28km of pure Eastern Cape beauty

Having said all year “we will walk from Bushmans to Port Alfred”, on my last weekend in the Eastern Cape, before heading to Australia, we did it.

28km.

We officially decided to do this beach hike the very day we left. Having set off at about 6pm, we only walked a few kilometres (and swam across the Bushmans River) in order to camp at one of the best beaches in South Africa- Shelley Beach.

With no one mad enough to be at this beach at that hour – which is quite a walk to get to – we set up out tent and went for a early evening skinny dip. Feeling as free as we were we continued to set up camp and make a fire in the nick, under the full moon.

Waking up in the middle of the night all I could hear was the sound of waves extremely close by. Peaking out of the tent, I realised the waves were indeed extremely close by – spring tides! Thank goodness we set up camp in a cave quite high up and the waves wouldn’t have reached us, however, we were stuck there. Luckily we got our timing right and by the time we woke up and were ready to tackle the remaining 26km, the tide had started going out.

High in spirits, and backpacks heavy in weight, we set off!

With the Kasouga River mouth being closed, we only had one more river to cross on the hike- the Kariega- which was roughly half an hour from where we had camped. Putting our backpacks into two layers of black bags, we swam across hurriedly as the tide was rushing out. Out of breath and only a fraction of the way, we put our game faces on - along with our hiking shoes - and carried on.


Walking along the Eastern Cape coastline, you can go for kilometres without seeing anyone else. On our route we came across a shipwreck, a baby shark (which we rescued), and a few fishermen up until about halfway between Bushmans River and Port Alfred.



Our legs aching and water supply running low (we brought 6 litres with), we could feel that Port Alfred was near. However, only after about five false calls did we venture around the bend that opened up to the sight of Port Alfred’s Kelley’s Beach. Not our final destination, but one we were very pleased to see because we knew the distance we had to walk from there. From Kelley’s Beach to Ocean Basket for some well deserved beer and sushi!




When setting off we knew it was quite a distance from Bushmans River to Port Alfred, however, we had no idea it would be 28km. We walked for eight hours, purely on sand, from our camping spot to our final destination with few breaks – totalling about an hour - between. An achievement? Yes, I think so. Would I do it again? For sure!