Down a dirt road

I’ve just got back from the Wild Coast. My family has a cottage at Hole in the Wall and I’ve been going there on holiday since I was about three. It’s such a beautiful stretch of the coast – and such a privilege to have a camp right at the beach, just above the rocks and waves.

The original part of the cottage is over a hundred years old, and is simple and rather weather beaten. For years the camp had no electricity and no indoor toilet – only a “long drop” (with a sea view) down the hill! We still rely solely on rain water for our water supply. And we don’t have satellite or internet access – though we now have pretty good cell phone coverage.

The Hole in the Wall itself is at the mouth of the Mpako River and is known as esiKhaleni in isiXhosa which means “place of thunder” or “place of the sound”. The local people tell a story about how it came to be formed. The Mpako River was once a landlocked lagoon as it was cut off from the sea by a cliff and a beautiful girl lived in a village near the lagoon.  One day she was seen by one of the sea people (supernatural beings who look human but have flipper-like hands and feet) who fell in love with her and they began to meet in secret. But the girl’s father found out and he forbade her to see her lover. So, one night at high tide, the sea people came to the cliff and rammed a hole through the centre of the cliff with a huge fish. They swam into the lagoon, shouting and singing loudly – and the terrified villagers ran and hid. In all this commotion, the girl and her lover were reunited and disappeared into the sea. At times, they say, the music and singing of the sea people can still be heard.

Well, I already miss the sound of the waves crashing below the cottage at night...

The sea from the deck

Piglets

Reeds and huts and hills

Birds nesting at the hotel

Aloe

The Hole from Whale's Back

A wild mushroom

A claw lily growing on the sand dunes

Whale's Back

Early morning light

On the road home near Zithulele

Children swimming in a stream

(Story sourced at http://www.wildcoast.co.za)