Coffee Bay

© Roger de la Harpe
View over Coffee Bay in the Eastern Cape.
Coffee Bay was named after the coffee beans that washed ashore from a shipwreck in 1863. Today it is a holiday resort and popular weekend playground of Umtata residents.
Slow down your world in real beachcomber country. Coffee Bay is the perfect place to catch the relaxed calypso vibe of this sub-tropical coastline brimming with soaring cliffs and dense coastal forests leading onto glorious beaches. Enjoy the region’s natural beauty, great surfing, rustic charm and rugged countryside peppered with distinctive round, thatched, traditional huts infused with local Xhosa culture.
The wild curve of Coffee Bay lies on the Nenga River mouth or River of the Whale, but the Bomvu (Red) and Maphuzi Rivers (Place of Pumpkins) also flow into the Indian Ocean here.

Coffee Bay Untamed Paradise

Some people come here to spliff out on the Wild Coast. Some pull in to surf a wicked, café latte-coloured point break off Port St Johns. Ot...more

Eastern Cape Coastal Route

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Wrecks of Coffee Bay

When the cruise boat Oceanos rolled over in rough seas off Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast in August 1991, it was the captain who took the very...more