Meng's Travels: Coffee Bay

As we leave Durban, we started to drive west along the Wild Coast. It's called the Wild Coast because this is where the mountains get right to the ocean, making the coast rough and beautiful. There are many places that the Bazbus stops along this coast - Warner Beach, Unzumbie, Port St. John and Coffee Bay. You hear from different travelers where they are going and why. Some come here just for the beach, others come for the surfing. One place that was highly recommended to me is Coffee Bay, partly because it's close to a well-known tourist attraction here called Hole-in-the-Wall.
The Bazbus dropped us off at a gas station at a town called Mthatha, on the main highway and we have to take a shuttle one-and-a-half hours through Xhosa towns and villages to Coffee Bay. There are a few hostels in the area but none is more popular than the Coffee Shack.
This is a busy place but they have an excellent staff. Most of the places I've been to in RSA have not been very service-oriented. Coffee Shack is different. Many of the staff members come from nearby villages and some of them have worked there for a long time. They know their responsibilities well and are always responsive to the guests. This place is the most pleasantly surprising for me. Everyone I talked to after staying there just love the place. Besides the excellent service, they have activities every day. Food also is cheap, much cheaper than most hostels. The meals tasted good and are big portions. I ate omelets every day because they cost only 35 Rands, about $3. On Sunday evenings, you get a free meal of potjie, a stew with all the leftovers from the week.
This gets better. Before dinner, they have FREE raw oysters and mussels as appetizers, when the villagers are able to pick them. These are wild oysters and mussels that they picked from the beach, not farmed. I know some bars charge US$2 per oyster in the US but here it's all-you-can-eat until they are gone. You can also buy crayfish (some called them rock lobsters) from some of the villages for US$2-3 each. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any while I was there.
They put me in a hut high on the hill. It's appropriately called King's House and I felt like one, looking down at the beach and all the other buildings in the area. To get there you also have to cross a small stream, which is okay during low-tide but at high-tide, the water is knee-deep.
The first day that I was at Coffee Shack, they had a "day on the beach." This includes surf lessons and lunch - all for 50 Rands, less than $5! Regular surf lessons are 50 Rands for 2 hours. Where can you get that? The second day, we had a 3-4 hour hike through beautiful beaches, hills, and villages to the Hole in the Wall.
Another thing I like about Coffee Shack is they are "Fair Trade" certified. This means they pay their employees decent wages and they support the local community in the area. The owner told me they give their employees 500 Rands every year to travel and stay in other hostels so they can experience what it's like to be a traveler.
The Africans who live in this area are Xhosas. They speak with clicks. It is very difficult to imitate. I tried but the kids were all laughing at me.