TO Strand is a holiday resort that was created many years ago for/by the Transvaal Teachers Association, now open to members and non-members. It is about 5 km North of Port Edward, with the Boboyi River forming the southern border and the beach the eastern border of the resort. It has a ‘previous era’ feel about it because of the layout of the camp and style of buildings but it is well maintained and very affordable; we found it was worth a visit. Our campsite was on the banks of the river.
After setting up camp our first priority was to get our long overdue laundry done. It was still raining…
Fortunately the rain had stopped some time during the night and we were at the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve’s Pont entrance at 08h00 the next morning. The reserve is the southern-most nature reserve in KwaZulu-Natal and consists of an interesting stretch of riverine forest and steep rocky cliffs bordering the Umthamvuna River. What a wonderful and diverse place it is! We chose to do the 8 km Fish Eagle trail and had such a good walk; one of those that are truly good for the soul!
We came across a number of Harvestmen, which are not true spiders, although they are arachnids, as well as many birds, fungi, flowers, etc.
The forest had so many different types, shapes and sizes of mushrooms that it seemed like we were in fairyland. One can quite imagine becoming inspired to write children’s books if you sit there long enough!
The trail was very well laid out and maintained with rock steps on all the steep sections in order to prevent erosion.
Along the edge of the krantz we had an aerial view of the rapids which had stopped us going further upstream with Splash.
And of course the sightings would not be complete without a frog…
After our walk we went to the Beaver Creek coffee estate for lunch. Wow, that was good coffee! And the lunch was delicious. Back in camp we were rewarded with a good sighting of a Half-collared Sunbird to round off a most enjoyable day.
This now completes our KwaZulu-Natal road trip, moving on to the Wild Coast/Eastern Cape next.