If you are willing to face the jungle, and traverse the dense indigenous forests as well as climb the steep cliff slopes both down and up again, you might just qualify to enter through the gates that nature has designed. These jungle gates offer you a peak through to the other side, where the beautiful empty stretch of beach awaits you.
After a hefty climb and sweaty clamber through the dense jungle, sometimes without a path, you eventually come out onto the wide open pure white stretch of rocky coastline unseen by anyone else other than a handful of people a year. It truly is an African adventure of note. Such is the attractive natural beauty of the dark continent, way down south on the furthest shores.
Once you break through the dense jungle of indigenous vegetation, the beach seems almost paved with lawn. The grass growths thick all along the floor, right up to the rocks that keep the Indian ocean in its place – most of the time. The reason for all this lush lawn is the little fresh water stream that also makes its way to the water’s edge on this particular little stretch of coast. What a gem of a find. I can imagine sailors or shoreline wanderers coming to this bay and finding shelter by the stream at different times throughout the long history of the place.
It was a worthwhile endeavor to climb down the steep cliff and access the beach below. The sea was great for a little swim in the rock pools that abound, without having to risk the heavy swell of the sea as it smashed against the rocks repeatedly and incessantly. The pools of sea and fresh stream met up at one point, and the junction of the two was like an oasis for the weary adventurer.
On the way down the steep slope, I passed by a tree that had fallen over and toppled down the slope to such a degree that the roots remained in the ground while the trunk fell below the roots and the tree ended up upside down. Because some of the roots stayed in the ground, the tree remained alive in parts and continued to grow, despite being the opposite way now, thanks to gravity. The slope was steep enough for the tree to grow just so tall and then no taller as the balance was toppled and the tree fell over and downward on the steep slope.
Curiously small shoots began growing out of the roots, which were now like branches, while other bigger branches continues to grow, their shoots also adjusting and growing upward in line with the new angle. Now I truly have seen wonderland, where the trees grow upside down and the roots are above the branches. Because the rocky slops was so rugged and steep, it seemed impossible to host much plant life, yet still the place looked lush and old indigenous trees and bush covered every inch possible among the rocky landscape, just a stone’s throw from the sea itself.
All of this made for a really adventurous hiking experience which you will find most uplifting as an explorer and outdoor lover. Nature has created an awesome playground along this this strip of shoreline called the Garden Route, near the town of Plettenberg Bay, on the south coast of Africa. There is fortunately one small path that you can follow down the cliffs to the shoreline below. In fact I have found other ways down the slope, or made my own path on occasion, though such riskier terrain is not for everyone. I hope you get a chance to visit these shores one day, and feel the power of nature in this area, with the warn Indian ocean and the wild indigenous vegetation making up the jungle or forest beside the sea. It looks like a remote tropical island where a castaway might wash up and find sanctuary.
(photos my own)