Mbotyi to Mtentu

Security unlocked the gate to the beach at 4am for a short walk across the river to launch. Warren’s radio battery was flat, though it hardly mattered – the surf was small and I didn’t even get my hair wet. Around 8km in I passed the first of three waterfalls flowing straight into the ocean, then Cathedral Rocks, bold chunks of cliff riddled with arches.

The day was otherwise fairly nondescript – light head wind, a few downpours, a slack current, and my own personal rainbow as a good luck sign. Landfall at Mtentu River was nerve-racking with surf dumping on the sandbar, but I found my wave and slipped into the river cleanly. I found a scatter of old kayaks and followed a path up to the lodge – a tented camp on a wooden structure under thatch, gorgeous, but with a note on the bar saying they were closed till the 5th of Feb. Bridgette the owner sorted us out regardless. Warren arrived nearly 3 hours after me, delayed by mud from the rain.

Tomorrow: my last stretch of the Wild Coast, past Port Edward.