The ISimangaliso Wetlands

Yesterday we made a plan to drive to Kosi Bay using the sand roads. Something Pete has wanted to do for years but never had the chance. Apparently there a 3 or 4 big bays with beautiful beaches along the route the route that Pete has never seen but would like to put them in for other adventurer’s as part of a day trip.
We were more than happy to help look for a route, so with us all up at 7am and after teas and coffees we set off at 9am down the sand tracks we had been on before and headed for Mabibi beach first of all.
We are staying deep in the heart of the iSimangaliso national park, it is Zululand and is now a protected area and UNESCO world heritage sight. The thing is nobody outside of South Africa has ever heard of it so except for the odd Local Zulu the place is completely void of people.
We drove past the turning for Mabibi beach and then we were into unknown territory. The sand roads were still there but all overgrown and we saw monkeys and little red dykers just milling about through the undergrowth. Karin did well pushing through the bushes that had grown into the road and at one point both Ellie and I got a serious smack in the face from a passing branch. Coming out of the undergrowth we came to a fork in the road and Pete turned right and we drove over a huge sand dune and down the other side and back into a small forest. Here we found a small parking area with a footpath down to the beach.
We jumped out of Karin and headed down the path and at the end it opened right out either side and we were on a beautiful golden beach inside a large bay and we were the only ones here. It was unbelievable.
We sat there on the beach getting sandblasted by the gusty wind for about 15 minutes, and Ellie wandered along the shoreline collecting plastic bottles that had washed up from china and Malaysia and then we headed back to Karin and the fork in the road, and this time we turned right again, following the sand road along the coastline.
Next we came to a camp that had loads of wooden buildings and a reception area. Funnily enough although the camp was completely empty there was somebody in the reception, and while Pete went in to check it out, Ellie and I stayed in the car watching the monkeys.
When Pete came back he said that this was the proper entrance and we didn’t have to pay because we had a rhino card but the lady gave him a permit and as we turned out out of the parking area there was a little man at a barrier.
We showed him the pass, he lifted the barrier and we were back in our way.
The sand tracks got more and more enclosed with dense bushes, nobody has been on this track for months and months. It seemed crazy to have a camp out here that nobody knows about and you can’t even reach unless you are a very capable driver with an extremely capable 4x4.
Another 4km passed as we slowly made our way through the undergrowth and then we came to another fork in the road. Pete turned right and then we came to a parking area that was labelled as Necka Beach. We all climbed out and followed the sandy path down through a tunnel of bushes and came out to another beautiful beached Bay Area that was completely void of people. It was stunning, and we stopped here for 20 minutes while I had a quick swim and then dried off in the sun while Ellie wrote happy Birthday Ben in the sand ready for Bens birthday on the 9th. Then we wandered back to Karin.Okumaya devam et