Double Mouth – Wild Coast

Double Mouth

In May we joined Peter & Cheryl at Double Mouth, near Morgan Bay, on the beautiful Wild Coast. It’s an exquisite campsite nestling in a sheltered nook right on the beach. The camp was laid out about 30 years ago and whoever was responsible did an amazing job. There are two semi-circular terraces, so no matter where you camp you’ll never have anyone obstructing your view. Beefwood trees (Casuarina cunninghamiana) and wild banana (Strelitzia nicolai) have been used to create very effective windbreaks. As a result the sites are completely sheltered from anything except the south westerly winds, which mainly blow in the winter. There’s plenty of shade in summer and a few sunny sites for the winter months.

Double Tinys at Double Mouth!

View from the back of the campsite

The name Double Mouth comes from the fact that two rivers meet just behind the camp and flow into the sea. The little beach at the mouth is a treasure chest of Ming pottery pieces, money cowrie shells and carnelian beads. These are thought to be from the wreck of the Portuguese galley Santo Espiritu, which sank in the vicinity in 1608. If you’re lucky enough to be there at spring low tide, there’s a good possibility that digging in the sand near the rocks on the west end of the beach will bear fruit.

Google image of Double Mouth

We arrived on the Sunday after two days of heavy rains, which made the road from Morgan Bay tricky in the Passat. However, driving slowly we had no serious difficulties getting there. Thankfully, my brother was standing by with his four wheel drive to tow us out of the mud if necessary! It might be a good idea if you have a smaller car to check the road condition before leaving. The campsite itself was very wet, but we managed to find relatively dry sites and had no problems. There were only two other parties there and one left the next morning. This left only the four of us and one other couple, Pieter and Marianne from the Cape, which was wonderful. We had forgotten to bring a re-chargeable light to cope with load shedding. On our first night the electricity went off and we were in the dark! Within minutes Pieter and Marianne kindly arrived with a light for us to borrow. Campers are such a lovely bunch!

There are two large ablution blocks with plenty of hot water and toilet paper and adequate dish washing facilities. Unfortunately, there is little or no maintenance being done and it will need to be done soon. That being said, it’s still a wonderful place to visit. The scenery is stunning, there are beautiful walks along the shore, on the cliffs and safe swimming in the pools and river. The camp site is now run by East Cape Parks and Tourism and one can book online. However if you’re wanting pensioner discounts you’ll need to phone them.

View of the mouth from the confluence of the two rivers

Because of the heavy rains the rivers had come down and opened the mouth, so we were not able to get across to the beach. The plus side was that the water level of the rivers had dropped and we were able to walk along the rocks at low tide and explore more than usual. Under normal circumstances the swimming in the river must be lovely and the rivers could be explored by canoe. Judging from the images on Google Earth, one could get quite far up the Quko river. Owing to the heavy rains the sea was pretty dirty, putting an end to my plans to snorkel. I think that the diving would usually be fantastic. Pieter, who had been there for a week already, told us that two spear fishermen had shot some beautiful steenbras and grunters before the rains came.

The scenery is spectacular from the top of the cliffs and we enjoyed the walking.

Looking east towards Haga Haga

Looking west towards Morgan Bay (the Cape Morgan lighthouse is just visible on the far point)

The sea life is amazing, there are dolphins, whales and seabirds. We were lucky to see a large flock of Cape gannets diving for sardines. For two nights they rested off the coast in a huge raft which we could see through binoculars, but unfortunately it was too far out for photos. Pieter said that a few days before the rains they had seen a a large shoal of sardines near the shore which had attracted dolphins, sharks, gannets and other sea birds. That must have been something to see.

The other thing that amazed us were the night skies. On cloudless nights we could wander down to the beach and the whole universe was on display. The Milky Way was stunningly beautiful! We were hard pressed to identify even the basic constellations that we see in the city because there were so many stars! It made us realize how much we miss by living in the city.

There’s lots to do in the area. Go here for more details https://www.morganbay.co.za/activities/

The Morgan Bay hotel has a lovely restaurant with stunning views from the deck. They serve delicious food and the service was good. We all thoroughly enjoyed what we ordered, from fish and chips to burgers.

The best part of this trip was the fact that we could just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet and the beautiful surroundings. We will definitely be going back in the future

Enjoyed this post? Click here to get updates on our travels. Please feel free to share your comments and suggestions in the Comment section below. We’d love to hear from you.

Happy travelling!