October 2024

Mazeppa Bay

If you have read our previous post, you will remember our challenging drive to our destination on the Wild Coast (read here). Today we are going to show you how beautiful Mazeppa Bay is.

There are not many accommodation options in Mazeppa Bay, but we can recommend Mazeppa Sunrise Beach Accommodation with its stunning views over the Indian Ocean. The house has room for 6 people and the adjacent studio, which we booked, can accommodate 2 guests.

Our accommodation – The Studio is on the left

The Studio has a big bedroom (with large windows overlooking the sea), a kitchen with everything you may need to prepare your meals, as well as a bathroom with a shower and toilet.

Our bedroom

Kitchen

The view from our front door

We were of course very happy about the ‘braai’ area in front of The Studio. After our challenging drive, the first thing we did was to make a fire. There are few things as relaxing as sitting next to a fire and listening to the waves crashing on the beach.

Our first fire

On the menu, was fish (snoek) and garlic bread. (‘Gebraaide Snoek’ was our Dish of the Week #34 – read here). It always feels appropriate to ‘braai’ fish when we are staying close to the sea.

Snoek and garlic bread

Dinner time

It was while sitting outside by the fire that we noticed it wasn’t that dark. We wondered where the bright light was coming from until we looked up in the sky and saw the moon. Although there were clouds in the sky, the moon was so bright that it almost shone through the clouds.

Beautiful moon at Mazeppa Bay

The moon etched against the clouds

While we were sitting outside eating, we had visitors. First a beautiful cat came to sit near us and quickly ate the small pieces of fish I put on the grass for him and then disappeared again into the dark.

A visitor

Then a dog cautiously approached us. Berto gave him the last bits of fish and also some cold meat that we had brought from home. Berto suggested that in future we should pack dog- and cat food to feed the hungry animals … our weekend list is getting longer!

A very skinny dog

While we were getting ready for bed, Berto called me outside. Most of the clouds had now disappeared and the moon cast a shimmering light on the sea.

Moonlight on the sea

We read earlier in the week that heavy rain was expected during our weekend at Mazeppa Bay. However, we were lucky to see a beautiful sunrise on our first morning.

Mazeppa Bay sunrise

Beautiful colours of a Wild Coast sunrise

Early morning at Mazeppa Bay

We decided to explore Mazeppa Bay on foot before it started raining, but first we had to make breakfast. Baked egg on toast, along with fruit and yogurt was just what we needed for our 3-hour hike.

Breakfast time

I will tell more about our hike next week – there are so many photos of this hike that it deserves a post of its own. But I cannot pass up the opportunity to show at least one photo of the lovely beach of Mazeppa Bay. You can read about our hike here.

Beautiful beach of Mazeppa Bay

Our stroll through Mazeppa Bay was not that long, but definitely interesting. In this tiny fishing village there is a small shop (which was closed when we walked past) and one dirt road with a few houses on either side. There is also a hotel that is currently closed, but we have read that they will be opening again soon.

Entrance at the village of Mazeppa Bay

Mazeppa Bay shop

The only road

The only “pedestrians” we came across were a herd of cattle walking casually down the road.

Traffic in Mazeppa Bay

Pedestrian coming through

Houses in Mazeppa Bay

Young calf at the back of the herd

Mazeppa Bay is probably best known for its excellent fishing, but also for how untouched and wild this area is. We only saw a handful of people here during our stay, most of them fishing from the rocks.

The main road in Mazeppa Bay

At the back of our accommodation

Décor outside our accommodation

After we got back from our hike, Berto made a tuna pasta salad for lunch which we enjoyed outside.

Salad for lunch

That’s when we saw a group of whales in the distance breaching the water. It was too far to take photos, but it was a wonderful few minutes watching these large mammals slowly swim past us.

It was from here that we saw the whales

There is a small island close to the beach which is connected by a suspension bridge. The bridge is unfortunately damaged and is no longer in use, but at low tide you can walk through the water to the island. We will show more photos of this bridge on our hike next week (read here).

Mazeppa Bay’s famous island

In the early evening thick clouds began to gather and we quickly made a fire before it started to rain.

Our last fire for the weekend

Towards late evening we got another visitor – this time a dog with such a gentle expression in her eyes. It looked like she had recently had puppies and she was very hungry. Berto and I shared one piece of steak and cut up the other steak for her. We are really going to have to remember that bag of dog food on our next trip.

Another visitor

After our long hike of this morning, we went to bed early. We woke up during the night to hard rain splashing against the windows and thought about the long dirt road we had to drive the next day to get back home. (You can read about our wet return trip here).

We made breakfast one last time – which we really needed for the wet dirt road ahead of us.

Breakfast to build up courage for the wet road ahead

Although the drive to Mazeppa Bay almost turned into a nightmare and the wet dirt road back home had its own challenges, we do not regret visiting Mazeppa Bay at all. It’s a beautiful place – one we’d love to visit again … now that we know the road better.

Stormy, but beautiful last view of Mazeppa Bay