squeezed the excess sea water from the bread and enjoyed my salty soggy lunch!
More word defying scenery followed and at one unknown little river we were treated to a view that would be hard to better. High above the little stretched out lagoon below an aloe strewn slope, we could look back north east up the rugged coast we had ridden down for the last day and a half, an incredible sight.
One more obstacle lay between us and the end of our riding day, the Mdumbi River. It has a broad mostly shallow lagoon before the narrow but deep channel to the sea, and we headed to this hoping to avoid a swim. We didn’t, but being towed by a swimming horse through water as clear as a glass of Mongolia’s finest vodka …ok, ok…the crystal clear azure waters of a subtropical lagoon was hardly something to begrudge!
More word defying scenery followed and at one unknown little river we were treated to a view that would be hard to better. High above the little stretched out lagoon below an aloe strewn slope, we could look back north east up the rugged coast we had ridden down for the last day and a half, an incredible sight.
One more obstacle lay between us and the end of our riding day, the Mdumbi River. It has a broad mostly shallow lagoon before the narrow but deep channel to the sea, and we headed to this hoping to avoid a swim. We didn’t, but being towed by a swimming horse through water as clear as a glass of Mongolia’s finest vodka …ok, ok…the crystal clear azure waters of a subtropical lagoon was hardly something to begrudge!It was a short steep ride to Mdumbi Backpackers where we were staying for the night and once again, after settling the horses in, we wandered up the road to buy a cold beer and sit for a while gazing at this bewitching coastline with Wolfie, the friendly dog that had accompanied us from the backpackers. Cocktail hour Transkei style is becoming an institution on this ride!
Read the next instalment here
For more information on The Ride’s Wild Coast Adventure Trail go to: http://www.barryarmitage.com/expeditions/wild-coast-adventure-trail
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