Haga Haga

Haga Haga sits at the mouth of the Haga-Haga River on the Wild Coast, roughly 70 km north of East London and within the Great Kei Local Municipality. The name is thought to come from 'haka haka', a Xhosa expression meaning 'to hook on', describing the technique Karoo farmers used when they brought livestock to the coast in winter: unhitching one ox team and hitching on another to get the wagons across the beach. The village and its surrounds are a declared nature and marine conservancy — that status shapes what is here and what is not.

The conservancy protects an indigenous fauna and flora environment that includes Cape Clawless Otters, Blue Duiker, Wild Irises, Gladiolus, Hibiscus, and Orchids. Birdlife is exceptional: Narina Trogons, Long-Crested Eagles, Fish Eagles, African Black Oystercatchers, Kingfishers, and a long list of coastal and forest species. Whales move through from July to early December. Dolphins are regular. The beach is safe for swimming in the protected lagoon section.

There are several walking trails through the conservancy: the Krantz Garden Walk to Pullins Bay, the Otter Creek Walk, and tracks to Whale Point and Lagoon Look-Out. The coastal trail to Double Mouth, 10 km each way along the beach, is the one most people talk about — you can find fragments of Ming China and carnelian beads washed in from a shipwreck. It is not a managed tourist attraction; you just walk and look.

The Haga-Haga Hotel is the anchor of the village: 11 en-suite rooms and 10 self-catering chalets, all individually decorated, right on the ocean. Beyond that, there is a small handful of other accommodation options and not much else. There is no commercial strip. The conservancy keeps it that way.