About Pondo-Explore Hiking Trail
Start: Msikaba
Finish: Mbotyi or Port St Johns
Duration: 3-5 nights; 45-68 km
Fitness: the first couple of days the gradient is easy but you need a lot of stamina to manage the distances; days 3 and 4 are the most taxing; sheer climbs are optional
Our tip: summer, although sticky, is best for bird life, whilst winter has less chance of rain and milder temperatures; book ahead, particularly if going during school holidays.
The northerly reaches of the Wild Coast are the coast's most rugged, least accessible and scenically beautiful. The Wild Coast is named such as much for its incredible beauty as for its treacherous river mouths, rocks, powerful waves and whipping wind.
Any walk, hike or bike route for all its beauty, also comes with its fair share of challenges.
The pristine section of the coastline for this hike is known as Pondoland. It stretches between the Mzamba River, and the Umzimvubu at Port St Johns and provides the hiker, biker or visitor with a land of plunging waterfalls, kilometres of truly pristine and undisturbed beach, indigenous forests, plummeting gorges, ragged cliffsides and the tracks of wild cattle who roam the coast.
Pondoland is protected as the Pondoland Marine Protected Area – the country's largest marine reserve that conserves a rich ocean life protecting 90 km along the coast and between 10 km and 15 km offshore. It includes the Mkhambathi Nature Reserve.
One of the only ways to explore this naked coastline is to walk it.
Outdoor adventure providers, Active Escapes, provide a three to five day hiking package, with the option of doing the hike as a backpacker (Pondo-Explorer) or slackpacker (Pondo-Hopper) experience.
Either way your nights are relatively comfortable, spent in semi-luxury East African-style tented camps with twin bedded safari tents on wooden platforms under thatch bomas with a central kitchen and dining boma and ensuite ablutions. There is even hot water for your showers. One of the evenings is at a lodge en route.
You have the added option of a guide, or porters (although this is different from the slackpacker version of the hike).
Day one: drive to Port St Johns and transfer to Msikaba. In the afternoon canoe up the Msikaba estuary and visit the Cape griffon vulture colony or the waterfalls in the Mkambathi Nature Reserve.
Day two: 16 km Msikaba – Luphuthana
Day three: 14 km Luphuthana – Mbotyi
Day four: 10 km Mbotyi – Manteku (the gradient starts to increase from day four, which explains the shorter daily distances)
Day five: 9 km Manteku – Ntafufu
Day six: 11.5 km Ntatfufu – Port St Johns
Need to Know
WhereStart in Msikaba and finish in Mbotyi or Port St Johns on the Wild Coast, Eastern Cape, South Africa
WhenBooking is essential.
How muchPrices on request.
TelephoneWe recommend Active Escapes: +27 (0)33 329-5259
OvernightStay nearby in Port St Johns, in Eastern Cape
Disclaimer
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Find Pondo-Explore Hiking Trail in these collections
In the vicinity
Hotels & other accommodation options by proximity
* Distances shown are "as the crow flies", not driving distances. Please confirm with the establishment should driving distance be a factor in your decision.
Umngazi Hotel & Spa
The Wild Coast may be South Africa's most spectacular and yet least touristy region with its rocky coastline, indigenous forests, secluded coves ...
N'taba River Lodge
Set in amazing tropical gardens on the banks of the Umzimvubu River, N'taba River Lodge is a family resort offering the finest of Wild Coast hosp...
Port St Johns River Lodge
Situated on the mighty Umzimvubu River, Port St. John's River Lodge provides luxury accommodation with personal attention to detail and mouth wat...
Umzimvubu Retreat
Umzimvubu Retreat is situated on densely forested dunes on First Beach, overlooking the Umzimvubu River Mouth and Indian Ocean within comfortable...
Other things to do in the area
Mtentu Beach
Mtentu is a little village at the mouth of the Mtentu River, on the other side of the river from the beautiful Mkambati Nature Reserve, in the no...
Poenskop Beach
Poenskop beach lies to the north of Port St Johns and is one of the most isolated beaches on the Wild Coast. As you make your way to Poenskop, a ...
Ferry Point, Long Beach and Agate Terrace Hike
The ferry service runs from dawn to dusk at a nominal charge (the path next to the Library will take you to the ferry). It takes you across to t...
Hiking Port St Johns To Coffee Bay
The Wild Coast is, undeniably, one of the world's most spectacular areas. The best way to experience its raw, unspoilt beauty is to explore it le...
Forest Walk Hike
The Forest Walk Hike is through one of the most beautiful indigenous forests, up to balancing rocks and towards Eagle's Nest. Many species of tre...
Jesters Coffee Shop
Jesters Coffee shop on Main Street in Port St Johns is a suprising little oasis. Sit in the eclectic garden (think garden gnomes, the odd parking...
First Beach
Port St Johns is one of the Wild Coast's most beautiful and popular holiday destinations. It is characterised by magnificent beaches, cliff faces...
Cape Hermes Lighthouse
Even lighthouses have a dream of having their own sea-side patch of grass on the perfect hillside bordered by a little wooden picket fence. The b...
Noteworthy attractions
Pondoland Marine Protected Area
The largest Marine Protected Area in South Africa, the Pondoland MPA lies on one of the most rugged, wild and beautiful coasts of South Africa - ...
Hole In The Wall
The Hole in the Wall at Coffee Bay is a unique structure with a huge detached cliff that has a giant opening carved through its centre by the wav...
Luchaba Nature Reserve
Close to the town of Umtata, now known as Mthatha, lies the charming 460 hectare nature reserve of Luchaba. Luchaba Nature Reserve lies adjacent ...
Mthatha Airport
The Mthatha Airport is great for visitors that have booked accommodation in Mthatha or the surrounding seaside towns and villages. The airport wa...
Nelson Mandela Museum
The Museum offers visitors an inspiring journey through the life of Nelson Mandela. Known affectionately as 'Madiba', he is loved and respected w...
Dwesa Cwebe Nature Reserves
The two fairly small sister nature reserves of Dwesa and Cwebe lie separated only by the Mbashe River on the central wild coast, bordered on one ...
Dwesa-Cwebe Marine Protected Area
The Eastern Cape's Dwesa-Cwebe lies between East London and Port St Johns, divided into Cwebe to the east, and Dwesa to the south-west of the Mba...
Collywobbles Vulture Colony
The sheer cliffs of the Mbashe gorge in rural Mthatha, on the Mbashe River, play host to a colony of Cape vultures who have apparently lived and ...
Waterfall Bluff
Between Port St Johns and the Mkambathi Nature Reserve (but closer to the Msikaba River than Port St Johns) is Waterfall Bluff. It is not that ea...
Accommodation convenient to Pondo-Explore Hiking Trail
FIND / South Africa Accommodation / Eastern Cape Accommodation / Wild Coast Accommodation / Port St Johns Accommodation
Port St Johns as a destination
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