Port St Johns and the Gates of the Mzimvubu

The Gates Of The Mzimvubu Two Rock Portals Three Hundred Metres High That The River Cuts Between On Its Way To The Sea With A Faded Subtropical Town In The Gap And The Wild Coast Running Away In Both Directions. SECOND BEACH HAS ONE OF THE WORST SHARK ATTACK RECORDS IN THE WORLD And Swimming There Is Not Recommended · Port St Johns, Eastern Cape

The Mzimvubu river reaches the sea between two rock portals three hundred metres high, and the Gates of the Mzimvubu are the single most dramatic river mouth on the South African coast - a gap in the escarpment with subtropical forest on both walls and the Wild Coast running away in each direction. In the gap sits a town that has been faded for decades: a 1960s holiday resort that the tourist traffic left, now a place of peeling colonial buildings, backpacker lodges, a serious cannabis culture in the hills behind it and some of the most beautiful country in Africa on every side. It is worth the drive and it is not a resort. One thing must be said plainly rather than buried: Second Beach has one of the worst shark attack records anywhere in the world, with a cluster of fatal attacks over recent decades, and swimming there is not recommended - Silaka, five kilometres south, is where you should get into the water instead.

Where the Mzimvubu river reaches the sea on the Wild Coast, 90 km east of Mthatha, Port St Johns, Eastern Cape, South Africa

A town, open at any hour. THE GATES OF THE MZIMVUBU are free to look at from either side - the Mount Thesiger road on the west gives the classic view and is worth the climb. SECOND BEACH IS A PUBLIC BEACH AND THE ROW DOES NOT RECOMMEND SWIMMING THERE because of the shark attack record; First Beach at the river mouth has its own strong currents. Lodges, backpackers and a handful of restaurants keep their own informal hours and several close midweek out of season. THE R61 IN FROM MTHATHA IS NINETY KILOMETRES OF ROAD WITH SERIOUS POTHOLES in places - allow far longer than the distance suggests and do not drive it at night. There is fuel, an ATM and basic shops. MALARIA-FREE, and subtropically humid in summer.

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