The Pondo Trail

Well that was an extraordinary experience.

Last week, my 3 brothers and I were lucky enough to spend 4 days on the Pondo Trail in the Transkei – hiking along the coast to Mkhambati Falls, sleeping in rondavels in homesteads, eating delicious home cooked food, swimming in the gloriously warm Indian Ocean and in icy lagoons and waterfalls… It was unforgettable. And strangely hard to put into words.

For four days, we didn’t see one other tourist. We woke with the sun and slept after sunset, walked and swam and walked and swam some more, and it was so deeply healing and so incredibly beautiful.

The Wild Coast of South Africa is still so wild! So untouched. It was one glimmer after another – ocean views and rolling hills and the red sands of the Xolobeni deserts and beauty on beauty on beauty.

Our guide on this magical adventure was Lonwabo (@lonwabo9201) who lives in Isingidi, one of the tiny villages we walked through (the name means ‘to dance’ in Pondo, and I’m fairly sure I misspelt it!) He was an absolute prince – telling us stories about all the trees and plants and their cultural uses, as well as the more modern issues the Transkei has been facing. If you’re considering doing the Pondo Trail, Lonwabo is your man.

And then, of course, there was the fact that all four siblings were together, just the four of us, for the first time in as long as any of us can remember. It was the perfect antidote to the dusty, shleppy packing up of the days before and it was *so much fun*.

I lucked out with my brothers: they are such excellent company and so funny, and we have a whole list of rolling inside jokes to carry us into the next few months…

This will undoubtedly go down as one of the highlights of 2024 for me: what joy!