WITHOUT having children in school and having to factor in their school terms, Bill and I have the luxury of being able to take our holidays out of season when prices are lower and the crowds stay away. So we usually pack away out tent and stay home for the busy Christmas holidays, taking advantage of all the lovely touristy things to do here on the sunny KwaZulu-Natal South Coast during the busy festive season. Thousands of happy families flock to our part of the world in December, helping to create the great holiday vibe that is part and parcel of Christmas by the sea. Sometimes, though, the crowds get a bit much so we make a point of spending plenty of our high season holiday-at-home time visiting our local reserves and wilder off-the-map corners.
Through my Tent Travels blog, we’ve spent the year virtually travelling with a tent to all sorts of faraway places. For the next few weeks let’s do a bit of virtual exploring of the lovely area I am fortunate to call home. I’d love to share my favourite places with you – and if you are visiting our sunny shores this December season, you might like to take a break from the beach and try them out. Very close to home – in fact, only a few minutes’ walk away from our house – is a little seaside path through an amazingly wild and unspoilt bit of coastline, between St Michaels and Uvongo beaches. Known as Saints Walk it was named in honour of the voluntary lifesavers from Saints Surf Lifesaving Club who help to keep swimmers safe at St Michaels beach.
If you are an early riser who regularly strolls along this famous walkway you will probably notice the daily caucus meeting taking place at Orange Rocks, a rocky section, favoured by the fishermen, along the way. There are important matters to discuss and the Wise Ones (a group of the town’s retired citizens) don’t take their morning meeting lightly. Below them on the rocks, the fishermen cast their lines. Much of the discussion centres round the fishing activity and the Wise Ones have plenty of advice to offer. Free of charge. Otherwise they watch the world go by and put it to rights. It is easy to solve the world’s problems when you are watching the sun come up over the ocean and the world seems nearly perfect, anyway.
The Wise Ones and the fishermen are not the only early birds who frequent Orange Rocks. There are plenty of early morning walkers and joggers who make use of the pathway in all but the foulest weather. It is not only humans who walk Saints Walk. There are many canine regulars, too. They are mostly polite dogs and tolerate each other well. The dogs that hang around with the Wise Ones are a little uppity, though. The serious walkers stride out, waving a brisk greeting as they pass the Wise Ones. The strollers usually have time to stop and chat or sit on a bench to stare at the sea or commune with the incredibly tame dassies who live among the rocks. During the holidays the walker numbers swell. Many visitors to the South Coast have discovered this pretty grassed walkway along the coast line, linking St Michaels and Uvongo beaches and over December it becomes something of a freeway throughout the day, although it never loses the peace and tranquility that make it so popular.
It is particularly busy on Saturday mornings when it turns into a parkrun course. The parkruns are free, timed 5km runs or walks, always held in parklike surroundings, that take place all over the world on Saturday mornings at 8am. Saints Walk is also used as the course for the annual grandparents’ walk, hugely popular and well-supported every June. It is organised by Hibiscus Coast Rotary Club to honour the South Coast’s senior citizens. It is also great fun. On a more leisurely note, the sandy coves between the rocky outcrops along this beautiful stretch of coastline offer plenty of shelter and privacy for sunbathers who wish to escape the madding crowds. The rock pools are fascinating little worlds and are magnets for curious children. At the end of a long, hot, summer afternoon, the rocky shore is the perfect place to enjoy the cool of the evening. Throughout the day, there is always plenty of action to watch at Orange Rocks, one of the most popular fishing spots on the South Coast. When the shad are on the bite or in winter during during the sardine run, when there are plenty of game fish around, the rocks are crowded with fishermen and the action really hots up. You have to book your spot early on one of the nearby benches to watch all the fun.
Orange Rocks, a dramatic outcrop that overlooks deep sea, gets its name from the bright orange lichen covering it, particularly on the seaward side. It is also one of the many vantage points along the walkway for whale and dolphin watching. Saints Walk changes with the season. The first section, from St Michaels car park, is a cool green tunnel of fairly pristine dune vegetation. You need to look carefully into the matted greenery to notice which species is shyly flowering there. Further along, the vegetation flattens out and the terrain becomes rockier. Plants flower more blatantly here and shout for attention. The flame lilies herald Christmas, shouldering their way upward through the thick vegetation to make a splash with their brilliant orange blooms. Bright everlastings form a golden carpet in summer, setting off the rich purple of the nearby pea flowers.
Thick vegetation over the rocky areas creates a natural rockery and there is always something in flower here, signalling the changing of the seasons. And wild flowers, including bright red hot pokers and arum lilies, flourish in the damp grassland next to Saints Walk. In winter, it is the aloes’ turn to shine. They really know how to put on a show – and, many people say their blooms announce the coming of the sardines. And talking of sardines – Saints Walk’s many vantage points make it the ideal area from which to watch the `Greatest Shoals’, those masses of little silver fish that cause such excitement in the winter months. From these spots you can see the strange bruising of the sea that signals the passing of a shoal. With the sardines come thousands of dolphins, sharks, other game fish and masses of frantically diving gannets. There is never a dull moment on Saints Walk during sardine season – and throughout the rest of the year.
Just ask the wise ones.
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