About Mbotyi

Mbotyi, Wild Coast

There is not much between Coffee Bay and Port Edward along the coast. It is nothing like the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, riddled as it is with port upon beach upon seaside village, which suddenly ends at Port Edward.

It is not surprising really, as this is the beginning of the Wild Coast. If you're after desolate beaches, rolling hills, the odd appearance of oxen pulling carts, and not much else, then Mbotyi is possibly one of the best hidden secrets in the Eastern Cape's Pondoland. The coast south of Port Edward is wild, and life here has not caught up with the western world's clamour for development and the acquiring of things.

Mbotyi is roughly a four-hour drive from Durban and 26 kilometres from Lusikisiki. Its name is the Xhosa word for 'place of beans' and, unsurprisingly, the climate and fertile soils are perfect for growing beans. It is also condusive to growing tea, and the Magwa Tea Estates sprawl around Mbotyi - one of the larest tea estates in the country, employing a great many of the local people.

The bird life in Mbotyi is said to be incredible (keep an eye out for the Cape parrot), whilst the sheer beauty of the valleys, hills, deep gorges, lush vegetation and waterfalls make this part of the country a space in which to completely get away from it all. For mountain bike enthusiasts there are a couple of routes - one up the hills to Magwa Falls, where the views are something else, or a lovely loop up the same hill out of Mbotyi, past Angel Falls and south, through a rural village and on across a lagoon and back again.

But with such incredible vistas, a sense of the laidback, and little else, chances are that you'll kick back and take full advantage of the quiet to catch up on, well, nothing ...