Port St Johns

Port St Johns sits at the mouth of the Umzimvubu River in Pondoland, in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality, about 220km north-east of East London and 70km east of Mthatha. The river cuts a dramatic gorge right down to the coast, squeezing between red cliff faces called the Gates, named after Thesiger and Sullivan, two British officers who raised the flag here in 1878. The town was formally annexed to the Cape Colony in 1884. It spent most of the 20th century under Transkei administration and then in 1994 was returned to South Africa as it was, weathered, overgrown, and utterly itself.

There are three beaches. Second Beach, 5km east of the village, is the one people talk about: a half-moon bay backed by subtropical rainforest and wild banana trees. The Umzimvubu River provides flat-water kayaking, boat-based dolphin and whale watching, and access to some of the richest birdlife on the coast. The Silaka Nature Reserve just outside town takes you into indigenous forest and cliff-top walking with views back over the river mouth. The sardine run, which moves up this coast between May and July, brings dolphins, sharks, and gannets into waters visible from the shore.

Port St Johns has a character that doesn't quite fit anywhere else on the South African map. It's been a backpacker town, a hippie outpost, an alternative-lifestyle destination, and a working Mpondo community all at the same time. The town has real services now: a hospital, schools, accommodation from backpacker lodges to boutique guesthouses. But the energy is still loose. People who visit tend to extend their stay. Some never quite leave.

The setting is extraordinary. Subtropical forest, river, gorge, ocean, and above it all the two mountains watching over the river mouth. It is one of the most dramatic natural settings of any small town in South Africa. The character of the place is warm, unpredictable, and genuinely welcoming in a way that is not managed or curated.