From Durban we took the 7am Greyhound to Umtata and a 2.5 hour shuttle to Coffee Bay, a small settlement on the Transkei coast. The scenery from the shuttle was spectacular as scenes of western development gave way to the images of rural Africa. Round thatched roofed huts adorned rolling grassy hillside, villages waved as we passed by with big smiles on their faces, muddy sheep dusty black pigs and the occasional cow or goat would wander out into the road. Monique, our drive and hostel owner, called the "African Stoplights".  After that, it wasn't long before we knew we were headed someplace special.

After 9 months of continuous travel, as we've done now, it's rare to find a place that really stands out as unique of exception. Many of the beaches in Australia were lovely, but so were the beaches in Thailand and even though they were different in many respects, they are still fundamentally beaches. It's easy to draw similar parallels to deserts, or mountains or cities. And while we still find that each new place has it's own unique flavor, you start to see more similarities than differences after you've been on the road awhile.

Rural African village life, however, had few similarities to anything we'd previously experienced. At the hostel we stopped at, Bomvu Paradise, helped us enjoy leaning about it to the fullest. Each evening at the hostel there was something exciting happening. On the night of our arrival girls from the local village came after dinner to perform some of the village's traditional songs and dances. It was our first taste of African drum music and the girl who was drumming was amazing. She pounded out the beat with such passion that you could feel it in the depths of your belly. Later when we had a go at drumming ourselves, we found out it's not as easy as it looks!

Friday night was traditional night at the hostel so we figured it would be a good day to join the local village walking tour. With our guide, Peter, we followed the footpaths up and over the hills through the various attractions of the village. We visited the hut of the headman, (the huts really are small on the inside, but they are brilliantly designed to be warm in the winter and cool in summer) the sacred pools (the place where villages make sacrifices of purely white goats to the ancestors in hopes of favorable outcomes.) and our favorite, the Shabeen. (Basically an African Bar.)  Although there was no electricity, tables, menu or chairs (our seats were upside down beer crates that lined the walls of the small building) there was plenty of beer. We sampled the local brew - Xhosa beer - made from fermented corn watered down by saliva and filtered through a sox. (Or at least that's how it tasted.) It was served in a large tin can like a paint tin or a coffee bucket and shared with everyone in the pub -- well, that is until one woman drank about half the can! After a small sip of Xhosa beer, we opted for a more traditional brew. Mark choose to order the "real beer" using the Xhosa language.... he took a 2 minute tutorial from our guide and then approached the bar. We did, eventually receive our beers, but not until the whole Shabeen was laughing heartily. The bottles were delivered unopened and when Mark handed them back to the bar lass, she opened them with her teeth. Villagers in the Transkei tend to speak only Xhosa and very little English which made communication very difficult but we still managed to meet a few locals including a well dressed village elder who wanted to pose for a photograph with her pipe and Mark.

Back at the hostel, traditional night was in full swing. We enjoyed a meal of Lamb Chops, Pap, Squash, Cabbage, Beans and Xhosa bread followed by a ceremony given by a local sangoma (traditional healer or witch doctor). Later we partied with the village old mamas. They showed us how they had fun and then we got up to join in. Even Mark got up to dance despite the fact that most of the village men in attendance just sat back and drank more Xhosa beer. There was drumming, campfires and a good time had by all.

As if anything was needed to make our time in the Transkei even better, the coast line was absolutely spectacular and the weather, while very cold African winter at night, was beautiful. The Cliffs beaches and rolling waves are stunning. Much like the West coast of Ireland (See: April 24, 2003) around the Dingle Peninsula. However, although we can compare the beaches of the Transkei to those in Ireland, the rest of this place has a feel like nothing we've ever experienced before and therefore must be one of the top highlights of our trip to date.