I admit it. I’ve woken up a bit late to the lure of the Eastern Cape’s gorgeous beaches. Where I consider Kenton my latest best-kept secret, for years now half of South Africa has trekked up the coast every summer holiday. Well, never too late to find these great sweeps of sand so pure it squeaks between your toes, sun- and sky-reflecting rollers so clear they let the sunbeams filter through, and the piled-up dunes held together by little green toupees of coastal scrub. Sun, sand, sea and sky. That’s what one’s world is reduced to. And it’s simply magic. The beaches unravel so far into the distance, you never feel crowded out by humanity, and you can walk for hours with only Nature at your side.
Later, when you get itchy feet for a bit of civilisation and a touch of history and perhaps a home-brewed malt, your four wheels will guide you, via a couple of private wildlife sanctuaries, to nearby Bathurst and Port Alfred. Here the influences left in the wake of the 1820s Settlers will steep you in a little British nostalgia and stimulate the conversation once more.
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