August 2023

In our previous post we took you on a long day of driving from Langebaan to Jeffreys Bay. In today’s post we will finish our road trip in East London.

Another cloudy morning greeted us as we left our friends house. It was interesting to see how the landscape from yesterday has now changed. The yellow canola fields were replaced by green farmlands as we crossed many rivers that found their way to the Indian Ocean.

✿ Jeffreys Bay (769km/477 miles)

Green farm fields on a cloudy morning

Vegetation now looks different from yesterday’s canola fields

✿ Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha (837km/520 miles)

Here is an interesting fact: While all the other places we drove through were towns, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) is the first city on our road trip since we left Langebaan the day before.

The Port of Gqeberha (it’s a Xhosa word and is pronounced “Qey Beh Gah”) has direct transport links to the heart of Africa and is equipped to handle dry bulk, bulk liquid, general cargo and container cargo. This city must also be very proud to be labelled by visitors as the “Friendly City”.

We could see container ships in the harbour of Gqeberha

Suburbs of Gqeberha

Since we are no fans of the highways, we were glad that there was not much traffic on the road (maybe because it was a Sunday).

Quiet N2 highway on a Sunday morning

One of many rivers on today’s stretch

✿ Colchester (873km/542 miles)

The sleepy holiday village of Colchester is situated on the banks of the Sundays River Mouth and is the closest access point to the Greater Addo Elephant National Park’s southern gate.

So many cows in the village of Colchester

Although the Addo Elephant National Park is high on our list of places to visit, there just wasn’t time for that today. (However, almost a year later, in June 2024, we had the opportunity to visit this park. You can read more about that here.)

But we had another place in mind that we definitely didn’t want to miss – the Nanaga Farm Stall.

Nanaga Farm Stall

Most of our regular readers will know that we like to visit farm stalls. In a recent post I complained that there aren’t many farm stalls on the south east coast of South Africa. And now I have to retract that statement (which I gladly do), because Nanaga Farm Stall is an absolute gem of a farm stall.

Courtyard of Nanaga Farm Stall

In Nanaga’s own words: “Starting from very humble beginnings in 1969, as a way to support the local farming community – today we’re proud to be a flagship showcase of the Eastern Cape’s finest produce and deli food.”

Sweets, cookies, olives and hot sauces

Bottled preserves, pantry items and more sweet treats

Quality soft toys

Our friends in Jeffreys Bay told us that we won’t find tastier pies anywhere in the country than at Nanaga. They are apparently known for their pies, “roosterkoeke” and fresh pineapple juice. And wow, we were in absolute pie heaven! It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the local dish bobotie. And when I saw “bobotie pie” on the shelve, there was simply no other choice for me! Berto ordered one of his favourites, namely a venison pie.

Nanaga’s famous pies

As we walked up to the counter to pay for all of our goodies, I saw another area filled with the most beautiful handmade gifts – bags, pots, baskets, scarves and photo frames to name a few. Guess what? We will have to come back!

So many lovely gifts

We decided to enjoy our warm pies in the garden under one of the many trees. I’ve eaten a lot of pies where places claimed their pies were the best, but to be honest … I’ve never had a bobotie pie as delicious as here at Nanaga!

Garden at Nanaga

I give it 10/10

With a few more crumbs still around my mouth and yellow fingers (from the turmeric and curry in the bobotie pie), Berto said it was time for us to get back on the road. We were actually ready to get to our home in East London now.

✿ Alexandria (936km/581 miles)

✿ Boesmansriviermond (960km/596 miles)

✿ Kenton-on-Sea (962km/598 miles)

It was wonderful to see the green rolling hills of the Eastern Cape Province. This province has had little rain in recent years, but has had good rainfall in the last few months, which is great news for the dams and farmers in the area.

Green farm fields

Another bridge and another river on our road trip

✿ Port Alfred (986km/612 miles)

Port Alfred was one of the first places we visited when we moved to East London a year ago. It was here that we spent a weekend on a houseboat on the Kowie River. We have lovely memories of this small coastal town. (You can read about our Houseboat Weekend here and here).

Nico Malan Bridge in Port Alfred

We have now left the N2 highway and will drive the last part of our road trip on the R72. This road passes through beautiful scenery and over many rivers, but one must also be alert for animals that graze along the road and speeders. On this road it’s good to have extra eyes on the road and after taking a few more photos I put the camera away.

The next few towns are really just beach resorts/villages and we didn’t drive through them, but just past their turn offs.

✿ Kleinemonde (1,002km/622 miles)

More rivers and small coastal villages

Fish River Mouth

✿ Mpekweni Beach Resort (1,025km/636 miles)

✿ Kidd’s Beach (1,096km/681 miles)

✿ Winterstrand (1,111km/690 miles)

✿ Cove Rock (1,116km/693 miles)

✿ East London (1,127km/700 miles)

After two days on the road and over 1,100km/700 miles we arrived safely in East London. As we said earlier, it is definitely faster by plane. But the scenery was beautiful and we enjoyed seeing parts of our country we hadn’t been to before.

How about two final photos to end this post with? Are you also wondering what other than pies we bought at Nanaga Farm Stall?

There was such a wide variety of bottled salads and preserves – it was hard to choose

And some of our readers asked for a photo of our new ‘bakkie’ (and Berto). Well, the best I can do is where Berto was washing his new ‘bakkie’ the day after we got home from our road trip.

The new ‘bakkie’ (and you can spot Berto’s arm somewhere)

Thank you for travelling with us on our long road trip. It was great to see a beautiful part of our country and share it with you all.