Pondoland Hike

The Pondo trail was definitely one of the most incredible hiking trips I have ever done! I highly recommend this trail to anyone wanting to explore the Wild Coast.

My hiking group was guided along the Pondo by a local guide named Sahki and we booked this hike through Bongani from Pondo tours (https://pondotours.co.za/hiking-options/). Pondo tours provide your accommodation, breakfast, dinner, and lunch snacks. Pondo tours also organise kayaking for yourself and your bags to be taken across several river crossings along the trail. 

The hike can be done in 3 days to 8 days depending on the distance your group wants to cover. My group did the hike in 5 days from Port Edwards to Mbotyi covering a total of 90 km so this review will be written from that perspective. 

Day 1: Port Edward to Ntenu Village 

This was our longest and hardest day as we combined two days into one as our group wanted to do the hike in five days instead of 6. Our Day 1 was a beautiful but gruelling 29 km of walking. It had just rained the day before we started our hike so parts of the trail were quite muddy. 

The trail ranged from single tracks to jeep tracks, to open fields and long stretches along the beach.  We passed many Rondavels, fields of sheep, and cows roaming the hills and beaches. We crossed a suspension bridge that swung high above the gushing Mzamba river. We spent most of the day walking along the soft beach sand with several warm swim breaks. 

We then reached the mighty Mnyameni River. We needed the help of two young locals and their kayaks for this river crossing, they helped us across two people and their bags at a time. We stopped for lunch on the beach on the other side of the river. After a lovely long lunch break we continued along the beach (we walked a total of 13 km along the beach that day). 

After one last swim we left the beach and walked up the rolling hills and through the Sikombe village and to the Mtshengu Homestay in the Ntenu Village where we were staying for the night.

We were welcomed in with tea, and sweet bread and we all collapsed in the dining area. We were then shown to our rondavels, and given the rundown on how to do the bucked shower.

We did some much needed stretches as the sunset, had a delicious dinner and an early night.  

Day 2: Ntenu Village to Msikaba  

We woke up to the sound of roosters and the sun was already up. We ate breakfast on the top of the hill and began day two's journey, heading back to the beach. Our legs were very stiff and tired from the day before but warmed up quickly. 

Day two was 20km and consisted of marshy hills, beaches, river crossings and waterfalls. Our first river crossing was the Mntentu river where we needed our bags to be taken across with kayaks. 

We continued walking until we reached the Mkambati River which was flowing much more than usual. We all had to take our shoes off, roll up our pants and lift our bags up high to get through that river. We carefully walked along the slippery river wall that was knee high in water. Thankfully nobody's belongings went swimming. 

We walked further inland up the river for lunch and stopped at the Strandloper waterfalls where you could jump from the waterfall into the river if you so wished. After lunch we continued walking through marshy single tracks that hugged the coast, with a beautiful view of the ocean. 

We walked further and found the Deza river, which had short waterfalls that dropped into the ocean. There were also fresh river water rock pools that we could swim in, overlooking the salty sea. We continued walking and the grass quickly turned to the beach and we arrived at another major river crossing that required the help of kayaks to get us to the other side.

There were two kayaks but only one man available to assist us so a member of our group decided to help with the other kayak. Fortunately there was only one capsizing event and it was relatively close to the shore, therefore shallow enough to not leave their belongings completely soaked. 

We walked a little further along the beach and then up along a wooden staircase, through a campsite and into the village. We walked for quite a while up a steep jeep track into the village before arriving at the Doctors Homestay where we would be resting that night. We were welcomed again with sweet bread, tea and shown to our rondavels. We had hot bucket showers, a delicious dinner, and another early night.  

Day 3: Msikaba to Rhole Village 

Day 3 was a much shorter day, with only 12 km to cover. This was the one day we were given to sleep in a little later but the sun had other plans and the morning light woke us up at 5.30. We had a lovely slow morning of tea and reading, and did some gentle yoga stretches on the grass before embarking on day three’s trail. We had a short descent down from our Homestay before finding our first waterfall of the day and having a delightful breakfast swim. 

We then continued across the river, along some more grassy hills and more rocky rivers. We then headed down to the coast and found the site of the Port Grosvenor Shipwreck, building remains and tunnel (https://sahris.sahra.org.za/sites/default/files/additionaldocs/Grosvenor%20Arch%20Summary%20I.pdf ).

We ambled on a bit further until we found a beautiful beach spot for lunch. 

After lunch we left the beach and ascended into the hills and finally to the Rhole village where we stayed the night at the Ntile Homestay.

We were once again welcomed with tea and xhosa bread. We had a hearty dinner, some time to read and relax and then we were off to bed. 

Day4: Rhole Village to Cutweni 

Day 4 was our second longest day and my favourite of the whole hike! We had a slightly earlier start that morning as we had a greater distance to cover (22 km) and more view points to stop at. We left our homestay, put our packs back on our stiff shoulders, and started walking. Today's terrain included the usual beautiful grassy hills and beach but with a new addition of stunning coastal cliffs.

We swam in and jumped across many rivers, the first swim stop was quite early in the trail at the Mkewi river, but we couldn't resist a quick swim break passing this lovely pool. Today was also the day we passed the most cows, eating grass and also enjoying the wild coast scenery. 

Our first beautiful coastal cliff section led us to Waterfall Bluff (one of the 11 waterfalls in the world and one of the 3 waterfalls in Africa that fall directly into the ocean. We watched the water gush over the cliffs, 93 meters down to meet the sea. 

Waterfall Bluff

We continued walking to our lunch spot and second waterfall of the day. We stopped at a rock pool near the sea with several short waterfalls filling up the pools. I had a delightful post swim and lunch nap. 

We started walking as the weather shifted and began to drizzle. It was refreshing at first but the more we walked, the more it rained. We kept plodding along the cliff paths and stopped at another look out point. Here we saw Cathedral Rock; this was truly spectacular!

After stopping to admire this rock formation we decided rain coats and ponchos were necessary. It was at this point that I became so grateful for my bright yellow rainproof poncho from the Crazy Store.

My Dad was less happy as he decided not to get a bright yellow rainproof poncho and said a simple black bag would work just as well over his raincoat… it did not. 

We continued a little further through the rain before stopping at our final view point, Secret waterfall (The 2nd out of 3 waterfalls in Africa that drop directly into the sea). This waterfall dropped a shorter but still impressive 60 meters before reaching sea level. 

Cathedral Rock

The last stretch was uphill and into the rain. Nobody in the group had dry shoes or socks any more and we were very ready to reach our homestay.

Today's welcoming hot tea was a saving grace.

After settling in we then squeezed the water out of our clothes and socks and hung them up to dry.

Tonight's homestay was Bongani’s, the organiser of the trail. Bongani's wife cooked a magnificent meal with the help of their sons. We all had dinner together for the last time on this trail and despite the rain we could all agree we had an incredible day.

We had our last bucket shower and then off to bed. 

Day 5: Cutweni to Mboyti

We started our final day by putting on wet hiking shoes; at least it was only for 8km. Our last day consisted of beautiful hill terrains, beach stretches and a section through an incredible indigenous forest. 

We ended our beautiful journey at Mbotyi around midday where we were collected by our taxi to drive us back to fetch our cars and belongings at the start.

The adventure was not quite over as the recent rain had washed away a lot of the dirt road and our taxi struggled over a particularly bad patch. Half of us had to climb out to make the vehicle lighter, while the other half bounced in the back of the taxi to help it clear the muddy section.

After that we had a 3hr drive back to Port Edward with even more beautiful scenery along the way.  

The Pondo trail is definitely one of the most amazing adventures I have ever been on and the most magical way to really explore the Wild Coast of South Africa!