The Transkei is an amazing coastline which is hugely diverse with some spectacular unpopulated areas. We always talked about walking the Transkei and last year we made the commitment by starting the first leg. Because of time constraints, we divided the coatline into three parts for three years during the Easeter holidays. Port Edward to Port St Johns last year, Port St Johns to Hole in the wall this year and Hole in the wall to Kei River next year.

The Haworths joined us this year and we spent the first night at our cottage at Ntafufu which is just North of Port St Johns. Six people including a Husky, we set off for a great adventure- four nights and five days. Armed with maps, we chose our route as we went, in many places the route is marked with large black arrows and a path but a few times we had to use some navigational skills. The locals were very helpful and would often point us in the right direction.

We chose not to take tents and maybe this was a good decision for weight weenies but a “cover” was not the best substitute for the rainy nights.

So Husky’s are made to run and this meant our Husky was finally not sulking as it was able to run all day up the mountains and across the beaches. Dakota has acquired the name “boy” which he mostly responds to, some things are priority for boy and no shouting can change his mind. He loves cows, donkeys, chickens, his favourite is goats and he “plays” with these animals. We were walking up a steep hill on the first day and the dog was at the top of this long hill before we even started our ascent as usual and we let him be. When we were half way up, walking in a group, three goats ran in what looked like the bull run in Spain and some of the goats pushed us aside. The culprit was boy who was at maximum speed running down the hill after the goats. I put my pack down and began chasing the dog who was chasing the goats. The dog returned very uninterested after it had chased them round a spur/cliff into the sea. Either those goats started swimming or boy was well mannered and let them go.

On our second day, we were passing through a small village and boy found some really cool chickens. These chickens wouldn’t fly like normal birds but they made a great noise so boy was chasing them around the bushes. I noticed boy stopped running and he had it one in his mouth, he looked so proud as if to show me that he had caught some proper food for the whole pack, when he realized we weren’t happy, he let his catch go.

There are so many amazing bays where vehicles have no access to and people often miss so walking definitely makes you more aware of the Transkei’s beauty.
We always ate the bare minimum because you don’t carry too much food for space and weight restrictions. When we arrived at our last night’s stop, we all brought out our left over snacks and had a feast of Pro-Vitas, Laughing Cow cheese, nuts and dried fruit reminiscing on all our funny moments!

We had a great trip with many laughs and are keen for next year’s trip!