Umzumbe Backpacker options
The good old days of living out of a camper van, or in a tent…carpark to carpark…in the sixties, gave us the dream in the first place. Those days are long gone now, and all we have to compensate for the lost nostalgia is the backpacker scene.
Umzumbe back in those olden days was heaven. Nobody. Not even cops!
Surfers lived in the carparks. For weeks/months/years at a time! Surfing. Fishing. Diving. Living.
But that golden birth of the surfing adventure is now way gone. Everywhere seems to be blown up by now…
Including Umzumbe.
And even then, backpacker spots, which were just that, are now, star worthy. If you don’t got en suite for the lady, you are nowhere in the backpacker business. Yuppies and all. There are now a bunch of accommodation offerers around the place, queuing up to serve you a marginal percentage slice of the dream. They even got hot showers?!
Justin Maisch and his highly motivated wife Hayley, run the Pumula Surf Camp. The closest thing to the dream, since Justin’s Dad lived and surfed and fished and dived at the very same beach. Peter Maisch. Nuff said.
Justin works at Wedge Surfboards, where he and his ilk have been thumping out bespoke surfboards of the elitest type, for decades. Justin, Hayley and Roosta run surf tours and coaching, for the lucky few. It’s a small and unique operation. You need to book way in advance. And, you can get hands on and help shape your own surfboard. Packages available.
So, there are remnants of the golden era of surfing lying around the south coast of Natal, you just got to look really hard, through the jungle, to find the real deal.
The rest is just imported capitalism looking for a place to grow money.
Enjoy another surf video shot near Umzumbe, on the way to the Transkei Wild Coast – featuring Calv and The Roosta, remembering the fun times of yesteryear…
Get in touch with us for advice about Umzumbe Backpacker options.
We will make sure you get the right vibe!
