Daily Dispatch

Stunning new tourism route in E Cape

- By VUVU VENA

A NEW travel route launched by the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA) on the last night of the 2012 Tourism Indaba promises to showcase the beauty of the province and make the Eastern Cape a destinatio­n of choice in the country.

Known as the Coastal Route, the new attraction joins a list of eight other tourist regions in the province, including the Baviaans, Frontier Country, Kouga, Tsitsikamm­a, Great Addo Route, Sunshine Coast, Amathole Mountain Escape and the Wild Coast.

The route covers nearly 900km of pristine coastline across the Eastern Cape and will showcase some of the province’s most popular tourist attraction­s, including Port St John’s Second Beach, Coffee Bay, Mpuzi Cliff, Bulungula, the Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha, Chintsa, East London’s Gonubie Beach, Port Alfred, Bushman’s River, Kenton-onSea, Canon Rocks, Alexandria Dune Fields, Addo Big 7 National Park, Port Elizabeth, St Francis Bay, Tsitsikama and Jeffrey’s Bay.

“The province is rich in biodiversi­ty with contrastin­g landscapes featuring primeval coastal forests and white sandy beaches, diverse wildlife, ancient rock art and Xhosa culture, offering the intrepid explorer an adventure of a lifetime,” read a press release from ECPTA.

Launching the route at the Durban Hilton Hotel, the chairwoman of the ECPTA board, Vuyo Zitumane, said: “I’m as excited as a mosquito that has just arrived at a nudist camp, not knowing where to begin.”

Zitumane said the Coastal Route was a hidden jewel in the province and it packaged every kind of experience.

The ECPTA

had

marketed

the Eastern Cape as the adventure province throughout the indaba, and activities on the new route bear testament to this. for tourism products along the route.

The chairman of the newly formed Eastern Cape Coastal Route Associatio­n (ECCRA), Peter Miles, presented the breathtaki­ng beauty and biodiversi­ty of the area.

The route carries the slogan “900km of the most diverse coastline in the world”.

Miles said the province’s wealth in biodiversi­ty spoke of the numerous landscapes that are housed in the province, extending all the way into the sea.

Tourists will be able to enjoy surfing, kite surfing, scuba diving and snorkeling, meet friendly locals, sample a taste of the traditiona­l life and meander along horse trails at the coast and inland.

Self-drive tourists as well as groups looking for package tours will all be catered for.

Miles said as the associatio­n promised potential tourists they would respond to their queries within two days and no later.

“The benefit of the Coastal Route is that it will highlight not only the Eastern Cape’s well known and iconic attraction­s such as the Mkhambati Nature Reserve, the Addo Elephant National Park and the province’s amazing beaches and surfing spots, it will also take travellers to some of the undiscover­ed places of natural beauty.

“For sand dune enthusiast­s, the 6 500-year-old Coastal Dune Field found at Alexandria is the largest shifting dune field in the southern hemisphere and has been nominated for listing as a Unesco (United Nations Educationa­l and Scientific Cultural Organisati­on) World Heritage Site,” said the agency in a press statement, before listing numerous other attraction­s. — vuyiswav@dispatch.

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