Photo: Eastern Cape Parks & Tourism Agency
	The landscape is coastal and rugged at Tsitsikamma National Park in South Africa's Eastern Cape province.

Eastern Cape's Coastal Route highlights South Africa adventures

© 2012 Group Tour Media Article,
April 24, 2012

EAST LONDON, South Africa — The Eastern Cape boasts some of South Africa’s most breathtaking stretches of seascapes, touting itself as the nation’s “Adventure Province.”

With landscapes featuring primeval forests, ancient rock art, diverse wildlife and white sand beaches, the Eastern Cape offers intrepid explorers and adventurers opportunities and options aplenty.

Eastern Cape Parks & Tourism Agency has developed a new 500-mile Coastal Route. Spanning the length of the South African province, it provides treks solid for groups and individuals in sharing less-explored and off-the-beaten-path locales.

The Coastal Route includes eight regional routes — Amathole Mountain Escape, Baviaans, Frontier Country, Greater Addo, Kouga, Sunshine Coast, Tsitsikamma Adventure and Wild Coast. All routes include suggested itineraries. 

Among the highlights along the Coastal Route are Addo Elephant National Park, Amathole Mountain Escape, Mkhambati Nature Reserve, Tsitsikamma Forest and Port St. Johns, “Jewel of the Wild Coast.” Also on the route is a 6,500-year-old coastal dune field near Alexandria with the largest shifting sand dunes in the Southern Hemisphere.

The history and heritage includes the Xhosa villages and culture; man-made fish traps of Cape St. Francis; East London cuisine and the nearby East London Coast Nature Reserve; Grahamstown, which boasts more than 70 heritage sites that include a cathedral and the Victorian- and Edwardian-era shop fronts on Church Square; and Port Alfred on the Sunshine Coast. There is also Algoa Bay, the watery graveyard for more than 300 shipwrecks; Cannon Rocks, a kite-surfers’ paradise; Jeffrey’s Bay, known for its right-hand waves; and Port Elizabeth, a watersports recreational hub.

Addo Elephant National Park is adjacent to the Indian Ocean. The park is a protected area where you can see lions, leopards, buffaloes, elephants and rhinos in addition to whales and Great White sharks.

	Photo: Eastern Cape Parks & Tourism Agency
	Much of the Wild Coast in South Africa's Eastern Cape province is undeveloped, as this scene of Morgan's Bay readily attests.

The rugged Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve is one of eight protected areas that are part of the Cape Floral Kingdom UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Mkhambati Nature Reserve covers 30.9 square miles, with 6.2 miles of rugged coastline marked by its rocky beaches, forested ravines, a swampy forest and waterfalls.

The evergreen Tsitsikamma Forest in the Tsitsikamma Section of Garden Route National Park boasts adventures including the world’s highest bungee jump, blackwater tubing and a treetop canopy tour. 

The mostly undeveloped Wild Coast’s environs include waterfalls cascading into the ocean and an annual sardine run which rivals the wildebeest migrations.

The province’s cultural diversity includes feting former South African President Nelson Mandela, who served from 1994 to 1999 and battled apartheid for decades. His birthplace and the Nelson Mandela Youth and Heritage Centre in Qunu are open for tours. In Mthatha is the national Nelson Mandela Museum, which is currently being renovated and is expected to reopen in March 2014. Group tours are available visiting historic Mandela sites.

The province’s Xhosa-speaking tribes have a lengthy heritage, having trekked over the centuries to meet Khoi people near the Fish and Keiskamma rivers. It is from the Khoi that the Xhosa language derives its distinctive clicks.

To get to Eastern Cape, travel hubs include airports in East London and Port Elizabeth.

For more details, visit Eastern Cape Parks & Tourism Agency or Open Africa, a social enterprise which works to sustain livelihoods across Africa with authentic experiences.

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