Transkei Wild Coast

Thanks to an advertisement placed by Geoff Dyer and Bryon Eaton in the British Sky News Microlight magazine we were commissioned by six British pilots to take them on a great adventure safari of the Natal and Transkei Wild Coast. The Brits arrived four days preceding our intended departure date so that Geoff and Bryan could do some local flying and to check out their flying skills. Interestingly enough the skills ranged from highly competent to beginner level. This period was great for getting to know everybody and to settle everyone down preceding the departure of our safari. At this time a marriage was made between the skills of each of the visiting Pilots and that of the local instructors, to determine who would fly with whom.

Shortly before dawn on Thursday morning the group assembled at Emoyeni, there was great excitement with all the preparations going briskly ahead. The air of anticipation was quite electric amongst the six visiting British Pilots. Knowing the Transkei as we do, there was also even a little apprehensive anticipation amongst the local instructors. Each participant had been limited to one pannier for their luggage and was interesting to see how this was all going to all fit in. Our first stop over was to be at Margate airfield to take on some fuel for aircraft and some fuel for humans. Departing in cool crisp morning air we had some fantastic flying over the sugar cane fields, the patterns of which are quite amazing to see from the air, Durban was just visible about 40 km or our port wing and beautifully silhouetted in the rising sun. Of great relief to our local Pilots is the fact that the prevailing wind at this time of the morning would be a 100% tail wind and it was predicted from the Met office for a North Easterly wind developing later the morning. Now we all know about the Met office, but on this occasion they could not have been more bullet proof accurate and as we approached the coast it was clear that we were going to be having very high ground speeds and a perfectly accurate Met prediction..

The weather could not have played more in our favor, having joined the coast in perfectly clear skies it was immediately apparent that we were attaining ground speeds in excess of 100kms. The requisite call was made to the Margate a tower to request their joining and landing instructions, with Geoff having made the call, he had to lead the team in. immediately that Geoff had finished fighting for control of his Trike through the late final stages of the landing, he was on the radio again despite this being a controlled airfield, suggesting to the rest of us to be very careful about the approach. Margate is notorious for the turbulence that can be encountered at runway level and this surely served as a wake up call and reminder to us about this situation. We all queued up for fuel and the petrol pump attendant was delighted, this was definitely the greatest volume of aircraft to be filled that he’d experienced since the days of the Margate EAA airshow. It was great to all stand around in the warm sunlight and to enthuse over how lucky we had been with the weather. It had taken about 40 minutes to get to Margate this flight ordinarily takes about 1 hour 15 minutes so we had made very good time. The landing fees were paid and then the smallest room in the building was visited and everyone made ready for departure. This was with some apprehension, having just experienced Margate’s infamous turbulence.

The take-off from Margate was nowhere near as harsh as the landing had been, it was a right hand turnout, immediately onto the coast and to everyone’s great delight the wind was perfectly smooth, very strong and directly from behind. We went blasting past the famous names of the hotels on the south coast; Port Edward, SanLameer, the Wild Coast Casino, and so on. Flynn Elliott and one other pilot who had learnt of the our safari attempted to join us in our loose formation for a short distance down the coast. This was just not to be as they just couldn’t make headway, into what for them was a massive head wind. A rather disappointing radio call was made by Flynn to say that they were abandoning the attempt. At a blistering pace we blasted past the wild Coast casino and the amazing red sands. These are dune formations slightly inland of the coast with the most amazing combination of red colors imaginable. The whole formation veered slightly inland at this point in order to take in the sites of the Nkambathini game reserve. This particular section of the wild Coast has to rate are as one of the grandest stretches of country available to us in South Africa for Microlighting. Some of the sites are just two awesome to give any literary justice to them in this article, save perhaps to just mention the names; Cathedral rock, waterfall bluff, Mbotyi, etc. The magnificence of these cliffs which drop hundreds of feet directly into the sea can only be appreciated by us, as the privileged few who practice this great sport. The most incredible rock formations caused by the erosive forces of the sea are just awesome. In view of our great ground speed and the good progress being made, a scheduled stop for a leg stretch at Port Grosvenor was abandoned and we continued on to port St.Johns. This presented our first very long stretch of uninhabited beach and it was fantastic to go down really low level and blast along the beach without any fear of power lines or of upsetting anyone.

Without the daunting Transkei cliffs alongside, we were now able to fly much lower. I mentioned to Tim that this would present and opportunity for spotting some sea life and his response was that he just didn’t want to believe me, he could not buy the fact that we can and do spot sea life from a Microlight, this in spite of his own vast experience flying them. The bet was on and whoever spotted the first porpoises would have to buy the other their first drink of the evening. This added aspect to the enjoyment was really thrilling for the foreigners and pretty soon radio calls were being broadcast from Pilots and passengers as they spotted porpoises, whales, a huge turtle and even a ray. This stretch of Coast took us past Umngazi, Brazen Head, Sharks Point, Presley Bay, the Umtata Mouth, Whale Rock and eventually to our destination at Coffee Bay. In the fear of repeating myself it has to be said that to fly along this unspoilt stretch of coastline, being so unoccupied and so barren as it is, provides for a truly memorable experience, one that I am certain none of us will forget too soon. I can only provided the greatest encouragement possible to anyone who is not flow this Coast to make a plan to do so. I can assure you that it will be an unforgettable experience.

This flight from Margate to Coffee Bay had provided 2 hours and 12 minutes of the most minded blowing scenery, but now we had to deal with the fairly demanding landing that Coffee bay presents. Geoff to the honors of doing the precautionary approaches and we were relieved to find that it was low tide and the beach presented nothing short of a 10 lane freeway, this coupled to the strong North-easterly wind made for an easy landing. We decided without further ado that there would be no further flying that day, besides we’d had our fill of flying and the wind would not have allowed. So before even checking in we went through the motions of securing the aircraft and tying down.

The lodge at Coffee Bay has the perfect setting for visiting Microlighters. Our rooms were the cabanas which had a lawn with pool recliner chairs followed by a bank directly onto the beach and where our Trikes were parked. This idyllic setting epitomized the often heard statement of “another day of hell in Africa”, we were we’ll sheltered in the lee of the northern bluff, the sun was shining, the rooms were great, the Trikes were tied down, so of course it was off to the pub. This pub must be one of very few with windows which look out directly onto most beautiful beach setting. Getting stuck into several ‘nerve tonics’ was not a difficult task in these circumstances.

Friday was unflyable and a morning of relaxation and swapping of notes with the British Pilots was the order of the day. Hanger talk is always enjoyable and useful, in this instance it was particularly so, being able to swap notes with foreign Pilots. The visitors used the unflyable conditions to take in an African cultural experience. They went off under the leadership of a guide and visited a rural settlement including going into the homes of some of the Transkeian people, over which they marveled at great length on their return.

We all took off at first light the following morning leaving our foreign visitors to sleep and enjoy their hotel breakfast. The sea indicated fairly strong winds but the beach being sheltered at each end presented safe take off and the decision was therefore taken to fly. We had taken some of the hotel guests just for a ride on this short sortie to the famous Hole in the Wall and back. It was clearly evident after take off that the wind was much stronger than we had anticipated and the flight to Hole in the Wall was the proverbial case of hanging onto the bar and stirring porridge. Three successful return landings are made with the fourth landing turning into an unfortunate incident. Ed at this time was doing his second ever beach landing and was on late finals when a small shore wave washed up onto his ‘runway’ as he was flaring, he decided that it should not be a problem and followed through with his landing. The worst case scenario prevailed and with an no more than a 2m landing ‘roll’ the Trike flipped over. Very fortunately there were no injuries whatsoever, the Trike on the other hand sustained serious damage rendering it unflyable for the remainder of the safari. Some interesting hanger talk after the incident made the analogy of taking a football on the beach, the ball runs freely and uninterrupted on the sand but the moment it touches the water, even if this water is just the glossy film left behind after a wave has washed back, this film will still bring the football to an immediate stop. We have all seen this but given too little attention to this resistance, surface tension or call it whatever you like. The bottom line is, the water has at pronounced effect, something that Ed learnt to his great expense.

The focus of the group turned towards the dismantling for transport of Ed’s trike as the weather appeared to be deteriorating. This along with confirmation calls made to the Durban and the east London met offices had us even removing the wings from the Trikes, putting the covers on and finding alternative entertainment for the day. The brotherhood of aviators proved steadfast with Crispin Brien very kindly offering to drive with the trailer from Durban, a trip that he accomplished in record time – tail winds evidentially work for motor cars as well. Ed’s great sense of humour was called upon in the tavern that evening when in the TV Survivor style he was told that the tribe had spoken and he had to walk. The earlier calls to be met office had also indicated southerly winds arriving during the night and increasing in strength over the course of the next day, so we decided to head back towards Durban the following morning and to possibly use of our extra day somewhere en route.

Sunday morning was another first light attendance to stepping our wings and making ready for departure. Conditions were deteriorating and there was the added pressure of checking out of the hotel and our packing. We decided in spite of the southerly wind to head briefly south so that our visitors could see Hole in the Wall, this brief diversion from our path provided relief that we had made the right decision. The visitors, having photographed and orbited around this spectator rock were happy to press on north and towards home. The gods were with us because once again another long leg of our journey had a strong tail wind, but one can’t always have it easy so we had to contend with some light drizzle at various stages. In spite of what some may view as unflyable or harsh conditions it was unbelievably smooth up at 2000 foot and we blasted off to the Wild Coast casino runway.

Upon arrival at the Wild Coast the wind was so strong that we were unable to leave out Trikes, we had also planned with the help of Flynn Elliot to leave the Trikes under watch of a security guard, this was not to be and a hastily made plan came together for us to fly to the Port Edward airfield and to hanger there for the night. For those of you who don’t know Flynn he is the most amiable and supportive character that I know of on the Natal south coast and it is not just once that I’ve had the fortune of this experience. In no time at all Flynn had us all hangered and using his local clout he had secured lodgings at the Umtanvuma River Lodge where a great time was had. However we nearly saw an end to Flynn’s good hospitality when two of the Brits decided to hijack one of Flynn’s jet skis. Flynn owns the Water World at the Wild Coast Casino and with the weather being foul for flying he had treated us to a river cruise on his huge booze cruiser. Mischievous Tim decided that it would be a cool plan to blast off up the river with a jet ski, which he deliberately theft abandoned on the river frontage of our hotel. Equally mischievous Flynn later arrived at the lodge brandishing a sjambok with which he threatened to give Tim a good hiding and then have him deported back to the UK. For a few seconds Tim believed Flynn was serious and a great laugh was had by all.

The following morning the strong south wester had not abated in the night and great debate ensued in deciding whether to fly home or not. Big brave Craig Cousins decided to offer his services as a wind dummy, he immediately reported turbulence during the take off but very smooth conditions aloft. The scramble thereafter was akin to a Le Mans start. Even this final leg of our marvelous safari presented brilliant flying conditions, in spite of appearances. Once again we were clocking well in excess of 100kph en route and although this leg did not offer the scenic splendor of the coast it was nevertheless very interesting flying through the Natal Midlands, over the mighty Umkomaas Valley and vast expanses of sugar cane fields. This Umkomaas Valley can be so daunting that as a rule we fly over it very high, on this occasion we went even higher fearing the possible turbulence below. Whilst in this situation Geoff was asked by radio how it was at his level. After his very favorable response he was asked “so what height are you at Geoff?” the response “I’d rather not say”. It was happy landings all-round and great enthusing by 12 very happy safari participants.

In closing it needn’t be said that the Brits were bowled over by what great flying our country has to offer, they were immediately making plans for a return trip in the coming year. For those of us living in this country I have only one thing to say, get away from the cabbage patch and if it’s within your range, then at all costs go to the wild Coast, you will not regret it. Thanks go to Bryan Eaton and Geoff Dyer for their superb preparation and management of this safari and to Crispin Brien for his rescue efforts.

PS: should anyone be interested in details of coordinates, distances, hotels, etc. then please feel free to make a call to Geoff all Bryan.