Tag: backpackers

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Bamboo Beach Backpackers in Xai Xai

Bamboo Beach Backpackers in Xai Xai

Bamboo Beach Backpackers in Xai Xai

If you’re looking for a backpackers in Xai Xai – you’ve found it!

Watch the video…

Bamboo Beach Backpackers is right on the beach at Xai Xai! It features a value restaurant and fun pub. Dorms, singles and doubles at the usual rates. Free tea and coffee.

But the main attraction is certainly the location. Right on Xai Xai Beach itself. The idyllic lagoon style bathing out front is safe and tranquil. The beaches stretch for miles each way and are adorned with features and attractions like rock pools and sandbanks. There is a protective barrier reef which at low tide is completely exposed. This reef runs for miles along the entire stretch.

There is all sorts to do and many activities available at Xai Xai. Deep sea or shore fishing. Scuba diving. Snorkeling. There are many places close by that you can visit by foot.

The infamous Limpopo River joins the Indian Ocean at Zongoene, down the beach to the south. Trips can be arranged. If you’re an avid sport fisherman or fly-fisher, then this is certainly a bucket list type destination. It is wild down there!

Getting to Bamboo Beach Backpackers is as easy as catching a bus. Bus travel in Mozambique has been upgraded phenomenally as of late. Safe and steady, the prices are also completely reasonable. You could get from Maputo to Xai Xai for about R200 or less, on these big new and comfortable busses. Maputo to Inhassoro costs about R300 one way, as a side note.

Getting in touch with Bamboo Beach from the outset of your travels is a good idea. They will arrange your pickup in Xai Xai and transfer to your new beach location.

Catch that sunrise!

“No eternal reward will forgive us now, for wasting the dawn.” – Jim Morrison

Looking south from Bamboo BackpackersBamboo Backpackers in Xai Xai view out frontBamboo Beach Backpackers in Xai XaiBamboo Beach Backpackers in Xai Xai

Click the following link to visit their website…

http://bamboobeachbackpackers.com

Catch up with The Sardine News on Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/

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Video: Surfing Fatimas Nest in the Afternoon

Surfing Fatimas Nest-in-the

Video: Surfing Fatimas Nest in the Afternoon

Fatimas Nest, venue of each years Ocean Fest on Praia do Tofo, also plays host to a real fun surf spot. Right out front of the restaurant!

Featuring Renske Massing aka The Frenzy is an ISA Qualified Surf Coach, who has spent many seasons in Tofo and surrounds and even has a house here.  Casa Frenzy…just down the beach from Fatimas. Renske surfs a longboard this sunny afternoon, with another surfing local, Joao Loureiro joining her for the quick session.

Renske is introduced into the insert by Mozambican TV Personality Ras Ghotaz. Ghotaz runs a music show on TV Gugu on Saturdays at 20h00 each week. Ras Ghotaz is also involved in the production and running of the Ocean Fest. Which once again, was a huge party this year.

The sounds are from a local church family gathering, where the lyrics are about doing whatever it is they can to uplift their community. Language – Bithonga.

The wave out front of Fatimas has kept many a surfer sane – as the more fickle Tofinho carefully guards her secrets. Sometimes for months at a time! But there will always be a wave to ride in the bay at Tofo. Sometimes long peeling rights are served up. Or powerful little shorebreaks. Spread out all over the place. Sometimes right up in the corner, the little right-hand point break comes alive. Peels for its entire 100 metre length!

The amount of sand that moves up here in Mozambique is phenomenal. Waves can literally appear out of nowhere. And disappear a week later!

But it’s this endless variation, coupled with huge tides (sometimes 5 metres or more), that makes the place so interesting for surfers and other ocean lovers.

Click on over to Fatimas Nest page on The Sardine News for options and more information.

Catch us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/

Looking over the surf launch towards Praia do Tofo and Casa Agodoal from Fatima's backpackers in TofoWhale Sharks are also high on the victim listFatimas from the beachFatimas for breakfast in Tofo starts at 7amOutdoor seating area at Fatimas Nest in Tofo
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Umzumbe Backpacker options

Justin Maisch about to paddle Umzumbe backpacker options

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!

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A shiver of sharks, a bale of turtles, and a backpacker palace

The fantastic view of the Tugela River Mouth - Sharks and turtles everywhere

A shiver of sharks, a bale of turtles, and a backpacker palace

Add to that an electric storm, a chocolate brown peeling left hander, a community from the 70’s, add a dollop of The Kei and a helping of Mozambique – and that was Tugela Mouth.

The mid summer rains and a huge catchment area made sure the Tugela was pumping out as it should be, spewing a plume of brown water out for miles. The east wind had been sand blasting for two days, the swell was decidedly from the north east and a chocolada left peeled for miles. Unsurfable.

Fins broke the surface continually as we checked in to the best view on the entire North Coast. Called Sensayuma, it qualifies for our coveted “backpacker palace” award. The place was so well kept and run you couldn’t find a bad smell anywhere. It’s huge. Open plan. Dorms are spotless with sea views to wake to. There are two swimming pools?! Jacuzzi. Bar. Rockstar living!

Details to follow…

But if marine wild life is your thing, Tugela Mouth goes to the top of the list. We may have spotted a hundred turtles and the same in sharks. Some turtles even climbed out of the water and were catching the last of the heatwave, when the storm came through.

Visit this place!

Leave surfboard behind.

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The Kruger Park with Krugerview Backpackers in Komatipoort

The Kruger Park with Krugerview Backpackers in Komatipoort

Staying at the Krugerview Backpackers in Komatipoort means a lot of things to us today…

Firstly, it’s forecast for today, at Skukuza Camp in the Kruger Park, to be an easy 45 degrees. Which means that in all likelihood, and according to the locals, Komatipoort might hit over a queasy 50 degrees!?

Secondly however, you can escape to the more moderate climes of Skukuza and other Kruger camp pools, with a quick drive. Being a mere 12 km from Crocodile Gate, Komatipoort is the ideal fun border town to break your journey between the Kruger Park, and Mozambique. Ressano Garcia is about the same distance in the other direction.

If you stay at Krugerview Backpackers, just behind the town in the pretty residential suburb, you literally look out from the huge open plan lounge and viewing deck, and into the Kruger Park. The park extends eastwards and south from Crocodile Gate, to Ressano Garcia.

You also get to wallow in the cool pool, chill in the heavenly breeze, and refresh yourself with an ice cold something.

Rates are great, it’s clean and homely, with all kinds of backpacker type accommodation options.

Secure parking and coded gate with restaurants in walking distance. Delicious Portuguese African fusion in house food available on request.

Free Wi-fi and a great kitchen and dining area round off a really classy backpackers in a fantastico location.

Contact the Krugerview Backpackers team here.

Staying at Krugerview Backpackers in Komatipoort puts you 20 miinutes drive away from the splendour of the Kruger Park in Mpumalanga
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