A little interim report from the Wild Coast

For the past three days, I have spent a lot of time in the car. From Clarens, I first went to Durban, then on to Maclear, and now I have arrived in East London. A total of about 1200 kilometers. With single-lane roads that constantly pass through villages where the speed limit is not faster than 60 km/h and otherwise the speed limit is 100 km/h, you can imagine that it not only takes a lot of time but can also be quite annoying. Unfortunately, this journey did not really have a highlight, but because I didn't want to book a domestic flight due to the rental car, I had no choice but to drive. Nevertheless, the landscape was relatively beautiful. Starting in Durban by the sea, it went quite close to Lesotho in the mountains. In the distance, I could always see the snow-capped Drakensberg mountains, so the night in Maclear at 0 degrees Celsius so far was the coldest. Luckily, I had an electric blanket that stayed on throughout the night. The accommodations here do not have heaters. When I mentioned during check-out that it was a beautiful night but a little cold, the man kindly said to me, that's how it is in this season. Okay, then that's how it is :) Today I went back to the sea, and since I started relatively early and made good progress, I had time to take a detour to the beach before heading to my next accommodation. It is much warmer here again, and the huge sandy beach has warmed my spirits. I walked along the beach for a while and marveled at the huge waves. The sea breeze was fresh and cold, so I decided to go back to the car relatively early. My accommodation today is in the city of East London, which marks the beginning or end of the Wild Coast. A coastal stretch along the Indian Ocean. Originally, my plan was not to go to the mountains in Maclear but to go to Port St. Johns. A small town on the Wild Coast. However, the weather was bad on the weekend and my previously booked accommodation turned out to be quite bad when I carefully read the reviews, so I improvised and booked another accommodation at short notice. It's no fun to walk along the beach in the rain, and the newly booked accommodation in Maclear turned out to be the best in South Africa so far, except for the lack of heating, everything was taken care of, and in the afternoon, I watched the final of the World Cup in peace and then ate a very tasty fish dish in the restaurant next door. Tomorrow I will continue to the village of Addo. Next to it is the Addo Elephant National Park. This park is the third largest national park in South Africa and as the name suggests, there are many elephants living there. The park is much smaller than the Kruger National Park and can be driven through in one day. Many tourists only visit this park because it is not far from Cape Town and is malaria-free. Since I have booked two nights in Addo, I will also do a self-drive safari in this park. Thanks to my wildcard, I can enter the park for free, but this time I have chosen accommodation outside of Addo. With a lot of luck, you can also see the Big Five. Well, we'll see :)