Baz Bus Journey: Part One

Since we had three months of summer holidays, we decided to enjoy this time as much as possible and to see other part of South Africa than only Western Cape. The plan was: me and Mouna travelling by Baz Bus for two weeks between Cape Town and Johannesburg, stopping on the Wild Coast, Durban, Drakensberg before arriving to Pretoria and Johannesburg. Then few days together in Gauteng before I leave to Cameroon for two months.  

And as we had planned, we did.

We have had so many remarks that we decided to write a journal each of us. And since my journal is quite rich and full of those interesting and funny remarks, I decided to write it here in this form. So come travel with us throughout this diverse country which is South Africa!

Monday, November 10^th (Day 1)

We left Stellenbosch at the end of afternoon. In our backpacks all stuff we need for three months of travelling, we had to hurry up (we were late as always) to fetch the last train to Cape Town. A bit breathless (those backpacks were pretty heavy.. but we got used to it progressively as it became a daily routine to carry it on our back) we arrived on time to the train station… and train was late as usually…

On the train, that we are used to take quite often, some funny unexpected things may happen still. For instance, that time, a man (probably drunk but anyway in a good mood, which is the most important) was dancing and singing (not very well) and the whole train was laughing – but nicely!

On Monday night, we slept at our friend’s place in Cape Town since our (Baz) bus was leaving from there on Tuesday morning.

For those who do not know what Baz Bus is: it is the service of buses that pick up and drop off travellers in partnering backpackers throughout South Africa. They pick you up and drop you off directly at the backpackers you wish. You can meet lot of interesting people on the bus and furthermore it is a very safe and also easy way how to travel if you are alone or two girls.

Tuesday, November 11^th (Day 2)

We woke up in the morning and before we left, we had a time to walk on the promenade at Green Point. How to best start our trip: drink the morning coffee walking next to the sea and watching waves…

When we arrived to the pick-up place of our bus, we realized we left a bag with our food at our friends’ place.. And we had been discussing that much about what to buy in the supermarket the day before. never mind, it was a small gift to our friends for having accommodated us, I hope they like vegetables and fruits :) And after all, we still had a bread and rusks, we weren’t about starving during our trip.

We spent the entire day on the bus. We left Cape Town at 8am and arrived to Port Elisabeth at 10pm. However, time passed quite fast. We met lot of interesting people travelling throughout South Africa on the bus, we received an invitation for a wine tasting from a French wine maker when we will be back in France, and we slept… and also we remembered our September trip to Garden Route as we traveled exactly the same way.

Arriving to Port Elisabeth, we realized how great service the Baz Bus offers. It dropped us of in front of the backpackers we had booked before. We were standing in front of the gate and ringing on the bell but nobody was replying, only a strange noise could be heard (they were probably already partying...). Sometimes, choosing the cheapest options is not the best deal.

What we should do? Alone at night in PE with our big backpacks… well, we had our tent and sleeping bag, being in Europe, we would have camp on the grass in front of the backpackers probably… but this is South Africa. We turned back and realized that the Baz Bus was still waiting there and the driver was walking toward us. He also tried to ring – without success. So he told us he would take us to another backpackers. The Baz Bus really takes care about travellers!

So we arrived to another backpackers where they welcomed us even without having reservation. So we started to set up the tent when suddenly… it broke. But a broken stick didn’t prevent us from completing our task. Our tent was finally set up. Even though it had a bit weird appearance and less space - how to make from a tent for four people a tent for two.  But we were only two so no problem.

Lying in the tent, just before falling asleep, we were wondering whether our tent would survive the night since it was pretty windy and our broken tent wasn’t very stable.

Wednesday, November 12^th (Day 3)

We woke up at 5:45 and to our surprise, the tent was still standing, it didn’t fall on us during the night! :) 

So a quick breakfast and hop on a new Baz Bus, new driver, new people (well, few of them were the same as the previous day) and we continued alongside the coast to the East, direction Durban. Next stop: Mthatha and then shuttle to Port St Johns!

Driver collected some bread and old clothes at backpackers he picked up people from. We stopped twice on the road before East London and he gave it to the poor. Observing landscapes, we can already perceive the difference between different provinces. It is a rural area here, few old houses are dispersed around, without services and infrastructure.

Then we arrived to Mthatha where Baz Bus dropped us off. It is apparently quite a big town within this rural region. Eventually, after four months spent in South Africa, we feel like being in Africa!

Why? Being white, we are clearly a minority here. Traffic jams a la Africa – one hour to forward 400m, to overtake other cars, why not to drive on the sidewalk?

From Mthatha, we took the shuttle (a minibus) to Port St Johns. It was said to us it would take about 1,5h to get there… finally it was 3hours. Lot of traffic jams in Mthatha, then lot of deviations and potholes in the road. But never mind, landscapes were beautiful so we enjoyed it. We saw beautiful mountains where small villages comprised from few huts were spread, cows and goats were walking next to the road (in front of the fences, not behind),…

When finally arrived to Amapondo backpackers in Port St Johns where our intention was to camp, the receptionist told us: “it’s gonna to rain tonight so better is you stay in a dorm tonight.” We: “well, okay, but will it be for the same price as the camping then? We don’t mind the rain otherwise.” “Yes, of course, no problem!” So why not? The best service ever :) (and we had that dorm only for two of us, cool!)

Thursday, November 13^th (Day 4)

Before to leave for our five-day hike, we decided to get up a bit earlier to take breakfast at the beach that was only two minutes from the backpackers. It was definitely worth getting up earlier – Ouma and the beach, what’s better at 7:30 am? :)

Furthermore, we didn’t even need the alarm to wake up: monkeys running on the roof took charge of it. But we discovered that it was monkeys who did that noise only a bit later when we actually saw lot of them just in front of our door.

8:30 am, time to meet our guide and start our hiking adventure throughout the Wild Coast! Port St Johns – Coffee Bay: 61km, five days.

We realized that our backpacks are a bit heavy… for me, it’s luckily quite fine (all that time spent in the gym and running served actually to something :) ). First a pretty steep mountain… hard but we all did it and the view was just amazing!

Since Mouna couldn’t really carry her backpack anymore, we decided to take a porter for her backpack. So our guide just talked to his cousin who stayed in the village that was situated on the top of that mountain. In twenty minutes, he is ready to come with us. It was really good choice: first, Mouna could enjoy the hike, second, that porter, called Wanda, was a really cool guy. He wanted to talk to us much more than our guide (“Delegate”) so we could learn a lot about the Xhosa culture and we had lot of interesting discussions about differences between our cultures. And he also taught us some isiXhosa words!

We walked often just next to cows, passed goats walking on the street, Xhosa women carrying heavy bags and pots on their head, group of boys trying to catch the pig that had run away.

We had a lunch break on the beach. Well… lunch… we had just rest of old bread… But it tasted pretty good – when you are hungry after few kilometers with almost 20kg on the back… And then, with such a beautiful environment, we really didn’t need more!

We stopped to buy some groceries in the shop that was at the entrance to the village. It was the end of the afternoon, people were drinking their beer in front of the shop, chatting with their neighbours.

We arrived to our accommodation: we slept at locals’ in a hut. We had a rondavel just for two of us. We got a tea and some bread at arriving and we could even take a warm shower! Shower was situated in a separated small rondavel, water had been warmed up on the fire before. It was just a great service.

In the beginning of the evening, out porter (Wanda) gave us an isiXhosa lecture! He told us he would make us practice during the rest of the hike – we would speak to locals in isiXhosa. But well, most of those words with clicks are still unpronounceable for me.

Then, he began to tell us his story and about his culture. From the circumcision (a very important ritual to become a man) to how difficult it is to earn money there. And about his uncle who used to support him when he was in the school but then he was stabbed to death one night in Durban while going back home from work. Also, he was very interested about our culture. It was really a great exchange.

While discussing with Wanda, our hosts brought us dinner. It was so delicious! Rice, carrots, broccoli, potatoes, chicken, sauce. Everything very well cooked – on fire (maybe that is the secret why it was better than we are used to? )

Friday, November 14^th (Day 5)

We had thought we would sleep so well in that nice hut on such comfortable mattresses…. mosquitoes decided to spoil our plan though. Their “bzz” during the whole night was a bit irritating.

But the breakfast that we took in front of our hut with an amazing view made the day to begin very well, despite not that great night. Porridge, eggs and bread.

8am, time to leave for the second day of the hike. I had a great (for me) idea to put the tent on Mouna’s backpack. Our porter is stronger than me after all. 5kg less on my back! I was really relieved and suddenly we walked much faster, with only few stops that day and arrived to the village we were staying overnight already at 12:45. Before arriving, we also had a lunch break (again some dry bread) at the beach. And we weren’t the only one: a herd of cows was our company.

At our new accommodation (a hut that is yet nicer than the previous one), there were lot of animals with their babies all around us: dogs, hens, ducks,.. Everybody was friendly and talking to us (contrary to the day before where people were very nice but also distant).

In the afternoon, local bead-makers came to sell us some necklaces. Being aware of the fact that to earn some money in the region is quite hard and every rand is helpful for locals, we decided to buy some – furthermore they were nice and quite cheap. So we had a good feeling – we bought nice product and we supported local economy!

Few hours later, another bead-maker came. When we said we have already bought to somebody else, he tried to convince us by telling us his story: without this money, he couldn’t go to school, wouldn’t have anything to eat. He wasn’t far from crying. But we didn’t want to buy anything because we knew if we would do so, the whole village would come to ask for some money. There was a girl from the village observing this discussion and she was laughing all the time – obviously she knew the guy was exaggerating a bit.

This seventeen-year-old girl began to talk to us after this. She was very talkative and she loved to speak to tourists coming to the village to practice her English. She was very determined – she wanted to leave the village, go to the university, speak English as often as possible. Her life objectives differed quite lot from those of most people we met in this region.

While talking with her, a white boy ran around! We were really surprised by seeing his blond hair… she laughed and told us he was living in the village with his mother. It’s quite rare to meet white people who really live in this regions but there are few of them..

Saturday, November 15^th (Day 6)

This day, the hike was a bit longer, at the end we were quite happy to arrive to our accommodation Third day, we began to feel a bit tired after all. But only little bit.

We saw a boy with two donkeys and we were invited to climb on and “ride” it. (But it was so small I was afraid to break its back so I preferred to get down quickly).

Then, our guide needed to meet somebody in one village we were passing through. While we were waiting for him next to a dwelling where a music was playing. Lot of children appeared and began to watch us. They seemed to be curious and began to talk to us – in isiXhosa. Since we had forgotten most of what our porter try to teach us, the discussion wasn’t very rich. We tried some basic English but they didn’t understand. So we just use isiXhosa that we remembered (Molweni, Kunjani? – Ndipilile! Meaning Hello, how are you? Fine!) and then we were just sitting there on the ground looking and smiling at each other. But it was funny.

Again, lunch break on the beach! However, we were interrupted in the middle: the tide began to raise and we had to cross the river. So we had to cross it before there was too much water and avoid our backpacks get wet. So we crossed the river – our pants all wet but our backpacks remained dry! And so we could finish our lunch – dry bread: the cheapest one and also the only one you can get in local shops… a bit crunchy due to the sand that come with the wind.

We continued walking, a long distance on the beach and rocks. And then, a jungle! With the sound of crickets.

That day, our accommodation looked a bit more traditionally: a hut with no electricity which meant a romantic dinner with a candle :D

We also appreciated their shower system that offered all comfort of normal shower. (okay, except that you can’t have a water for longer than one minute). 

Then, going back to the hut (the bedroom), you pass just next to cows, watching sunset – just amazing!

In the evening, another class of isiXhosa with our porter – teacher Wanda! A lot to study. After the class, we had a discussion with him about lot of interesting topics – mainly marriage, lobola,.. and we even mentioned homosexuality – little bit shocking for our porter who saw only recently the first gay in his life. In these rural villages, homosexuality still remains quite a taboo. And to finish, we spoke about the electricity: the more and more people have electricity in their households but still not all of them: Out of for households where we stayed during our hike, two of them didn’t have electricity.

Sunday, November 16^th (Day 7)

Today was a long walk, the longest. We didn’t go through many villages, it was mainly on the beach. Waves were beautiful, very big, often hunting us further from the sea as we didn’t want our shoes to get wet (failed).

It was (again) a beautiful walk but a bit exhausting .Fourth day, the tiredness began to appear. And furthermore there was quite a strong wind blowing against us during the entire day.

We crossed two rivers with a ferry. For the second one, we had to wait 1,5 hour as the man was at home and our guide had to go for him and when they finally came, he realized he forgot the key from the lock.

We also crossed some water on foot. Once, it became a bit complicated for me: It was just a narrow mouths of the river going to the sea we had to cross. I followed Mouna and the guide when I heard: “Quickly, quickly, the wave is coming!” Me, a bit tired and my ankles being pretty sore, I didn’t really realize the wave and thought okay, a wave, at worst my pants would become wet, it wouldn’t be for the first time. However, the stream was stronger than it looked like and also with the wave, suddenly it was much deeper than only few seconds ago. I didn’t mind to get wet but I had my backpack with all my staff (computer and camera included) on my back. Delegate with Wanda helped me to get out of the water. So I got wet completely but surprisingly, I managed to maintain the most of my backpack above the water level. Except the pocket were my cell phone was…

Our last hut looked beautiful. No electricity again so we had a petrol lamp. Beds were like for a princesses and the view over the valley was just amazing. The family was very nice, very welcoming. Everybody came talk to us: Nineteen-year-old daughter, four-year-old daughter (well, she didn’t really talk but she visited us), father, mother and 21-year-old daughter was even offering a massage! – Not free of course but after four days of the hike and carrying the heavy backpack, we couldn’t refuse. And the prices were more than correct. And the massage was really great!

Monday, November 17^th (Day 8)

My ankles fixed (it had been a bit hard for them this hike…), I was ready for the last phase of the hike. The shortest one, only three hours. It rained a bit but only few light rain showers. At least we could experience also a different weather. Few days before the beginning of our hike, the forecast was saying it would rain the most of the time. Finally it didn’t happen, lucky we! :)

Coffee Bay, we arrived! Still a very Xhosa village but we can see the influence of tourism already. To get to our backpackers where we were staying that day, Coffee Shack (everybody was telling the best about it and we really can confirm it), we had to cross the last river. So shoes off and let’s go!

On the other bank, we met a (Xhosa) guy who was offering us mushrooms – fresh! I wondered what kind of mushrooms he meant. Then he offered a weed. So now it was clear. The rumours about Coffee Bay I heard seemed to be true :D

So we arrived to Coffee Shack and it was time to say good bye to Delegate and Wanda. Everybody was friendly in the backpackers, admiring us we walked all that way with our heavy backpacks. One (Xhosa) lady told me: “You walked that with that heavy backpack and your broken feet?” (I still had my ankles bandaged since they were really sore at the end of the hike) And she continued: “I couldn’t do it I can carry it on my head but not on my back” Well, I wouldn’t manage to carry it on my head… cultural differences.

At the end of the tour of backpackers, the employee led us to the bar: “We have a free welcome drink for you! What do you want? Beer, …” “Beer!” The choice was evident. She had to hear me when I said to Mouna few kilometres before arriving that I would take the beer of victory when we arrive. I definitely like this backpackers :D

Then we built our nice broken tent – first time at the day light! We managed it easily, it still was standing. And it was not raining so the hole didn't matter.