South Africa
Port St Johns
Two sandstone sentinels guard a river mouth where Xhosa fishermen cast lines into green, dolphin-heavy swells.
The Umzimvubu River rounds a final bend and the twin sandstone cliffs rise from the water like gateposts, over 160 metres tall. Between them, the river meets the Indian Ocean in a churn of green and white. Port St Johns on South Africa's Wild Coast smells of salt, woodsmoke, and frangipani — a place that operates on its own clock.
Port St Johns sits where the Umzimvubu — the largest undammed river in South Africa — reaches the sea through a dramatic sandstone gorge. Second Beach, sheltered by the southern gate cliff, has no road access from the sea side and no buildings on the forested hillside behind it. The surrounding subtropical bush holds samango monkey troops, spotted along the Bulolo Forest Trail above town, and Xhosa fishermen still run guided trips from the river mouth to offshore bream and kingfish grounds. The town has attracted a slow trickle of artists and wanderers since the 1970s, and their influence lingers in places like Delicious Monster, where wood-fired pizzas are served with parrots in the rafters.
Solo
A place to lose yourself productively. Walk Second Beach alone, eat crayfish negotiated directly from fishermen, and discover what happens when your phone loses signal for days.
Couple
The isolation here is romantic by default — river-mouth sunsets, deserted beaches, and eco-lodges tucked into forest clearings where the only interruption is birdcall.
Friends
Rent a backpacker cottage, hire a boat for the river mouth, and spend a long weekend where the schedule is dictated by tides and the braai, nothing else.
- The Umzimvubu River — the largest undammed river in South Africa — reaches the sea here between two sandstone cliffs rising over 160 metres.
- Second Beach, sheltered by the southern gate cliff, has no road access from the sea side and no buildings on the forested hillside behind it.
- Local Xhosa fishermen run guided trips from the river mouth to the offshore bream and kingfish grounds on small motorised boats.
- The Bulolo Forest Trail above the town follows a river through afromontane forest where Samango monkey troops are audible overhead in the canopy.
Fresh crayfish cooked on the beach by local fishermen — no menu, no price list, just negotiation and fire.
Wood-fired pizza at Delicious Monster, perched above Second Beach with parrots in the rafters.
Jericoacoara
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Windswept dunes where the sun melts into the sea from a natural stone arch.
St Ives
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Light so luminous it lured a century of painters to this harbour of turquoise shallows.
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Alpine pools at 3,500 metres that mirror a 7,000-metre peak at dawn like shattered glass.
Philae Temple
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A temple rescued from rising waters, reassembled stone by stone on an island in the Nile.
Arniston
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A sea cave vast enough to shelter a ship — the village took the wreck's name.
Cape Town
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Dawn light crowns a flat-topped mountain while penguins waddle the southern shore below.
Hermanus
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Whales breach so close to the cliff path you feel the spray on your skin.
Cederberg
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Sandstone arches and San rock art older than the pyramids, wild rooibos growing between the boulders.